New Era in Sales: Welcome Hyper-Personalization!

This week on Funnel Frontier: Dive into hyper-personalized marketing, CRM ROI secrets, and the return of value selling.

This week:

• Video marketing’s virtual voyage (via HubSpot)

• Return of the Value Seller (via SugarCRM x Mediafly)

• 5x-ing your sales automation wisdom (via Freshworks)

• How to launch sales promo satellites (via Pipedrive)

• Aliens to customer service analytics (via Salesforce)

Stat of the Week 

According to recent research, 51% of total ROI from CRM comes from time savings, individual gains in productivity, and overall process efficiency improvements. (Nucleus Research)

Video marketing goes on a virtual voyage (via HubSpot)

In the marketing metaverse, countless companies vye for audience attention. Most trot out the same old Pink Floyd laser light show of emails and generic video marketing. 

However, these days, it’s not just Zeppelin vs Floyd. We live in a post-cyberpunk climate of sub-niche sub-genres, where 70% of consumers expect personalized communication (according to a 2021 McKinsey study).

And so, HubSpot decided it was time to warp with an investment in Tavus.

What’s that? It’s a cloud-based app for AI video with analytics and data founded last year. 

It’s designed as a replicant factory of AI-generated voice, face cloning, and the power to sync lips perfectly, pinky-swearing to teleport businesses light-years ahead in customer engagement. 

Imagine this: a status quo where marketing personalization isn't just slapping [First Name] into an email but individually tailored genAI video messages.

HubSpot, CRM stalwart and proven marketing innovation seer, peeps Tavus as the hyper-drive engine needed to boost customer connections into hyper-personalization. 

Will Tavus’s avatars pass the Voight-Kampff test? Will customers be into it? We’ll have to live a little longer to find out. 

The Week @ CRM.org

HubSpot CRM Review. Our edgy, updated take on a CRM classic. 

The Best Real Estate CRM. Navigating this software solo is akin to finding a decent two-bedroom in 2024. We strolled the neighborhood old-school-like and found you some leads. 

Bitrix24 Review. A platform where leads are managed, deals are closed, and somewhere in the midst, you feel like you’re assembling IKEA furniture (maybe). 

Weekly Bloom

David Lynch on Creativity, Meditation, and Inspiration. Listening to Lynch is similar to getting life advice from your uncle who was “abducted by aliens.” It might sound bizarre, but deep down, you know there's wisdom in there.

Return of the Value Seller (via SugarCRM x Mediafly)

Imagine a world where sales pitches are as outdated as floppy disks.

That’s the big idea behind Mediafly for SugarCRM, a recently announced integration tool for turning marketers into masters of value selling. 

B2B… has changed. Customers and sellers don’t interact that much. Plus, “today’s buyers are more informed, they interact with salespeople much later in the buying cycle, and they expect information on demand tailored to their specific business needs,” says Clint Oram, SugarCRM’s Chief Strategy Officer.

Gee, sounds like we need a hero. Like in that movie, you know, with the laser swords.

And so Mediafly for Sugar says, “I am the protagonist.” With training from a Jim Henson-esque puppet, it promises to zap tailored content with the precision of a machine-learned cyborg, tractor-beam presented content into CRM as meeting activity, and force-push surface consumption data around like crunchy moon rocks. 

Meanwhile, customer engagement metrics let you beep through the most used, viewed, and shared content.

The idea is to manage and scale sales content to the stars—both omnichannel and offline—with that sweet sync of cosmic content and analytics right into the CRM. 

Not quite “sold”? SugarCRM and Mediafly have a webinar on streamlining sales effectiveness on April 4 at 8 AM PT

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

Sales automation wisdom in five easy pieces (via Freshworks)

Oh yes, sales automation software can be a tractor beam of efficiency. 

Which features to look for? The magical number is Five. 

1. First up, you’ll want a good CRM dashboard to star-command sales data. Here even the shiftiest lead can’t hide. It's like the salesperson’s Hubble Telescope, letting you spy far-off revenue with uncanny detail. 

2. Then, there's the art of dividing the universe—I mean, sales territories. You should be able to assign regions, ensuring your crew isn't spread thinner than the fabric of space-time itself.

3. Leads? You’ll want the ability to peep scores. Find out who’s mentally prepared to be teleported aboard the USS Sales.

4. Sales pipeline… need I say more? It’s important to visualize 

5. Lastly, you need good sales forecasting and AI. Guessing the future is for clairvoyants. You want to plot course coordinates rationally, with a double-dip of confidence.

There you go—we’re in the pipe, five by five. Need more? Voila.

Launching sales promo satellites (via Pipedrive)

In the interstellar bazaar of sales, businesses often find themselves trying to get above the din with promotions.

It’s tempting to summon a solar storm of interest for your wares. Sales promotions can and will propel products into the orbit of customers' shopping carts. 

Limited-time offers, exclusive discounts, and loyalty can modify the mundane into the irresistible, turning casual onlookers into fanatical brand-enjoyers.

But beware the dark side of this powerful tool. Overreliance can trap you in a cycle of discount dependency, where customers loiter on hoverboards, leaving little pieces of trash on the ground and waiting for the next price drop. 

That can lead to a Big Dipper-shaped devaluation of your brand if you catch my drift.

So, do arm your starship salestroopers wisely. For example, encourage existing customers and sell low in the off-season.

More easy-to-eat astronaut food for thought here.

Aliens to customer service analytics (via Salesforce)

Alienated, and it feels so bad. 

Navigating the constellated chaos of customer interactions can be dizzying. Each day, your sensors pick up vast nebulae of data—signs and signals from customers reaching out across the void. 

This isn't just space dust; it's precious information that, if analyzed correctly, can power up your biz. 

Here’s 4 major types of analytics:

• Descriptive - using historical data to understand the past

• Diagnostic - looking at data to understand specific customer service outcomes

• Predictive - charting the future with AI, data, statistical algorithms, and machine learning 

• Prescriptive - optimizing outcomes in real-time, based on predictive analytics

Data is your co-pilot, and loyalty is the final frontier. 

How to aspire to an amazing ascent in analytics? 1. figure out KPIs you want to measure, 2. learn about software solutions, 3. implement said solutions, and 4. zap problem areas one by one.

More here.

Galactic Gourmet

CRM blips from around the web

IAMPHENOM 2024 speaker lineup announced. The three-day HR bonanza takes place April 23rd to 25th in Philly. 

Aircall gets a new CPO and CTO. The CRM-integrated customer communications and intelligence platform has made Tom Chen CPO (he’s leaving Humu, where he held the same job) and Alan Talanoa CTO (oddly enough, he held the same job at Humu too). 

Iterable makes Citizens JMP “Hot 100” list for privately held software companies. In making the list, Iterable joins the likes of Airtable, ClickUp, and Workato. Fun fact: the cross-channel marketing vendor topped $200 million in annual recurring revenue for 2023.

SugarCRM has a new CPO. It’s Paul Farrell, a three-decade industry veteran with stints at Epicor, NetSuite, and Oracle.

Astronomical Assets

Significant Stock Moves from Last Week

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