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New Microsoft Dynamics CRM Free 60 Day Trial

Aug 29, 2008
Trials

Microsoft is now hosting a free 60 trial version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM at http://www.hostedmicrosoftcrmtrial.com/signup1.aspx. It’s pretty nice in that it offers some guidance on how to use it and it’s fully functional. 

Here are a couple of thoughts I have about it:

1. No Microsoft Outlook

It uses the browser-based web version of Dynamics CRM and not the version that runs from within Microsoft Outlook. 

When you buy a license of Dynamics CRM it includes both versions and you can decide to use either or both depending on your needs. Most companies are really interested in the Outlook version because that’s where sales, marketing, and service people spend a good part of their day. 

So, what I’m getting is while this trial is nice it’s not showing a critical part of Dynamics CRM which might not give you a full idea of what the system is capable of.

2. Mixed Feelings on Trials

I tend to feel trials are more suited toward basic software that doesn’t need to be customized. Like photo organizer or scrapbook software. 

Dynamics CRM is an easy to use application that offers a lot of built-in features and functionality. The trial should do a good job of showing you how it looks and its basic functionality. 

My concern is some companies may have questions that the trial may not give a clear answer on. I’ve heard comments like “I can’t believe it doesn’t have (a specific feature)” when it actually does have the feature. Or it doesn’t have the feature but it could easily be added.

If you’re evaluating Dynamics CRM and the trial answers your questions, great.  But for companies who may have more complex needs the trial doesn’t address, then what? I would suggest contacting a Microsoft Dynamics CRM consultant or consulting firm specializing in Microsoft Dynamics CRM and ask them to help you with your evaluation. They should be able to answer your questions and show you how the product works based on your unique needs. 

When I do a demo for a company I always suggest that we lightly customize it by adding some data fields, changing names, and adding some of the company’s data. I then walk through a “day-in-the-life” of a user like a salesperson or executive. This always gives them a better idea of how the system could work for their unique company.   

So in summary, the trial is great but it may not be enough to help you see how well Dynamics CRM fits your company.

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Sending HTML Emails in Microsoft Dynamics CRM

Jul 22, 2008
Tips & Tricks

 

One of the questions I’ve been getting about Dynamics CRM a lot lately is “Why can’t you create and send HTML based emails with images and other pretty stuff”?

 

Well, you can. It’s just not obvious. When you go to create an email template or just send a web form email through Dynamics CRM you won’t see anything that says “add image” or “upload HTML file”.  It looks like the only options are simple stuff like changing font color and creating bullet lists.  If you try to copy and paste HTML code you just end up with HTML code.

 

There’s a “hidden feature” of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. It’s called Copy and Paste. That’s right. You can copy and paste a webpage into a Dynamics CRM email form or template and it should show up perfectly (unless the HTML code is crappy).

 

Perform the following steps to get the hang of how to do it:

  1. Open Internet Explorer (I’m using version 7.0) and go to your favorite website (yes, any website)
  2. Somewhere in the webpage click the right button on your mouse and click “Select all” from the option list
  3. Click the right button on your mouse again and click “Copy”
  4. Open Microsoft Dynamics CRM
    1. If you’re using CRM for Microsoft Outlook, open Outlook, go to the top menu area where it says “File, Edit, View, etc) and click CRM, and click “Options” from the list
    2. If you’re using the web based version of CRM, go the top menu area, click “Tools” and select “Options” from the list
  5. On the Set Personal Options window that opens, click the “Email Templates” tab, click the “New” icon, choose a Template Type
  6. On the Email Template form that opens, place your mouse cursor in the large text area and do a Ctrl-V paste with your keyboard (press and hold the “Ctrl” key while simultaneously pressing the “V” key)
  7. Ta-da! You should see the exact webpage with images, colors, and links

So you’re thinking “that’s great but how the heck do I get the marketing newsletter from my HTML editor into CRM”? Here are a couple more things to note:

  1. Most popular HTML editors, such as good ole’ Microsoft Frontpage, have a few different editing modes like “code” and “design”. In the design mode, copy the webpage (not the HTML code) and paste it into the CRM email.
  2. The email images must be stored somewhere where your email recipients can have access to view them. Since most people that receive your email won’t have security permission to access the images on your computer you’ll need to transfer them somewhere accessible. One option would be to talk to your website administrator about putting them on your company’s website server (e.g. yourcompany.com/newsletterimages). You’ll just need to make sure your HTML code path matches the location of the images.

 After you get the hang of this it’s pretty easy.

 

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