What is coming to Dynamics 365 Sales

I am back with my third article in my series covering the 2026 Release Wave 1 for Dynamics 365, and this time we’re shifting our focus to Dynamics 365 Sales. The release notes dropped last month, and I’ve been making my way through all the updates to understand what’s new, what’s improved, and what’s actually worth paying attention to. In this article, I’ll break down the key features coming to Sales and highlight the ones that I think will have the biggest impact on your day-to-day selling experience. I wanted to start by mentioning the features that many of us have already been playing around with (in preview) which are reaching general availability this month as part of this release.

From Preview to GA

First up is filtering and sorting with natural language using the smart grid. Instead manually having to select filters on a view, users can simply type what they’re looking for in plain English, and the system does the filtering for them.
We also have the ability to visualize data using Copilot-created charts. With “Visualize with Copilot,” users can quickly turn their data into charts just by asking for it. No need to manually configure charts, Copilot generates them for you, making it easier to spot trends and insights on the fly.
Next is smart paste, this is all about streamlining data entry. Instead of copying and pasting information field by field, users can paste a block of text and let the system intelligently map and enter the right data into the appropriate fields. It’s one of those small features that ends up saving a ton of time, especially for teams working with high volumes of data.
Part of this is also the form fill assist toolbar with file upload capabilities. This one is a huge time-saver as well because it allows users to upload documents and have the system automatically extract and populate relevant fields on the form!

Sales Qualification Agent updates

Identify best leads by using any data source for agent‑driven assessment

This feature is basically an ‘upgrade’ of the handoff configuration in the Sales Qualification Agent, and the handoff configuration will be renamed to ‘Lead Assessment”. As you can see on the Microsoft provided image, the setup screen of the SQA looks a lot different. For new SQA agents, the setup will be a lot easier as you can now use copilot to generate the assessment criteria, which you can edit if needed. This will streamline the setup of sales agents in D365 Sales.

Personalize outreach by Sales Qualification Agent

This feature takes the Sales Qualification Agent from sending more generic, outreach emails to delivering communications that actually feels intentional and on-brand. Sales teams can now define the purpose of the outreach, align the tone to both the company’s voice and the individual seller’s writing style, and clearly guide prospects with a strong call-to-action. On top of that, they can incorporate messaging that’s already proven to resonate, so every interaction feels more relevant and personalized. The result is outreach that performs better, driving higher response rates and ultimately helping sellers qualify leads more effectively.

Get lead research and next best actions in Sales Home

This feature is all about helping sellers focus on the right leads. By bringing agent-led research, lead prioritization, and next best actions directly into Sales Home (this is the page that shows when you open the Sales Agent from within M365 Copilot), they no longer have to go back and forth between tools or dig for context. Instead, they can quickly see which leads matter most, understand why they’re important based on real buying signals and engagement, and know exactly what to do next, whether that’s following up, qualifying, or stepping in to unblock the agent. The result is more consistent lead handling across sales teams, and higher conversion rates.

Prioritize your hottest leads first with next best actions

I feel this feature is similar to the previous feature I just discussed. The sales qualification agent researches leads and identifies the leads to focus on. According to the release notes, sellers will see a leads’ next-best-actions directly on the leads grid in Dynamics 365 sales. Sellers can review the actions, which show a lead preview, the interest of the lead and a summary of why a lead is a ‘good’ lead.

Deploy multiple Sales Qualification Agents in a single environment

This is one of my favorites. Some companies operate in different regions, or they might have more than just one line of business. RSM is a very good example of this, we implement software, but we also have a tax practice, which means we wouldn’t be able to use the same Sales Qualification Agent across all lines of business. With this feature organizations will be able to create multiple Sales Qualification agents in their Dynamics 365 Sales environment. This means that each agent can be configured independently. They can have the organization’s specific knowledge, with additional, specialized knowledge for each business line/region/product, etc. Each agent will also have their own guidance for lead selection, email instructions and handoff criteria. If one of the agents handles a lead and notices it’s interested in a different product/line of business, it hands the lead off to the appropriate agent.

Opportunity Acceleration

Identify the most important actions in the flow of work

You read about the ‘Next best action’ concept above, this is a feature related to the sales agents in Dynamics 365 Sales. The words ‘next best action’ already explain what this does, it helps sellers focus on leads and opportunities, guiding them to what to do next based on sales agent activity and CRM data. You’ve probably noticed that a lot of sales information is available in the places sellers work, like Microsoft Teams, Outlook, etc. Think about meeting prep with the Sales Agent, and Sales Chat in Outlook. These ‘next-best-actions’ are no different, they will show up in Dynamics 365 and Microsoft 365 apps like Outlook, so nothing gets missed and there’s little to no disruption to their flow. Besides showing what the next best action is to seller, it also shows relevant details related to the action. For example, if the recommended action is to send an email, sellers will be able to see relevant conversation context, key stakeholders, and the main talking points to cover, making it easy to quickly draft a confident, well-informed email.

Sales Close Agent Updates

The sales close agent was announced during the 2025 release wave 2 and is currently still in preview. This agent works with opportunities and can autonomously follow up with customers. Below are the updates that are made to the agent for this release wave.

