Welcome to the LinkedIn Sales Insights for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales integration.

This guide helps Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales Full Admins successfully:

  • Configure a Microsoft Dynamics CRM  with LinkedIn Sales Insights and
  • Install, configure, and implement the enrichment of your CRM with data from LinkedIn Sales Insights.

This guide elaborates on the prerequisites, important callouts and procedural information to complete these tasks.  

If you already have a CRM synced with LinkedIn Sales Navigator, you can simply link LinkedIn Sales Insights to the same instance. If your CRM is not synced with LinkedIn Sales Navigator, you can still connect your CRM with LinkedIn Sales Insights.  You can connect your CRM directly from the CRM page in Sales Insights. This section takes you through the following steps:

  1. Choosing your CRM instance.
  2. Signing into the CRM you want to connect to.
  3. Installing the CRM LinkedIn Sales Insights App to enable CRM writeback.

If you connect the CRM directly to Sales Insights rather than through Sales Navigator, the following Sales Navigator integration features will not be available:

  • Reports will not display the option to prioritize accounts by Sales Navigator metrics, such as Sales Connectivity and Sales Navigator Activity.  

  • Account recommendations based on Sales Connectivity and Sales Navigator Activity are not available.

  • While exporting a report, the option to Export to Sales Navigator is not available.  

  • When making match corrections between your connected CRM and LinkedIn company records, the match corrections are not applied to your Sales Navigator CRM connection. 

So, if you do have Sales Navigator, we recommend that you link your CRM in Sales Insights using a Sales Navigator CRM connection.

Before you begin, ensure that you have met the following prerequisites:

  • You are a Full Admin on the LinkedIn Sales Insights contract that you want to connect with Microsoft Dynamics. 
  • You’re logged in as a Dynamics Administrator on any of the following editions:
    • Dynamics: Microsoft Dynamics 2016 online (including 0.1 and update 1 releases)
    • Dynamics 365 (online only), running on version 8.2 or higher
  • You have a JavaScript-enabled browser.
  • You are using an Enterprise account.  

Complete the following steps to connect your CRM to LinkedIn Sales Insights:

  1. Sign in to LinkedIn Sales Insights.
  2. In the main navigation pane, on the top right corner, click CRM: Not Connected
  3. In the CRM integration pop-up, click Settings
  4. Click Manage displayed for Connection Details.

5. In the Setup screen, review the information displayed and click Set up new instance.  

This launches the guided setup to help you integrate your Microsoft Dynamics CRM with LinkedIn Sales Insights.

6. In the guided setup screen, choose either the Production or Sandbox environment of your CRM and click Login.

Currently, we only support connecting to one CRM environment at a time – either the production or sandbox environment. To change which CRM environment you’re connected to, you’ll need to disconnect the selected CRM and reconnect to the desired CRM.

7. In the Log into your CRM screen, choose Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales and click Login.  

8. Enter your login credentials and wait till you are logged in to the CRM.

This could take a few minutes, after which the LinkedIn Sales Insights screen will automatically refresh to display the status of your connection to the CRM. If your connection is not successfully established, you can attempt to connect again by clicking Retry.

9. Click Next: Install CRM app to enable writeback of LinkedIn Sales Insights data directly to your CRM.  

10. In the Install Sales Insights app in Microsoft Dynamics screen, to begin installing the App, use the link available in the screen.  

This takes you to the App Exchange from where you can install the App. Click here for instructions on installing the LinkedIn Sales Insights App for Microsoft Dynamics.

After you have installed the CRM app, the LinkedIn Sales Insights page is refreshed and will detect that you have installed the app. The top right panel will show CRM: Microsoft Dynamics. The screen also refreshes to tell you that the LSI App is successfully installed in Microsoft Dynamics.

11. Click Finish and view settings.

12. Review all the settings that are displayed. 

With the LinkedIn Sales Insights for Dynamics 365 Sales integration, your sales organization can access accurate, real-time data from LinkedIn within your CRM. With this integration, using LinkedIn Sales Insights, you can write back firmographic, function, and custom LinkedIn attributes to account records in your CRM using either the Daily or On-Demand options. Using data from LinkedIn Sales Insights, your sales operations team can build better books of business and more effectively guide your sales team to the biggest areas of opportunity.

Note: You can also configure Dynamics 365 data to be used in LinkedIn Sales Navigator. For more information, visit this help center article.

