Dynamics 365
Power Platform
Dynamics
Cloud & Productivity
Sales Qualification Agent
Research and qualify more leads so sellers can focus on the best opportunities
The Sales Qualification Agent is an AI agent built into Dynamics 365 Sales. It researches eligible leads, evaluates how well they match your ideal customer profile, and can reach out by email to assess buying interest. Leads that meet your qualification and handoff criteria are passed to sellers, helping your team prioritize promising opportunities without spending as much time on manual research.
Business challenge
Too much time on unqualified leads, too little on promising opportunities
Sales teams invest time researching companies, sending initial emails, and following up—only to discover that a lead isn’t a good fit or has no buying interest. That effort leaves less time to understand qualified prospects’ needs, build relationships, and move opportunities forward. Without a consistent way to assess fit and interest early, sellers struggle to know where their attention will make the biggest difference.
Manual research for every lead
Sellers piece together company information, CRM history, and potential needs before they can judge whether a lead deserves further attention.
Buying interest remains unclear
A company may fit your target profile without having an active need or purchase timeline. Establishing interest takes additional outreach and follow-up.
Inconsistent qualification
When every seller judges fit in their own way, good leads get dropped and weak ones take up time in the pipeline.
Features
Qualify leads at scale without losing the personal touch
The Sales Qualification Agent supports two operating modes. In research-only mode, it researches eligible leads, evaluates their fit, and prepares information for sellers to review. In research and engage mode, it also conducts personalized email outreach, follows up with prospects, and evaluates buying interest before handing leads over according to your qualification rules.
Give sellers a clearer picture of each lead
The agent brings together available CRM information and external research to help sellers understand potential customers before starting a conversation. For eligible leads, it presents research findings in a centralized Lead research page, helping your sales team evaluate customer fit and prepare more relevant outreach.
For eligible leads, sellers can review:
- Company background, relevant news, and available CRM history
- An explanation of how the lead matches your ideal customer profile
- Personalized outreach email drafts that sellers can review and send
- Suggested next steps based on the agent’s research findings
Let the agent handle outreach and follow-up
In research and engage mode, the agent can contact selected leads, conduct early email conversations, and follow up according to your configuration. It evaluates customer-profile fit, buying interest, and qualification criteria before handing leads over to sellers based on your organization’s rules.
In this mode, the agent can:
- Send personalized outreach and follow-up emails to multiple eligible leads
- Answer common prospect questions using approved knowledge sources and instructions
- Evaluate qualification criteria such as budget, authority, need, and timeline (BANT)
- Provide activity and qualification insights through the Agent insights dashboard
Give your sellers more time with the leads that matter
We'll walk you through how the Sales Qualification Agent would work with your leads, from shaping your ideal customer profile to choosing the right mode for your team. Let's talk about where it fits in your sales process.
How it works
From new lead to seller handoff in five steps
The Sales Qualification Agent follows a structured qualification process, researching eligible leads and evaluating their fit before preparing them for seller review or autonomous outreach, depending on the selected operating mode.
Pick up new leads
The agent identifies leads that meet your configured selection criteria, such as lead source, rating, or region. Eligible records must contain sufficient information for the agent to perform its research.
Research the company
The agent gathers available information about the lead and their organization from Dynamics 365 Sales, public websites, and approved internal knowledge sources.
Check the fit
The agent compares the lead’s characteristics against your ideal customer profile and identifies areas of alignment or potential gaps.
Start the conversation
In research-only mode, the agent prepares outreach email drafts for sellers to review and send. In research and engage mode, it can send personalized emails, respond to supported questions, and follow up according to configured rules.
Hand off or disqualify
The agent evaluates leads against your organization’s qualification and handoff criteria. Qualifying leads are passed to sellers through configured assignment rules, while other leads may be marked as unqualified or receive additional follow-up, depending on the operating mode and configuration.
Compatibility & requirements
Getting started with the Sales Qualification Agent
The Sales Qualification Agent comes with Dynamics 365 Sales, so there is nothing extra to install, and you pay only for the work it does through Copilot Credits. A few settings need to be in place before it starts, and our team can set them up for you.
Here is what we help you put in place:
- Dynamics 365 Sales Professional, Enterprise, or Premium, with the required Copilot Studio licensing and Copilot Credits
- Administrative permissions, an agent identity, and appropriate security roles
- Exchange server-side synchronization and a shared mailbox for autonomous email outreach
- Lead selection criteria, ideal customer profiles, and seller handoff rules
- Required Power Platform data policies and access to approved knowledge sources
- In-app notifications and the modern Sales Hub interface
Why partner with Rand Group?
