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Case study · Industrial manufacturing

Quotes out the same day, forecasts people believe

B2B manufacturers often run sales from inboxes and spreadsheets, with quotes built by hand and a forecast nobody trusts. This is how we set up Dynamics 365 Sales with ERP pricing, approval rules and a pipeline sales managers can manage from.

Project overview

Dynamics 365 Sales connected to ERP pricing.

Industry
Industrial manufacturing
Client
Confidential
Solution
Sales pipeline and quoting
Platform
Dynamics 365 Sales
Timeline
10–16 weeks
Team
4 people
ERP link
Prices, stock, order history
Email
Outlook integration
Users
Sales, estimating, management

Expected business outcomes

What the client set out to achieve

The gains come from faster quoting and a pipeline that reflects reality.

  • 50–70% Faster quote turnaround

    Quotes built from ERP prices and product templates instead of copied from old quotes.

    Target range; depends on product complexity

  • Weekly Forecast reviews from the pipeline

    Sales managers review one pipeline instead of collecting spreadsheets.

    Where opportunities are updated weekly

  • 10–20% More quotes followed up

    Reminders and task lists stop quotes being forgotten after they are sent.

    Target range across B2B quote-led sales

Business challenges

How B2B sales ran before

Every salesperson has a system, and none of them are the same.

Accounts

Customer contacts in personal Outlook folders and business cards.

Quotes

Built in Word or Excel by copying a similar old quote and changing the prices.

Pricing

Salespeople phone the office to check prices and stock.

Follow-up

Quotes go out and are chased only if someone remembers.

Forecast

Managers collect spreadsheets every month and adjust them by instinct.

Proposed solution

What the Dynamics 365 Sales build covers

Standard Sales, configured for quote-led selling and connected to the ERP.

  • Accounts and contacts

    Every customer with contacts, sites, history and ERP order data in one record.

  • Opportunities

    A pipeline with stages that match how deals really progress, with probability and value.

  • Quote builder

    Quotes from product templates with ERP prices, discounts and delivery estimates.

  • Approvals

    Discounts above a threshold routed to a manager before the quote goes out.

  • Outlook integration

    Emails and meetings tracked against accounts from Outlook.

  • Forecasting

    Forecasts by territory and product line from the live pipeline.

Project requirements

What the client asked us for

The request was 'a CRM', but the value is in quoting. If building a quote in Dynamics is faster than copying an old one, salespeople use it and the pipeline follows.

We connect to the ERP early, because prices, stock and order history are what make the CRM worth opening.

What the project had to deliver

  • 01One record per customer
  • 02Quotes in minutes with the right prices
  • 03Discount approvals before sending
  • 04A forecast from real data

Key challenges & considerations

What made it harder, and what we did

  1. Complex product options and pricing

    What we did

    Product options and pricing rules were built into a guided quote, so a valid quote could be produced in minutes.

  2. Salespeople who work mostly on the road

    What we did

    The mobile app and Outlook integration let salespeople update deals between visits.

  3. Distributors and end customers on the same deal

    What we did

    Distributors and end customers were linked on the same opportunity, each with a clear role.

  4. ERP data that needs cleaning first

    What we did

    ERP customer and product data was cleaned and connected before go-live, so quotes used real prices.

What we watched for

  • Make quoting faster than the old way
  • Connect ERP data before go-live
  • Keep pipeline stages few and clear
  • Let one team shape the setup first

Development process

Quoting first, pipeline second

We build the part salespeople gain most from, so adoption doesn't depend on mandates.

  1. Stage 1

    Sales process mapping

    Stages, quote types and approval rules agreed with sales leadership.

  2. Stage 2

    ERP integration

    Customers, products, prices and order history synchronised.

  3. Stage 3

    Quote builder

    Templates and pricing tested with estimators on real recent quotes.

  4. Stage 4

    Pilot team

    One sales team goes live and shapes the final setup.

  5. Stage 5

    Rollout and forecasting

    All teams live, forecasting switched on and managers trained.

Technology stack

Dynamics 365 Sales with the ERP behind it

Standard Microsoft components wherever possible.

CRM

  • Dynamics 365 Sales
  • Quote templates
  • Business process flows

Integration

  • Dataverse
  • ERP connector
  • Power Automate

Productivity

  • Outlook app
  • Teams
  • Mobile app

Reporting

  • Forecasting
  • Power BI

Quality assurance & deployment

Tested by the people who use it every day

A CRM succeeds when people choose to use it. Every process was tested with real users on real scenarios, and data migration was rehearsed until the record counts agreed.

  • Scenario testing with users from each role
  • Migration rehearsals, with record counts reconciled
  • Integration tests for every connected system
  • Security roles checked against real job roles
  • Solutions moved between environments as managed releases

Deployment

  • 01Pilot teamOne sales team goes live and shapes the final setup.
  • 02Rollout and forecastingAll teams live, forecasting switched on and managers trained.
  • 03Phased go-liveOne team or region first, then the rest, each wave with training by role.
  • 04Hypercare and warrantyDaily support through the first weeks, and six months of free bug fixing.

Final deliverables

A sales team working from one system

Salespeople build quotes in Dynamics because it is faster, and every quote becomes part of a pipeline managers can see.

Forecast meetings move from arguing about spreadsheets to discussing the deals that matter.

  • Quotes with ERP pricing
  • Approvals built in
  • Emails tracked to accounts
  • A pipeline-based forecast

Handed over to the client

  • 01Configured Dynamics 365Production and test environments
  • 02Solutions and integrationsAs managed, documented releases
  • 03Migrated dataWith record counts reconciled
  • 04Training by roleWith short guides
  • 05Six-month warrantyFree bug fixing after delivery

Success metrics

How success is measured

MeasureOutcomeHow it is measured
Faster quote turnaround 50–70% Target range; depends on product complexity
Forecast reviews from the pipeline Weekly Where opportunities are updated weekly
More quotes followed up 10–20% Target range across B2B quote-led sales

Verified reviews

What clients say about our Dynamics work

Verified reviews from our clients on the same kind of work, published on Clutch.

5.0 27 verified reviews

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