Pipedrive Announces CRM + AI for the Little Guy

This week on Funnel Frontier: Discover Google's market-shaking move on HubSpot! Plus, a huge AI skills gap haunts the public sector.

This week:

• Pipedrive AI—a small shot fired for small biz 

• Managing big data with AI (via Salesforce)

• Coaching sellers like athletes? (via Forrester)

• Zendesk vs Jira

• The secret cost of employee turnover (via ClickUp)

Stat of the Week 

In 2024, Salesforce has the largest market share in CRM by far at 24.23%, with HubSpot and Microsoft Dynamics occupying the #2 and #3 slots at 5.23% and 4.52%, respectively. (6sense)

Pipedrive AI for the little guy

Along the bustling byways of biz, time is a precious commodity. Hence, the appeal of AI. But it’s been tricky for small businesses to tap the value. 

Till now? Pipedrive’s release of Pipedrive AI could be a game-changer. A tiny shot fired, if you will.

To help small businesses tail-slap like big fish, this suite of GenAI-powered tools uses OpenAI and internally developed AI to automate.

• Sales Assistant aims to spot peculiar patterns, then zap high-win deals with laser precision.

• “Write my email using AI” (now in beta) promises to turn message drafting from cause-of-crankiness into a 44-second breeze. 

• Email summarization speed-reads lengthy email threads at warp speed, then squeaks out the gist while ensuring no critical detail is missed. 

• Smart app recommendations trawl the internet to suggest top-of-class, relevant apps for efficiencies and revenue pipelines, informed by the context of which apps your company is already using.

• Marketplace search uses natural language search to find relevant integrations.

It’s all about time. And isn’t it about time that small biz got this stuff? 

Pipedrive CPO Shaun Shirazian certainly thinks so, quipping that “customer obsession drives innovation at Pipedrive, and our goal is to offer solutions that cater to the real needs of sales professionals.”

This AI toolkit is now available across all Pipedrive plans. Another suite of features will launch later in the year.

The Week @ CRM.org

Successful CRM Implementation. 75% of CRM implementations fail, but you’ll be fine. Read our 10-step strategy, and avoid the sorry side of this statistic.

Freshsales CRM Review. Freshen your knowledge of Freshsales by Freshworks.

Act! CRM Review. It’s an 80s-born product fully updated for the SaaS era—don’t act surprised!

Weekly Bloom

The History of Kaizen. Kaizen is a biz strategy aimed at continuous improvement. The concept debuted in pre-WWII America and percolated in post-war Japan— global adoption arrived in the third act.

Biting big data with a little AI

Once upon a time, when dogecoin was new, big data was getting big hype.

But in practice, it’s often been hoovering up resources without a thank you. For years, companies have been stockpiling data like doomsday preppers but without any real plan on what to do when the “thing”—aka the need for actual insights—arrives. 

Now we’ve got this thing called “AI,” a sweet little starship designed to navigate this abyss and make sense of the cosmic clutter. 

A Salesforce study finds that AI-era platforms are good enough and getting better. They’re beginning to make big data speak human and work for everyone, not just the data specialists. 

It’s like having a universal remote that works. 

AI copilots (aka bots) using LLMs are good at parsing mind-bending dense data on your behalf. Cloud data solutions make a bevy of info accessible. Couple these tools with a next-gen CRM, and your sales and marketing can get a nice bump. 

TL;DR - Big data’s “boulevard of broken dreams” has a few success stories popping up, like daisies on the sidewalk. Would you like to be a flower, too?

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

Coaching sellers like athletes (via Forrester)

Is it time to start training your sales teams like they’re corporate Olympians?

Seth Marrs at Forrester thinks so.

Marrs says it’s not about teaching sellers how to sell—that’s silly—but rather empowering them to self-coach. 

Here’s the general game plan, sport:

1. Empowerment: Equip your sellers to self-enlighten—they know their game best. Give them the tools, sit back, and watch them self-correct into pros.

2. Trust but verify: Don’t sweat the small stuff too soon. Set some thresholds and give them deep space to fumble and fix. Step in only when the cyber whistle blows—that’s your cue to jump off the sidelines.

3. Unlock Potential: Use all that fancy tech to pinpoint what makes each seller unique. Then, gently gild those golden skills until they shine brighter than Prince’s halftime show.

Forget teleporting in to assess every little hiccup. Focus on the big plays that make your sellers stand out.

And while you’re at it, make those locker room speeches count!

More here.

Zendesk versus Jira

Caught between two of the most popular customer support and helpdesk platforms? You aren’t alone.

Well, you see, Zendesk is from Venus, and Jira is from Mars.

Zendesk's user-friendly interface and robust customer support capabilities make it ideal for teams that are consumed with customer interactions. 

On the other hand, Jira Service Management, favored by IT teams, excels in incident management and integrates seamlessly with software development processes, giving it an edge for those toiling in techie terraforms.

Zendesk sizzles with simplicity and efficiency. Jira chortles at complex workflows.

Further daring comparisons this way.

The Secret Cost of Employee Turnover (via ClickUp)

Ah, the rollercoaster of employee retention. Losing a team member can feel like sending a rocket into space, only to watch it decide it's actually a submarine. 

Among the varietals of turnover—voluntary, involuntary, retirement, and internal transfers—voluntary turnover is the real black hole, sucking out morale and revenue faster than you can say "Great Resignation." 

The journey to reduce this cosmic chaos? Spicing up onboarding, custom training, and, yes, making everyone feel like the star of their own work ecosystem. 

Grab your marbled composition book and head to ClickUp for more ideas.

Galactic Gourmet

CRM blips from around the web

SugarCRM wins a Gold Stevie Award. They led in the CRM Suite, Midmarket, New Version category. It’s their third consecutive year of recognition at the Stevie Awards, which honor leaders in sales and customer service. 

HubSpot Chief Customer Officer departs. Rob Giglio stepped down from the position, which won’t be filled. Sales, marketing, and customer success leaders will now report directly to CEO Yamini Rangan.  

Salesforce may acquire Informatica. Rumors indicate the CRM giant is in advanced talks with the data management company. In recent years, Salesforce has acquired Slack, Tableau, and MuleSoft.

Astronomical Assets

Significant Stock Moves from Last Week

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