Copilot for Sales Professionals

The Sales agent in Microsoft Copilot is Microsoft's AI assistant for sellers. It connects Microsoft Copilot to your CRM, either Dynamics 365 Sales or Salesforce, so sellers can summarise accounts, prepare for customer meetings, draft emails and update CRM records from Outlook and Teams. It was previously called Microsoft 365 Copilot for Sales, and before that Sales Copilot, and Microsoft's documentation now calls it the Sales agent.

This post explains what the Sales agent does, what you need to use it, how it differs from Copilot inside Dynamics 365, and where Copilot helps customer service teams too.

What does the Sales agent in Microsoft Copilot do?

Sellers spend a lot of time moving between the CRM, Outlook, Teams and old documents to answer simple questions about an account. The Sales agent lets them ask in plain English instead, and pulls the answer together from CRM records, emails, Teams meetings and Teams messages. According to Microsoft's documentation it can:

• summarise an account, opportunity or lead, including the pipeline, the nearest opportunities to close and recent meetings
• prepare sellers for upcoming customer meetings with a short brief of highlights and context
• summarise email threads in Outlook with CRM insights and a BANT (budget, authority, need, timing) assessment
• draft email replies in Outlook that pull in product and opportunity information from the CRM
• produce Teams meeting recaps with action items, conversation KPIs, competitor mentions and suggested tasks, which can be created in the CRM
• add contacts and update CRM records from Outlook so the CRM stays current without the seller opening it
• answer pipeline questions for managers, such as the largest open opportunities this quarter or where a deal has stalled

Every CRM query respects the seller's security access, so if someone cannot see a record in the CRM, the Sales agent will not show it to them either.

Which CRM systems does the Sales agent work with?

The Sales agent connects to Dynamics 365 Sales and Salesforce Sales Cloud, and it can be extended to other data sources using Power Platform connectors. It is not available for Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement on-premises. A Microsoft 365 administrator installs it, and a CRM administrator chooses which tables or objects sellers can query and configures the account, opportunity and lead summaries.

The answers depend on the CRM data underneath, and Microsoft says as much in its own guidance. If opportunities are missing close dates or half the contacts are out of date, the summaries will reflect that, so a CRM data tidy-up is a sensible first step.

What licence do you need for the Sales agent?

Microsoft's documentation says the Sales agent is available to users with a Microsoft Copilot licence, and that users with a Dynamics 365 Sales Enterprise or Premium licence but no Microsoft Copilot licence can still use it with CRM data only, without the email and meeting grounding. Some features, such as meeting preparation, have specific licensing requirements set out in the Microsoft Product Terms. Microsoft changes Copilot packaging regularly, so confirm the current position against your existing licences before you budget.

How is the Sales agent different from Copilot in Dynamics 365 Sales?

Copilot in Dynamics 365 Sales works inside the Dynamics 365 Sales app, for sellers who spend their day in the CRM. The Sales agent lives in Microsoft Copilot, Outlook and Teams, for sellers who would rather stay in email and meetings, and it works with Salesforce as well as Dynamics 365. It can also be opened from inside the Dynamics 365 Sales Hub app. Microsoft publishes guidance on moving from Copilot in Dynamics 365 Sales to the Sales agent if you are already using the former.

How does Copilot help customer service teams?

Customer service teams have their own Copilot features in Dynamics 365 Customer Service and Dynamics 365 Contact Center. Service representatives can get a Copilot-generated summary of a case, ask questions answered from your knowledge base and trusted websites, draft email replies using predefined prompts such as requesting more information or resolving the customer's problem, generate resolution notes and propose knowledge articles from resolved cases. Supervisors get a Copilot analytics report showing how it is being used.

For more complex scenarios, such as a customer-facing agent that answers from your website and knowledge base, Copilot Studio is the tool for building it.

What should you do before rolling it out?

• tidy up the CRM data the Sales agent will summarise, particularly opportunity stages, close dates and contact records
• check your Microsoft 365 permissions, because the email and meeting grounding draws on whatever each seller can see
• record customer meetings in Teams with transcription on, since meeting insights depend on it
• pilot with a handful of sellers and a sales manager, and collect the prompts that work

Our practical guide to Microsoft Copilot covers the wider rollout in more detail.

Frequently asked questions

Is Copilot for Sales the same as the Sales agent?

Yes. The product was known as Sales Copilot and then Microsoft Copilot for Sales. Microsoft's current documentation calls it the Sales agent in Microsoft Copilot.

Does the Sales agent work with Salesforce?

Yes. It connects to Salesforce Sales Cloud and Dynamics 365 Sales, and it can be extended to other data sources with Power Platform connectors.

Do sellers need a Microsoft Copilot licence?

To get answers that combine CRM data with Outlook emails and Teams meetings, yes. Microsoft's documentation says users with a Dynamics 365 Sales Enterprise or Premium licence but no Microsoft Copilot licence can use the Sales agent with CRM data only.

Can the Sales agent show sellers CRM records they should not see?

No. CRM queries follow each user's security access in the CRM. One thing to be aware of is that anyone with access to a CRM record can see the meeting insights for that record, even if they were not in the meeting.

Talk to us about Copilot for sales teams

If you are looking at Copilot for your sales or service teams, we can help with the licensing, the CRM and permissions groundwork and the rollout through our Microsoft Copilot service. Get in touch and we will talk it through.