125 The Future of CRM with Clint Oram

Steve and Sam are joined by One Chowdhury, founder of the AI-native CRM, Octolane. One shares his incredible journey from a Duke University student who didn't know what a CRM was to a Y Combinator-backed founder aiming to take down Salesforce. He discusses why legacy CRMs are "trapped with their own success" and struggle to adapt to AI, while Octolane is built from the ground up to eliminate manual data entry and give sales reps their time back. Learn how Octolane's 'Action Mode' proactively suggests follow-ups and meeting prep, aiming to turn every user into a 'superhuman seller'. This conversation covers the future of CRM, go-to-market strategy, and building a product that solves the core pains of sales professionals.

Sam and Steve discuss the practical applications of AI in modern sales and marketing. Steve explains his process for using Gemini's Deep Research feature to generate detailed company reports, condensed infographics, and audio summaries for effective account-based marketing. Sam shares his techniques for leveraging AI to create personalized connection requests on LinkedIn and to repurpose podcasts into engaging social media posts. They also explore how AI is changing SEO, shifting the focus from clicks to brand mentions within AI-generated search results.  The conversation covers how AI can transform existing content into new formats and significantly shorten the traditional sales discovery process.

In this episode, Steve and Sam are joined by special guest Clint Oram, who recently left SugarCRM after exactly 21 years. The group explores the future of CRM, the transformative power of AI, and how technology is reshaping the way organizations think about customer relationships, system design, and collaboration.

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.

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/

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

tag, the summary should includes an in-depth overview of the discussed topics, decisions made, key takeaways, and relevant numerical data such as volume, usage, and price. Your response should include as many details and words as necessary, ensuring comprehensiveness.","task_id":"f5bc3409-09c2-4f3c-8c56-92f9104acdbf","template_id":"888b4b48-0494-4724-b84d-62db1a0b7001","generate_time":1729653343435,"generate_status":2}]"> Sam Biardo of Technology Advisors and Steve Chipman of CRM Switch discuss the changes and trends in CRM implementations over the past few years. tag, the summary should includes an in-depth overview of the discussed topics, decisions made, key takeaways, and relevant numerical data such as volume, usage, and price. Your response should include as many details and words as necessary, ensuring comprehensiveness.","task_id":"f5bc3409-09c2-4f3c-8c56-92f9104acdbf","template_id":"888b4b48-0494-4724-b84d-62db1a0b7001","generate_time":1729653343435,"generate_status":2}]"> 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. tag, the summary should includes an in-depth overview of the discussed topics, decisions made, key takeaways, and relevant numerical data such as volume, usage, and price. Your response should include as many details and words as necessary, ensuring comprehensiveness.","task_id":"f5bc3409-09c2-4f3c-8c56-92f9104acdbf","template_id":"888b4b48-0494-4724-b84d-62db1a0b7001","generate_time":1729653343435,"generate_status":2}]"> 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. Sam LinkedIn : linkedin.com/in/sambiardo/ Steve LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/schipman/ Steve X: @stevechipman

Sam Biardo of Technology Advisors and Steve Chipman of CRM Switch 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 Near the end, we tacked on an AI version of the podcast created with NotebookLM, derived from a blog post that Steve wrote about the high-level differences between Salesforce and HubSpot. Sam LinkedIn : linkedin.com/in/sambiardo/ Steve LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/schipman/ Steve X: @stevechipman

Steve Chipman of CRM Switch and Sam Biardo of Technology Advisors 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. 👉 If you are in sales, you can sign up for a Forever Free account athttps://onemob.com/pricing-benefits/

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.