After installing this integration, here are some of guidelines you can keep in mind:

  • Matching: Account data imported to LinkedIn Sales Insights must go through the account matching workflow to ensure that the correct company and Persona attributes are pushed back to the correct account record. You can import account data into Sales Insights via CSV file or by using the CRM integration option. Use the account match scores to review and correct matches before analyzing and exporting accounts from Sales Insights. For more information on account matching, visit this help center article.
  • Credit Expenditure: Account data written back from Sales Insights to the CRM could consume credits if you haven’t purchased the unique account records yet. For information on credit usage, visit this help center article.

This section provides you with information that you’ll need to install the LinkedIn Sales Insights for Dynamics 365 Sales integration. 

Before you begin installing LinkedIn Sales Insights for Dynamics 365 Sales Integration, ensure that you’ve met the following prerequisites:

  • You’ve already synced your Dynamics 365 instance with Sales Insights, either directly or via Sales Navigator's CRM Sync.

If you aren’t sure if this synchronization has been done for your Dynamics 365 instance, please contact your Sales Navigator Admin. If this integration is not done, then your Sales Navigator Admin can sync your CRM via Sales Navigator using the steps outlined in salesnav.in/crm, or can connect your CRM directly to Sales Insights following the steps outlined in Section 2.

  • You have set aside a minimum of 60 minutes to complete the installation and verification process.
  • You’re logged in as a Dynamics Administrator on any of the following editions:

Dynamics: Microsoft Dynamics 2016 online (including 0.1 and update 1 releases)

Dynamics 365 (online only), running on version 8.2 or higher

  • You are a Full Admin on the LinkedIn Sales Insights contract that you want to connect to MS Dynamics 365 Sales.
  • You have a JavaScript-enabled browser.

Complete the following procedure to install LinkedIn Sales Insights for Dynamics 365 application into your Dynamics 365 organization:

1. Review the list of prerequisites before you begin the installation. For more information, please see Prerequisites

2. Download the LinkedIn Sales Insights - D365 package from the following location:

https://appsource.microsoft.com/en-us/product/dynamics-365/mscrm.linkedin_sales_insights

3. Log in to the Dynamics organization. You must be logged in as a Dynamics Full Admin to complete the installation process.

4. Click the Settings icon on the top menu bar and choose Advanced Settings.

The Business Management App opens in a new tab.

5. Click the Settings drop-down menu, and click Solutions displayed under Customizations.

6. On the Solutions page, click Import.

7. In the Select Package to Import wizard, search for and select the downloaded package.

8. Click Next

The installation process is initiated. After the installation process is complete, you will see the LinkedIn Sales Insights for Dynamics application listed in the All Solutions page. 

Complete the following procedure to verify the installation of the LinkedIn Sales Insights package: 

  1. Navigate to the Sales application or any other application you choose. 
  2. Select Accounts under the Customers option in the top menu bar.  
  3. Select an account to verify that the LinkedIn Sales Insights tab is available on the account record.

If the LinkedIn Sales Insights tab is not immediately visible on the account record page, wait for a few minutes. If the tab doesn’t appear, there could be a problem with the installation. Consider repeating the installation process.

After installing and configuring LinkedIn Sales Insights for Dynamics 365, you can test the integration by manually exporting a single account record to the CRM. After you export an account record, on the Account Records page, verify the following:

  • Sales Insights tab is visible, and that all firmographic fields are populated.
  • All fields are populated for the Personas that are set up for export.

After installing and configuring LinkedIn Sales Insights for Dynamics 365 Sales, if you face any problems or errors in performing tasks, review the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) section in this guide.

After you install the LinkedIn Sales Insights for Dynamics 365 application, using the Reports feature, you can view and analyze a list of account records and attributes enriched by LinkedIn Sales Insights.

  1. Log in to Dynamics 365.
  2. Select Advanced Find in the upper right-hand corner of the screen.

3. In the Advanced Find screen, use the Look For field to choose one of the following options:

  • LinkedIn Sales Insights Personas – This report includes a list of accounts with LinkedIn Sales Insights data appended to it so you can effectively analyze your accounts within Dynamics 365. You can also export this report to a CSV format and download it on to your system. 
  • LinkedIn Sales Insights Company Profiles – This report includes a list of company profiles that have been enriched by LinkedIn Sales Insights.
  • Account – This report includes all companies that have Sales Insights profiles.

