SALES AF. | ISSUE 004 | THE NEWS DESK
News. Insights. Opinions. Opportunity.
Your CRM Has a New Job. Finally.
EDITOR'S NOTE.
Hey, sales people. If you've ever finished a day of customer meetings only to spend another hour updating your CRM, this one's for you. Microsoft, HubSpot and Gong are building toward a world where software does more of the busywork. About time.
THE BIG DEAL.
The CRM Is Moving Into the Background.
Microsoft announced 30 prebuilt Dynamics 365 skills to bring customer context and CRM actions into Microsoft 365 Copilot and Teams. Sellers can surface at-risk deals, work on account plans, and propose updates closer to where they're already working.
HubSpot's Fall 2026 Spotlight is pushing a related idea: a Smart CRM that captures customer interactions and helps keep records current.
WHY IT MATTERS. CRM adoption has traditionally meant asking sellers to enter better data. The new pitch is to capture more of that information from everyday work. Less switching tabs might create more time for customers, but only if the records stay accurate.
THE SALES AF. TAKE: The best CRM might be the one you barely notice you're using.
QUICK HITS.
01 / Gong moves from data to action. Gong announced Enrich, Agent Builder, and additional AI capabilities for revenue workflows.
THE SIGNAL: Conversation intelligence vendors want to influence what happens next, not just describe what happened.
02 / HubSpot wants fewer manual updates. Its Fall 2026 Spotlight highlights a self-updating Smart CRM and a rebuilt Breeze Assistant.
THE SIGNAL: Better data and faster workflows are increasingly being sold together.
03 / Microsoft brings CRM into Teams. Dynamics 365 CRM experiences are being introduced in Teams as part of Microsoft's agentic sales push.
THE SIGNAL: Enterprise sales workflows may become less dependent on a dedicated CRM screen.
AI + SALES.
Better Data Isn't Better Discovery.
AI can summarize calls and update opportunities. Great. It still cannot replace the judgment required to uncover an unstated customer concern or build executive trust.
TRY THIS: Find one weekly CRM task your team repeats. Ask what should be automated and how you'd verify the output.
THE SALES AF. TAKE: Let technology handle administration. Spend the time on better selling.
BEFORE YOU GO.
If your CRM updated itself perfectly, what would your team finally have time to do?
Hopefully something better than another pipeline hygiene meeting.
Know someone who lives and breathes sales? Forward this issue.
Less noise. More signal. Better conversations.