[How to] Dynamics 365 Competitor Record Best Practices

While we all understand the core sales entities (Lead, Account, Contact and Opportunity) in Dynamics 365 CRM. one of the more underappreciated entities that can be a valuable piece of data is the Competitor Record. The competitor entity is used to store information about the companies that you regularly find your organization selling against.

Let’s say you are a Construction company and have implemented Dynamics 365 CRM to track your sales opportunities. You know that your company does a great job and has a great reputation, but you have dozens of other companies that you sell against every day. Some are honest and reliable; some always go for the low bid and others you wouldn’t trust to build a doghouse. And when you present a proposal to your prospect, you just might modify it based on knowing your competition.

Creating the Competitor Record

Navigate to Sales/Competitors to create your records. You can add the competitors name, address and website. There are fields for Strengths and Weaknesses, and you should fill those out, as it will aid other salespeople in your organization. At enCloud9 we have modified the competitor record to add contacts as well as a link to accounts. We have also added fields for the competitor social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn)

Linking Competitors to Opportunities

When you are working in your opportunity records in CRM, make certain that you append competitors to the opportunity. Adding competitors to an opportunity is easy. Usually on the opportunity form a competitor sub grid is available. On the sub grid, click the + button to add competitors to the opportunity. That is all there is to it.

Closing Opportunities

So even though you made your best efforts, your competitor won the project. The prospect let you know why you lost the deal. Your next job is to close the opportunity in Dynamics 365 CRM.  Here is where it all pays off – when you close the opportunity as lost, you can append the competitor to the opportunity closing record along with the reason you lost. While no-one likes to lose a deal, tracking the reasons you lost is a learning experience that can help you in future opportunities.

Reporting on Competitors

Recording competitors in Dynamics 365 give you lots more data points for charts, views, dashboards and reports. Try tracking competitors win/loss ratios, strength analysis, and other data points. The more you know your competition, the more likely you are to win against them.

Tracking your competitors in Dynamics 365 gives your organization the ability to win more deals. enCloud9 can also help you win more deals by designing a custom Dynamics 365 CRM system that fits your business needs. Feel free to contact us on our webform or call us at 402-235-8540.

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