The Sales Qualification Agent in Dynamics 365 Sales is an AI-powered assistant that automates key parts of lead qualification so your sales team can focus on the most promising opportunities. Many sales teams struggle to keep up with high volumes of inbound leads from websites, events, and webinars. As a result, leads often sit idle in CRM or are followed up too slowly, which can lead to missed opportunities. The Sales Qualification Agent helps address this by: - Automatically working on leads that match your selection criteria (for example, lead source, rating, or geography). - Researching each lead and their company to surface useful context. - Evaluating how well each lead fits your target customer profile. - In some modes, engaging with leads directly and handing off only those that show purchase intent. It’s important to note that the agent is designed to support, not replace, seller judgment. It provides research, insights, and in some cases initial engagement, while your sales team still makes the final qualification and deal decisions.

The Sales Qualification Agent offers two modes so you can align automation with your team’s workflow and comfort level. 1. Research-only mode In this mode, the agent focuses on research and insight generation: - Works on leads that match your criteria (such as source, rating, or geography). - Gathers background information on the lead and their company, including recent opportunities and relevant news. - Evaluates how well each lead matches your target customer profile. - Drafts an initial outreach email for leads that meet your criteria, which sellers can review, personalize, and send. Use this mode if you want to: - Keep engagement fully in the hands of your sellers. - Speed up research and email drafting without changing your current outreach process. 2. Research and engage mode In this mode, the agent supports both research and active engagement: - Works on leads that match your criteria, just like in Research-only mode. - Autonomously engages with leads via email, follows up, and clarifies questions. - Evaluates purchase interest based on engagement and behavior. - Uses BANT (Budget, Authority, Need, Timeline) to assess readiness and potential. - Applies your seller hand-off rules to decide when to pass a lead to a seller. - Disqualifies leads that don’t meet your criteria, and can notify supervisors about disqualified leads. Use this mode if you want to: - Manage high lead volumes with minimal manual effort. - Ensure sellers spend time primarily on leads that show intent and fit your ideal profile. In both modes, the agent relies on your defined target customer profile to guide its evaluation, and your team retains control over final qualification decisions.

The Sales Qualification Agent uses a structured approach to evaluate and route leads so that each role in the sales process knows where to focus. Key evaluation concepts 1. Target customer profile (all modes) - You define the characteristics of your ideal customer (for example, industry, company size, region, or other attributes). - The agent compares each lead against this profile to determine fit. - This helps prioritize leads that are more likely to convert based on your strategy. 2. Purchase interest (Research and engage mode) - The agent looks at how a lead interacts and responds to outreach. - It uses these signals to estimate the lead’s intent to buy. - Leads that show stronger interest are more likely to be handed off to sellers. 3. BANT: Budget, Authority, Need, Timeline (Research and engage mode) - The agent uses the BANT framework to assess: - Budget: Does the lead appear able to invest? - Authority: Is the lead a decision-maker or key influencer? - Need: Is there a clear problem or opportunity your solution can address? - Timeline: Is there an expected timeframe for a decision? - This helps the agent gauge how ready the lead is for a sales conversation. Impact on different roles - Administrators: - Set up and configure the Sales Qualification Agent. - Define target customer profiles, hand-off rules, and capacity (prepaid or pay-as-you-go). - Monitor usage and consumption to keep costs aligned with lead volume. - Sellers: - Receive leads that the agent has researched and, in engage mode, already warmed up. - Review insights, BANT indicators, and suggested outreach. - Focus their time on leads that show fit and purchase interest, rather than manually sifting through all inbound leads. - Supervisors: - Monitor how leads are being handled by the agent. - Review patterns in qualified and disqualified leads. - Use this visibility to adjust criteria, coaching, and process. The Sales Qualification Agent is built with responsible AI principles in mind and is intended as a productivity tool, not an autonomous decision-maker. Your organization defines the rules, and your sales team remains accountable for final qualification and deal outcomes.