CRM Talk

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Analysis of the latest CRM industry news. Discussions about CRM best practices and how to succeed with CRM.

Steve Chipman & Sam Biardo


    • Apr 17, 2025 LATEST EPISODE
    • monthly NEW EPISODES
    • 31m AVG DURATION
    • 130 EPISODES


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    Latest episodes from CRM Talk

    124 Jen Noonan of Infor

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 17, 2025 39:02


    Jennifer Noonan, VP and GM of CX and IPMC Business Units at Infor, joins Steve and Sam to discuss the evolution of Infor CRM SLX (formerly SalesLogix) and its role in industry-specific digital transformation. Jen shares how Infor's vertically aligned strategy enables the delivery of tailored ERP and CRM solutions to manufacturing, distribution, and service-based organizations. The conversation covers CRM and ERP integration, quoting workflows, and why CRM should be the system of engagement while ERP remains the system of record. Jen also reflects on Koch Industries' long-term investment approach and how it has accelerated innovation across Infor's cloud offerings.

    123 CRM Readiness Challenge

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 28, 2025 31:41


    Is your organization ready for CRM? Sam and Steve discuss the ten readiness statements from CRM Switch's online calculator: https://crm-readiness-calculator.crmswitch.com/

    122 AI Agent Ascension

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 7, 2024 29:08


    In this episode of CRM Talk, Steve Chipman and Sam Biardo discuss AI agents and their impact on business. They talk about how AI agents have evolved from basic IVR functionality to sophisticated business tools. Steve mentions Greg Eisenberg's insights about various types of agents (acquisition, research, content, and community agents) and how they're replacing human tasks at a fraction of the cost ($2,000 in agent costs vs $2 million in salary costs). They discuss Salesforce's Agentforce, with Steve noting Marc Benioff's aggressive marketing against Microsoft's Copilot. Sam shares his experience using Copilot and discusses implementing AI in their Starfish product, including their pricing strategy of raising rates to cover AI token costs. They also explore various pricing models for AI services, from token-based to per-question pricing, and discuss the integration trends they're seeing in the industry, particularly with ServiceNow, HubSpot, and Infor. The conversation concludes with a discussion of sales tax software integration needs and AI-powered headshot generation tools. Sam LinkedIn : linkedin.com/in/sambiardo/ Steve LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/schipman/ Steve X: @stevechipman

    121 Deploying CRM Successfully

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 23, 2024 33:08


    Sam Biardo of Technology Advisors and Steve Chipman of CRM Switch discuss the changes and trends in CRM implementations over the past few years. The key points discussed include the shift towards low-code/no-code platforms, the transition from on-premise to cloud-based solutions, the reduced need for developers and increased reliance on business analysts, the growing involvement of clients in the configuration process, and the emphasis on delivering a minimally viable product (MVP) in shorter implementation cycles to minimize risk and provide faster value realization. Other topics covered include the importance of planning and phasing, integration challenges with legacy systems, project management and AI tools, reporting and dashboard creation, measuring success criteria, and data migration best practices.

    120 HubSpot vs. Salesforce

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 26, 2024 42:21


    Sam and Steve discuss the high-level differences between these top CRM vendors. Topics include: Vendor Overviews Scope and Complexity of Business Needs Extending the CRM Database Native vs. Integrated Marketing Functionality The Consultant Ecosystems The HubSpot & Salesforce App Marketplaces Freemium vs. Only Pay-For Scope of Product Offerings AI Features Business Process Automation Tools The User Experience and Interface At the end, we tack on a AI version of the podcast created with NotebookLM which was derived from this blog post: https://crmswitch.com/buying-crm/hubspot-salesforce-differences/

    119 Sati Hillyer of OneMob

    Play Episode Listen Later May 17, 2024 34:30


    Steve and Sam talk to Sati Hillyer, founder, and CEO of OneMob, about his journey from starting the AppExchange at Salesforce to developing and advancing his company's video platform for sellers over an almost ten-year period. With a OneMob microsite, sellers can provide context, content, and a clear next step for the prospect.

    118 Always Be Video Closing

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 9, 2024 32:37


    Sam and Steve are joined by Jon Richards of Evolve Video Marketing. We discuss today's buyer, using video in the sales process, how digital sales rooms work, and getting salespeople to adopt tools like OneMob.

    jon richards onemob
    117 Ross Simmonds of Foundation Marketing

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 15, 2024 41:57


    Steve and Sam interview Ross Simmonds, the leading authority on content distribution and using AI in marketing.