Built around your sales process
We start by understanding how your team manages leads, from initial capture through qualification and seller handoff. We then help configure the agent’s ideal customer profile, lead selection criteria, handoff rules, and email instructions to align with your sales process.
Support that keeps going
Our 90% client retention rate comes from staying involved long after setup. Across 1,200+ clients and 3,000+ engagements, we have helped teams fine-tune their systems as their needs change, and we do the same as you refine what a good lead looks like.
Close to your sales team
With consultants across the United States and Canada, Rand Group provides support aligned with your team’s needs. We help sellers and managers understand how to work with agent-qualified leads, review research findings, and use the Agent insights dashboard to monitor performance.
Proven Dynamics 365 Sales expertise
Rand Group is a Microsoft Solutions Partner recognized on CRM Software Blog’s Best Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM Partner List. Our experience implementing Dynamics 365 Sales and developing AI agents helps organizations evaluate where Microsoft’s Sales Qualification Agent meets their needs and where a custom solution may provide additional value.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is the Dynamics 365 Sales Qualification Agent?
The Sales Qualification Agent is an AI agent built into Dynamics 365 Sales. It researches eligible leads, evaluates their fit with your ideal customer profile, and helps initiate outreach. Depending on the selected operating mode, it can prepare emails for sellers or engage prospects autonomously before handing qualified leads to your sales team.
To see how it works alongside the platform’s other agents, read our overview of AI agents in Dynamics 365 Sales.
What is the difference between research-only and research and engage mode?
In research-only mode, the agent researches leads, evaluates their fit with your ideal customer profile, and prepares outreach emails for sellers to review and send. It also supports lead handoff and supervisor notifications. In research and engage mode, the agent additionally sends emails, follows up with prospects, answers supported questions, and evaluates buying interest before handing leads over according to your qualification rules. Organizations can configure one operating mode at a time. You can upgrade from research-only to research and engage mode, but Microsoft does not currently support switching back.
How is the Sales Qualification Agent priced?
The Sales Qualification Agent is available with Dynamics 365 Sales Professional, Enterprise, and Premium. Using the agent consumes Copilot Credits for activities such as researching leads, evaluating customer-profile fit, and generating outreach emails. Dynamics 365 Sales Premium includes 1,000 Copilot Credits per licensed user per month. Additional credits can be purchased through prepaid capacity or pay-as-you-go billing through Azure. Viewing previously generated research insights does not consume additional credits.
For more detail, see our breakdown of how Microsoft Copilot Credits work, including usage, costs, and limits.
Where does the agent get its information?
The Sales Qualification Agent uses available data from Dynamics 365 Sales, including lead and account information, to help evaluate potential customers. It can also research publicly available company information and use approved internal knowledge sources, such as SharePoint documents, to support lead research and outreach. The quality and completeness of available information can affect the agent’s research findings and recommendations.
Will the agent email leads without a seller seeing it first?
Only in research and engage mode. When configured for autonomous engagement, the agent can generate and send outreach and follow-up emails based on your organization’s instructions, qualification criteria, and approved knowledge sources. In research-only mode, the agent prepares email drafts, but sellers are responsible for reviewing and sending them. Organizations should test the agent’s behavior and email content before enabling autonomous outreach.
What can't the Sales Qualification Agent do?
The agent currently works with the standard lead table in Dynamics 365 Sales rather than custom lead tables. It also requires sufficient company information to research a lead and a valid email address for autonomous outreach. The agent processes leads that meet your configured selection criteria rather than automatically researching every CRM record. Organizations can upgrade from research-only to research and engage mode, but cannot currently switch back to research-only after upgrading.
Can we test the agent before using it with real leads?
Yes. Microsoft recommends testing the Sales Qualification Agent in a sandbox or test environment before enabling it in production. Organizations can also use narrow lead selection criteria and review generated research and outreach content before expanding deployment. Because the two operating modes have different capabilities and limitations, it is important to evaluate your requirements before selecting research and engage mode.
Can Rand Group customize the Sales Qualification Agent?
Microsoft doesn’t allow partners to change how this agent works behind the scenes. Even so, most of what it acts on can be adjusted, from the leads it works on to the knowledge it uses and the emails it writes. If you need something beyond that, Rand Group can build a custom agent around your process. Learn more about our AI agent services.