Stay on track at every deal stage with delta-first guidance in Sales Close Agent

This will allow sellers to see what has changed in the opportunity since the last time it was reviewed. According to the release notes sellers will see insights and next-best-actions prioritized by the current Business Process Stage, not sure what this will look like, but we’ll have to wait until May as that is the current public preview date for this feature.

Chat with your deal insights using ask-and-refine experience in Sales Close Agent

This will allow sellers to ask questions directly from within an opportunity. To me this sounds a bit like the functionality that is currently in preview where we can embed M365 Copilot embedded in Dynamics 365, which allows users to ask specific questions about their data, but it looks like this is specifically related to this agent. 

Use historical deal patterns to get better insights in Sales Close Agent

This is one of those features that really speaks to the reality of how selling actually works. Every seller has experienced deals that stall for the same reasons over and over again, maybe it’s waiting on a specific stakeholder, delays after sending a proposal to a prospect, or a lack of follow-up at a critical moment. These patterns aren’t always obvious in the moment, but over time they become clear when you look at the data across multiple deals.
What this feature does is tap into that historical data and surface those recurring blockers in a meaningful way. Instead of just showing raw insights, the agent actually explains the pattern, what tends to happen, where deals typically slow down, and what the seller should do next to help the deal move along the sales process. It connects the dots for the seller so they’re not left guessing what’s going wrong. The end result is a more proactive sales experience. Sellers can address potential problems earlier, make more informed decisions, and keep deals progressing instead of reacting too late. Over time, this can lead to shorter sales cycles, higher win rates, and a more consistent approach across the team.

Personalize opportunity research in Sales Close Agent

This feature allows sellers to personalize the sales close agent’s research page. Sellers can change the layout, add knowledge sources and add their own context, so using the agent will be a more personalized experience. Don’t worry, administrators can configure guardrails for seller inputs so that the overall experience is not overridden.

Strengthen deal guidance through learning and tuning in Sales Close Agent

This feature allows sellers to give feedback on insights and actions provided by the agent, allowing the Sales Close Agent to learn from the feedback provided and get better. Administrators can review the agent’s learning insights and apply changes if needed.

Keep deal insights current with signal‑based triggers in Sales Close Agent

I am not sure what this will look like, but according to the release notes this feature allows sellers to subscribe to key deal insights. This has everything to do with he research component of the agent. Admins can configure when insights are updated, which is important, as the agents uses Copilot credits when it runs, so this will help keep the cost down.

Improve opportunity data completeness with AI-powered data enrichment

This feature is part of the Sales Close Agent – Research and it will help keep opportunity data accurate and current by suggesting updates from data that is stored in emails, meetings and third-party sources. The release notes mention that this feature will pull opportunity information from Microsoft Teams calls and recorded teams meetings, which is something that previously had to be done manually. Sellers would spend a lot of time on reading email chains and going through meetings notes to update their opportunities, this feature will make this process a lot faster. There will also be support for languages that are not English, which means that teams that speak a different language will also benefit from this feature.

Plan your sales portfolio with Sales Research Agent

I’m sure you have heard of the sales research agent (also currently in preview (April 1 2025) with no GA date as of yet) that is built on project Sophia. This agent uses natural language to analyze complex business data, providing instant insights, visualizations, and research reports using D365 sales data and even external data if needed. Microsoft is expanding what is agent can do and adding capabilities like Account planning, territory balancing, Renewal risk triage and more.

Get sales operations insights in Sales Research Agent

According to the release notes, the Sales Research agent will get a brand-spanking new ‘sales operations business function’. This function gives sellers a sales and revenue operations experience that brings all the data together in one single place for easy analysis. This includes the ability to connect to data from Fabric Lakehouse like targets and quotas, budgets and planned revenue, actuals and invoiced revenue, backlog and performance metrics.

Seller Experiences

Get integrated inbound and outbound calling with Sales Hub dialer

If you logged into Dynamics 365 Sales recently, you probably saw the small banner on the top of the screen letting you know there is a new modern dialer in public preview. Your first question is probably going to be ‘How is this different from the existing Teams dialer in D365 Sales?”, well according to the documentation this is a more modern experience, built on Microsoft’s cloud telephony infrastructure, which the Teams dialer is not. If you want to learn more about the differences between both dialer, take a look here. If you have used the dialer in Dynamics 365 Customer Service or Contact Center than this is going to look familiar to you, as this looks exactly like that dialer!

Streamline Quick Campaigns for confident, one-time bulk email outreach

It has been quite some time since there have been any updates to the native Marketing features in Dynamics 365 Sales (I am not referring to D365 Customer Insights-Journeys). This update is focused on quick campaigns , specifically the bulk email creation process. The quick campaign wizard will be simplified meaning there will be fewer steps. Sellers will also be able to access email templates (including editing or creating new ones) from within the quick campaign so they won’t have to navigate away during setup. There will also be an option for sellers to make one-time edits (think adding personalized greetings, signatures or dynamic text) during quick campaign setup which will only be used during the specific campaign so that existing email templates will not be changed.  Lastly there will be an option to test the outgoing email to confirm everything looks as it should be prior to sending out the bulk emails.I hope you enjoyed this article! Be sure to check in again soon or subscribe here to never miss another post!