    116 Quote-to-Crypto

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 31, 2024 31:01


    Steve and Sam discuss quote-to-cash (Q2C) solutions that enable sales teams to quickly generate quotes and receive more orders. They cover use cases for field and desk-based sales, components like CPQ and eSignature integrations, rule-based guidance, and vendor solutions from Conga to MobileForce. Also discussed are sales scenarios with frequent pricing changes, needed integrations, and evaluating vendors based on industry-specific requirements.

    115 Your Perfect AI Self

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 14, 2023 32:54


    AI-generated summary In this episode, Sam and Steve discuss the benefits of podcasting for marketing versus blogging, based on data showing more people per podcast than per blog. It then covers a survey showing that most marketers are using at least some AI to generate blog content, with the risk of too much AI hurting search rankings.  Sam and Steve agree AI is best for outlines and some after-the-fact SEO optimization, while human-written content ranks better. They discuss various uses of AI in marketing, like generating content sections, outlines, titles/descriptions, Tweets, LinkedIn posts, images, presentations, and videos. Key takeaways are that AI is extremely helpful for accelerating content creation and distribution but should be used carefully and edited by humans for the best results. The hosts emphasize keeping human-created, original text for critical content like blogs. They note AI content lacks nuance and sounds formulaic if not edited. Data shows that human-optimized content ranks better in search. Other topics include using AI for sales enablement assets, contracts, policies, CRM, training, and deflecting questions. AI is great for outlines, titles, descriptions, and images, but human creativity is essential for resonance and ranking. X thread prompt "Create an X (formerly Twitter) thread from this article https://yourcompany.com/blog/postname.  Ignore the information in the page's footer. Create a 5-part thread, with 3-4 lines each. Each part should lead the reader to read the next part of the thread. Do not use hashtags."

    114 Is SEO Dead?

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 10, 2023 29:53


    Steve and Sam talk about the state of SEO in the context of CRM and leads.

    113 CRM AI Use Cases

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 12, 2023 31:31


    Sam and Steve discuss CRM AI use cases for sales, marketing, customer service, customization & configuration, data migration & integration, analytics, and automations.

    112 Dumbed Down By AI

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 25, 2023 37:09


    Sam & Steve forget how to think on their own, Enterprise AI megatrends, using ChatGPT for CRM test cases and test data

    111 Generative CRM & Marketing

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 13, 2023 34:23


    Tech layoffs, low-code development, ChatGPT in marketing, social media marketing

    110 How Low Can You Code?

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 18, 2022 30:26


    CRM and CRM-related news & information for April 2022.

    109 Scott Eller of Neuraswitch

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 22, 2022 31:54


    Steve and Sam talk to Scott Eller, Chief Relationship Officer & Co-founder of Neuraswitch about transcription, redaction, and sentiment analysis.

    108 Skynet Marketing

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 23, 2021 33:23


    A rundown of current marketing & sales AIs.

    107 Mathematical CRM Failure

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 8, 2021 39:10


    106 Kevin Snow of Time On Target

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 30, 2021 32:21


    #InternationalPodcastDay

    target kevin snow time on target
    105 Andy Zambito of Creatio

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 30, 2021 29:54


    Andy Zambito, Chief Sales Officer, Americas at Creatio, joins Sam & Steve to talk about process management, CRM, digital transformation, low-code, tailored experiences, differentiation, speed of change, speed of operations, and more.

    104 Listmania Part Deux

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 23, 2021 28:55


    10 questions you should ask when looking at integrating your CRM, 5 reasons a spreadsheet is not a database, 8 plugins to use with your new Wordpress site (relating to Google's new page experience standard)

    103 Are You Listicling?

    Play Episode Listen Later May 6, 2021 30:03


    Sam and Steve verbally expand on several of their respective listicles. Source posts are: 10 Questions you Must Ask When Selecting a CRM 5 Levels of CRM Requirements 8 Website Issues That May be Costing You Sales Leads

    102 Jeffrey Russo of HubSpot

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 14, 2021 28:34


    An interview with Jeffrey Russo, Director of Product, Sales Hub Go-to-Market at HubSpot. HubSpot's evolution from a marketing system to broader front office solution, focusing on the needs of the user experience, streamlining the quote-to-cash process, moving up market, getting "technical debt" that exists within organizations out of the way of the customer experience, applying functionality such as automations across different departments and use cases, HubSpot's durable partner channel, Conversation Intelligence, sales coaching based on transcripts, applying machine learning to transcripts, honoring two party states & countries, HubSpot's advantage for applying revenue attribution to marketing efforts.

