How To See Your CRM Performance Metrics in Outlook Before You Even Open Your Inbox

The other day I received a question from an Executive Sponsor on one of my CRM projects. We recently had been reviewing and modeling the capabilities of Dashboards in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011. He was obviously impressed and so excited to use them that he asked me if it was possible to see CRM Dashboards immediately upon opening Microsoft Outlook as opposed to first seeing his Inbox. After researching this, I found out you can do this by changing your Outlook settings. I have shared the necessary instructions below for Outlook 2010.

1. While in Outlook, click File in the Upper left and then click Options.

2. Click Advanced and then click Browse.

3. Scroll down and open the folder for your CRM Outlook Client (ours is called “CEIPROD”), open Workplace, open My Work, select Dashboards, and hit OK.

4. Confirm Dashboards appears in the “Start Outlook in this folder” field and hit OK.

5. Close out of Outlook, open it back up and Dashboards should be the first thing you see.  You can always change the default Dashboard for Users based on their unique role in the firm.

6. If you change your mind and want to change back to having your Inbox appear first when you start Outlook, just follow the above and select “Inbox” for Step 3.

To sum up, rather than coming into the office every morning and going through the monotony of seeing how many emails you have to clean up, sort through, and respond to, why not instead be greeted by a much more exciting performance tracking Dashboard, such as the one below?

After all, knowing how your individual, team, office, territory, and overall firm performance stacks up will dictate how you reply and manage your email communications and daily tasks going forward. Essentially, by checking out the Dashboards first thing in your Outlook, you will be more informed and in control of helping yourself, your peers, and your organization get better every day. The personalized quick snapshots will highlight where you need to focus your time and efforts so you can adjust on the fly to get things done faster and more effectively.

For more consultative CRM and strategic voice of the customer tips and tricks for your industry vertical, please visit www.customereffective.com. Lastly, to see and hear firsthand how Microsoft Dynamics CRM working directly within your familiar Outlook application can increase your productivity and performance, please contact info@customereffective.com.