AI Could Mean Game Over for Some Businesses by 2025?

This week on Funnel Frontier: Discover what are the newest risk GenAI brings for business, and SalesLoft’s new features that will lead to more conversions.

This week:

• 2025 GenAI risk-reward for your biz

• Salesloft’s new conversational intelligence AI 

• Leads into prospects into sales (via HubSpot)

• Wrike vs monday.com

• Compensation and the art of motivating sales (via Salesforce)

Stat of the Week 

CRM market revenue is expected to reach $88.19 billion USD in 2024, building to $97.70 billion in 2025. (Statista)

New Gartner report explores genAI risk-reward for biz

GenAI is here, and we have nothing to fear, but… well, actually, there are a few ongoing concerns. 

A fresh Gartner report suggests the pesky tech is brewing a triple-shot of change:

1. Customers will use genAI on the daily and figure you’re just as hip.
2. Employees will leave jobs that genAI can do.
3. Investors will think you should be tapping new growth and generating better margins.

And here’s what the Gartner-ians predict for 2025:

• 70% of enterprises will see sustainable and ethical AI as a major concern.

• 70% of support requests started via genAI chatbots will require that ineffable human touch, with a resulting 40% increase in service costs.

• 30% of outbound marketing messages from big companies will be AI-generated, up from a paltry 2% back in 2022.

But pray tell, Sir Gartner, how is one to surf the AI wave and get ahead of the sales and marketing sharks?

As a related Gartner ThinkCast episode notes: don’t get FOMO and put genAI before the business problem. Also, don’t be too skeptical and miss the boat. Doing push and pull innovation to balance opportunity with caution is one idea. 

Gartner also suggests you should meet the terrible future with domain-specific AI models and be ready to deploy multiple ones, depending on the size of your business. Focus on data that correlates with biz growth, like developing customer segments and experiences. Control costs and think “what would the future think of my sustainability—would it be impressed?”

Taken in tandem, these things do seem crazy enough to work.

The Week @ CRM.org

Collaborative CRM. Because “Better Off Alone” is a great 90s Eurodance song, but not a credible business ethos. We will go over the full explainer on this software style with examples.

Bitrix24 Review. All-in-one CRM with a free forever plan—yes indeed, these bits have some “trix.”

Weekly Bloom

The Benefits of Reading Fiction in a Digital Age. So many stimuli, so little time. Yet it turns out peeping ol’ fashioned fiction-diction has practical benefits (as well as airy abstract ones).

Salesloft spreads new AI

In our futuristic year 2024, the humble art of conversation is hi-tech. Salesloft's new AI-driven gadgets nod noir-ishly at this reality.

To dodge missed opportunities and miscommunications with smarty computer-thinking, the CRM unveils new AI-brain features. 

The idea: scoop insights from the customer chatter-verse, turning your sales team into space-ace listeners.

Chief among the upgrades is the "Conversation Key Moments" feature, essentially AI cliff’s notes. It’s designed to tune into the subtext of every sales call, mining for actionable nuggets like buyer hesitation or competitor mentions. Meanwhile, your humanized sales team keeps their eyes on the prize.

Then there's the "Meeting Prep Workflow," which intends to prep your crew for hyper-jumping into client meetings. It compiles past intel into a nifty brief, so your sales-tronauts go “up, up, and at them” armed with not only charisma, but also cold hard data.

Add to this the "Auto Buying Group Capture," a tractor beam meant to pull every stakeholder into your sales orbit, logging their moves thoroughly.

So if you’re an Andy Warhol-esque CRM-bohemian working on the edge of deal-closing, why not buzz the button that says “AI” and take the freight elevator up to the Salesloft party?

Also notable: on May 8, TrustRadius 2024 Top Rated Awards tipped Salesloft in 4 categories, including Conversation Intelligence

Stellar Strategies: Tips & Tricks for Sales, Marketing & Service

Following leads and making opportunities (via HubSpot)

In sales, no one can hear you tag a former lead as a prospect.

You see, leads are like fish who want to explore land—that is, until they gradually transform through strategic alignment and precise targeting into walkin’ talkin’ sales opportunities. 

However, this evolutionary wonder requires aligning your sales and marketing teams with a universal set of criteria. “What maketh a lead?”

Sales reps might do well to practice patience when qualifying prospects. Because missing sales opportunities by disqualifying leads early or based on faulty criteria, that’s a heartbreaker. 

Marketers know that aggressive focus on BANT (Budget, Authority, Needs, Timeline) can sweep the big sales, but it can end up ignoring valuable first-stage opportunities with a lower win rate too.

More actionable articling from “The Hub” here.

Wrike vs monday.com

In the ever-spinning world of project management, Wrike and monday.com vye for the productivity pot o’ gold.

It’s an epic tussle of tools, ease, and cost efficiency. 

Wrike, with its intertwingled features, tends to cater to larger businesses and creeping complexity. Meanwhile, monday.com shines like a flashlight under the blanket, with a user-friendly interface that helps smaller celestial bodies align their moons and stars without much cosmic interference.

Before locking in your coins, it’s wise to ensure your mission parameters align. Thankfully, our full head-to-head with depth and breadth is here.

Sustainable selling, smart compensation (via Salesforce)

In the cosmic carnival of sales, the spinning wheel of fortune could land you a perfumed plush toy or a dirty tin can. 

Locating a winning sales compensation philosophy is tricky. It’s akin to finding just the right gravity for you and your team’s pay planet.

You can’t just throw cash at sales reps and hope they turn into revenue rocketeers. Oh no, you’ll need an artisanal blend of motivation fuel and strategic orbit adjustments.

Your sales team shouldn’t just hit targets. They should understand the why behind their gold stars and bonus badges to keep things sustainable.

Whether it’s aligning the Martian marketing goals with the Venusian sales objectives or ensuring the compensation spaceship doesn’t veer off into the dark nebula of inequality, it’s all about crafting a guiding constitution. One that moves you smoothly through market changes without losing sight of your starry ideals and groundling goals.

Scope Salesforce’s full piece on the subject here. Peace.

Galactic Gourmet

CRM blips from around the web

NTT selected as Salesforce digital service partner. The digital business and IT service provider will help streamline the CRM giant’s internal applications. 

SugarCRM wins CRM Excellence Award for fourth time running. The trophy, jointly awarded by CUSTOMER magazine and global media company TMC, recognizes the vendor’s achievements in genAI, machine learning, and general good-ness. 

monday.com announces Q1 2024 results. Revenue was $216.9 million USD, up 34% year-over-year.

Astronomical Assets

Significant Stock Moves from Last Week

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