    101 CRM Millions and Billions

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 12, 2021 29:33


    Creatio raises $68 million, HubSpot goes enterprise, Sugar's HD-CX, AWS and AI, Salesforce eyes $50 billion in five years. Creatio's first ever funding announcement video Rich Green's Deep Learning & Time video

    100 VAXRM

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 29, 2021 32:29


    Salesforce's Vaccine Cloud, Sam's vaccine shot scheduling nightmare, Sam's joint webinar with Creatio, CRM 3.0, how low code/no code has altered roles in CRM deployment & management, field service, ABM, video selling, video training, CRM best practice videos, de-densifying your slide decks, HubSpot's customer code deck, explaining difficult to explain concepts, telling a story, content distribution.

    099 Slackquisition

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 21, 2020 33:20


    Salesforce's acquisition of Slack (and Acumen), SugarCRM acquires its largest partner W-Systems, CRM vendors & leads, getting found for CRM searches, Creatio's 24 hour event, low-code solutions, BA to developer ratios, Facebook acquires Kustomer, visual development tools & whether they are necessarily simple, the Microsoft/C3.ai/Adobe alliance, CRM predictions for 2021.

    098 Wistia Adds Audio

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 7, 2020 15:39


    An interview with Josh Johnson, senior product manager at Wistia, about Wistia's new audio hosting platform for marketers. Learn more about the audio offering. Chris Lavigne's excellent post and video about how to build a Soapbox Station for video recording.

    097 David Campbell of SugarCRM

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 23, 2020 37:04


    David Campbell, Vice President of Product Marketing at SugarCRM, joins Sam & Steve to discuss sales, marketing, customer support, data, AI and the customer experience.

    096 Muting Rogan

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 1, 2020 35:57


    The west coast in flames, whether a podcaster should host the next presidential debate, CRM product news from Inforum, updates from HubSpot's virtual Inbound conference.

    095 Emoji Queries❓

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 6, 2020 33:02


    Sam's commitment to golf, the NHL and NBA bubbles, deploying CRM & training CRM users during a pandemic, using emojis for product searches, the most effective forms of marketing in 2020

    094 Zooming Requirements

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 25, 2020 34:15


    A moratorium on CEO interviews, iOS 14 & location tracking, an "off the grid" mobile option, marketers' digital transformation, new Google My Business features, gathering requirements & conducting online workshops.

    093 Meteorologist Backdroppings

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 30, 2020 30:32


    Musings about online meeting technologies and how they're being used. How CRM vendors are helping out with discounts and free components.

    092 Adaptation

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 21, 2020 27:02


    Sam & Steve talk about ways to adapt your sales and marketing to our current reality.

    adaptation sam steve
    091 Work Distancing

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 13, 2020 29:20


    090 Craig Charlton, CEO - SugarCRM

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 17, 2020 32:26


    089 CRM AI Demixed

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 20, 2019 33:56


    088 Power Shutoffs & Parasites

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 25, 2019 28:11


    Reasons for our absence -- long vacations, Public Service Power Shutoffs and parasites. bpm'online becomes Creatio. More Salesforce acquisition rumors. Dreamforce '19 report. Video outreach. Observations on Gartner Magic Quadrants. CRM industry maturity and commoditization. Accelerated release cycles by CRM vendors. Vendors increasingly aligning their offerings around analysts' "three pillar" expectations.

    087 Beta Blues

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 24, 2019 25:01


    Sam's iOS 13 beta testing blues, Gartner Magic Quadrant for Sales Force Automation, a variety of HubSpot to CRM integrations, declining website visitor conversion rates.

    086 Rich Green of SugarCRM

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 28, 2019 30:02


    Rich Green is Chief Product Officer and CTO at SugarCRM. Rich leads SugarCRM's engineering and product management teams and is responsible for the product vision and global strategy of the award-winning Sugar platform. In this episode, Sam and Steve ask Rich for his perspectives on and his vision for CRM.

    085 Widespread CRM Panic

    Play Episode Listen Later May 18, 2019 32:01


    Massive Salesforce outage, multi-tenant vs. single tenant hosted CRM databases, SugarCRM acquires Collabspot and Salesfusion, Sugar's new quoting module, Sage sunsets SageCRM Online, bpm'online's low code no code, citizen developers.