 

4. If you choose LinkedIn Sales Insights Personas, you can select one of the following available views for the Use Saved View field:

  • LinkedIn Sales Insights Personas by Account
  • LinkedIn Sales Insights Company Personas Count and Growth

5. If you choose LinkedIn Sales Insights Company Profiles, you can select from one of the following available views from the Use Saved View field:

  • Active LinkedIn Sales Insights Company Profiles
  • Inactive LinkedIn Sales Insights Company Profiles

6. If you choose Account, then select LinkedIn Company Profiles by Account option in the Use Saved View field.

LinkedIn Sales Insights components are automatically added to an embedded form on a default account entity. You can also add these LinkedIn Sales Insights components to a custom form or view. You can add these components with any form that is associated with the account entity.

Complete the following procedure to add Sales Insights components to custom view forms:

  1. Log in to the Dynamics organization and click Setup.
  2. Click Customize the System and Default Solution.
  3. From the left pane, expand Components and then Entities.
  4. Expand Account and then click Forms.
Account Forms

5. Locate the form you want to add the Sales Insights components to or create a new form.

6. Open the form and create a new section.

7. In the section, insert a Quick View Form.

Quick View Form

8. Enter a name and label for the form.

9. Specify the following data sources for the form:

  • Lookup: Linkedin Sales Insights Company Profile

  • Related Entity: LinkedIn Sales Insights Company Profile

  • Quick View Form: LinkedIn Sales Insights Company Profile Information

10. Save and republish the form.   

Complete the following procedure to add persona data to custom view forms:

  1. Log in to the Dynamics organization and click Setup.
  2. Click Customize the System and Default Solution.
  3. From the left pane, expand Components and then Entities.
  4. Expand Account and then click Forms.
  5. Locate the form you want add the persona data to or create a new form.
  6. Open the form or create a new section.
  7. From the Insert menu, click Sub-Grid
  8. Enter a name for the grid.
  9. Enter the following values:
  • Records: Only related records
  • Entity: LinkedIn Sales Insights Personas (Account)
  • Default View: LinkedIn Sales Insights Personas (Account)
Sub Grid View

8. Click OK to save and then republish the form.  

To understand LinkedIn Sales Insights and CRM integration better, review the following Help Center articles:

This section provides you with answers to some of the frequently asked questions on the LinkedIn Sales Insights with Dynamics 365 Integration.

Usually, if you purchase Sales Navigator after purchasing Sales Insights, and plan to sync CRM in Sales Navigator, then it is best to disconnect the independent connection in Sales Insights, connect the CRM in Sales Navigator, and then link to the Sales Navigator CRM from LSI. With the same CRM connected to both products, actions taken to improve your CRM from one product will benefit the other. For example, account match corrections performed in LSI will benefit accounts in Sales Navigator.

However, here are a few reasons NOT to disconnect your LSI CRM connection:

  • You have already corrected a significant number of account match corrections in Sales Insights. If you switch to a Sales Navigator CRM connection, those match corrections won't be preserved and you may need to do them again once the Sales Navigator connection is established.  
  • Your company has reservations about syncing the CRM in Sales Navigator because it requires a higher level of permissions granted for objects like leads, whereas Sales Insights requires permissions only at the account level. In this case, you may want to consider syncing only through Sales Insights.

Another option available to you is that you connect your CRM to Sales Navigator and Sales Insights independently, so each product has an independent connection to the same CRM. Actions taken within Sales Insights such as account match corrections will not benefit your Sales Navigator CRM connection, and vice versa, but will avoid the necessity of disconnecting your Sales Insights connection and losing your match corrections.

Consider the following points to understand credit usage in LinkedIn Sales Insights. 

  • LinkedIn Sales Insights consumes one credit for every account that you export. Information on consumed credits appears in the CSV report that you can generate on the Exports page.
  • Downloading CSV account reports does not consume additional credits. 
  • If the process of exporting accounts fails, you can attempt to export the accounts again without consuming additional credits.  
  • Companies purchased in previous reports will also not use additional credits. You can view a complete list of purchased accounts by using the Purchased Accounts option as your source on the Reports page.

After turning on Daily Export, new records with the related Personas are created in Dynamics 365 within 24 hours. You can view the date of the last successful export on the Exports page.

If you are manually exporting records, you can track the status of the export process on the Exports page.  

If you make a change to the configured Persona on the CRM page, please wait 24 hours for the new Persona data to be refreshed in your CRM.

The Writeback to CRM functionality in LinkedIn Sales Insights was built to integrate with your CRM seamlessly and flexibly. You can create custom fields on an account record to which you can write firmographic data points from the LinkedIn Sales Insight custom component to the custom field.

Follow these instructions to create a custom formula to write LinkedIn data to your custom field.

IMPORTANT: You cannot write Persona data to new custom fields on any account record at this time.