    084 Max Altschuler of Outreach

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 31, 2019 31:45


    Sam & Steve talk to Max Altschuler, Vice President of Marketing at Outreach, about sales engagement and how Outreach facilitates multi-channel sales communication with prospects. Max is co-author of Sales Engagement: How The World's Fastest Growing Companies are Modernizing Sales Through Humanization at Scale.

    marketing vice president scale outreach max altschuler sam steve modernizing sales through humanization
    083 Seedy CRM

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 27, 2019 29:51


    A discussion with Greg Martinelli about CRM in the agricultural business. Greg is an ag sales trainer, coach and speaker. Greg's website.

    082 Polar CRM

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 29, 2019 31:41


    The deep freeze hits Chicago just in time for the bpm'online conference. Sam previews his talk at the conference.

    081 Winery CX

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 9, 2019 36:56


    Sam's latest wine club, when & why Infor CRM wins, a look back at 2018 acquisitions, ContactOut Chrome extension, Wix gets into CRM, "CX" in 2019, CRM in email client sidebars, CRM AI in 2019, 5 CRM trends for 2019, bot backlash.

    080 UX Darkness

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 15, 2018 30:19


    Instead of show notes for this episode, we'd like to use this real estate to provide information about an option for making a donation to victims of the Camp Fire. Since you're most likely reading this on your mobile phone, please text CAWILDFIRES to 90999 to make a $10 donation (the Red Cross and AT&T).

    079 Bionic CRM

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 4, 2018 30:29


    Dreamforce 2018, Inform, CRM AI offerings, SugarCRM's input on why they win deals.

    078 CRM Destinations

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 8, 2018 31:03


    A bad technology day, how we can collectively put an end to call center cold calls, a review of CRM Magazine's 2018 CRM Market Awards winners, The ascents of Microsoft & Zoho, how long it really takes to become a CRM leader, how little separation there is among the top ranked vendors in point scores.

    077 How Suite It Is (For SugarCRM)

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 23, 2018 26:46


    Accel KKR makes a 9 figure investment in SugarCRM. Some of the other potential compatible AKKR companies. Sugar's redesign and re-architecture. Sugar's one-clickedness. Mitch Lieberman's take on the investment and his advice, including going all in on the cloud. How the sales team needs to be more consultative and real. The idea of conversational engagement. The Gartner Magic Quadrant for Sales Force Automation and some of the positional changes since last year. A close pack in the Leader quadrant. bpm'online is alone in the Challenger's quadrant. ProsperWorks rebrands to Copper. Copper's win percentage vs Salesforce. Salesforce and Google are cozying up. Will Google acquire a CRM vendor? Google's Hangouts Meet as a viable online meeting app.

    076 ERP Implementability

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 16, 2018 24:17


    Sam and Steve talk with Joel Schneider, president of Liberty Technology Advisors about what about what should be behind proper ERP selection and implementation processes. Joel answers the question, "is cloud-based ERP as easy as the vendors would lead you to believe?" Joel also addresses many of the factors that people within any organization need to consider before making a decision on an ERP vendor---whether the vendor's offering is cloud or on-premises. The approaches to strategy, selection and implementation for ERP and for CRM are contrasted.

    crm erp joel schneider
    075 CRM Investments & Acquisitions

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 21, 2018 33:56


    Sam and Steve test-drive Zencastr, Pipedrive raises $50 million, smaller vendors be “taking on” the big CRM vendors or is there a better strategy?, Nimble’s approach, Swiftpage’s investment and their focus on “the easiest product on the market to use”, Act! Connect, the Collabspot plugin for Office 365 and G Suite, contact enrichment, marketing approved email templates vs. empowering salespeople, TIBCO buys Scribe Software, data lakes, a deep dive on integration methods.

    074 Artificial Reservations

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 2, 2018 29:52


    The GDPR is in effect, Salesforce earnings, CRM industry growth, data augmentation, CRM and AI, GDPR and ABM, un-gating content, conditional CTA visibility by country, the ultimate objective comparison between Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics 365, image size and SEO, website conversion actions, the FBI’s instruction to reboot your router, Alexa privacy fail, bpm’online's conference and roadmap, their 15 use cases for AI, AI’s potential for sandbagging detection and for booking travel.

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