Top Platform to Boost Sales (Hint: It’s NOT Your CRM!)

This week on Funnel Frontier: Learn how to leverage LinkedIn + CRM for sales success plus find out about Salesforce fiscal Q1 2025 earnings.

This week:

• AI reality vs hype: lessons from a Salesforce slump  

• Pipedrive shouts out social selling

• Marketing in a world of AI

• Outreach vs Salesloft

• The hidden costs of compromising on CRM (via SugarCRM)

Stat of the Week 

With projected revenues reaching $44.73 billion, the US will be the most lucrative CRM market in 2024. (Statista)

The Sweet Smell of Social Selling

It turns out LinkedIn isn't just for peeping on ex-colleagues. Apparently 60% of sales pros are using it to do their jobs. 

So says Zahra Jiva, Director of Global Sales at Pipedrive, who preaches the gospel of social selling in the B2B wilderness.

According to stats (from LinkedIn), 75% of B2B buyers make buying decisions using social media.

Leads don’t grow on trees, and they don’t take kindly to sellers popping out of the bushes either. Civilized, snazzy profiles and hot takes on industry news can snag prospects who'd rather buy from someone they “trust,” not some scary cold caller. 

And the numbers are singing like the mice and birds who made Cinderella’s dress—78% of social butterflies are outselling their cave-dwelling peers. 

Zahra recommends prospecting tools, a la Surfe, to achieve LinkedIn x CRM synergy. A juicy integration allows automation of repetitive tasks, management of social conversations, building relationships and qualifying leads.

Other tips for social selling:

• Optimize social media profiles. Clean it up! Go for “a clear, professional photo, a compelling headline, and a detailed summary that highlights your expertise and how you can help potential clients.”

• Share valuable content: Be a “thought leader” by posting industry news and content that moves your target demo. 

• Engage your network: Like, comment, share. Build personalized connections and vitalize visibility by staying active online.

• Join groups related to your industry: More points for participation can be had here. Connect with possible prospects in online communities and humble-brag your expertise.

TL;DR: Could be wise to polish your LinkedIn game. Maybe, just maybe, you'll sell something.

The Week @ CRM.org

Mobile CRM. Because workflow on-the-go is a deal-maker.

Best CRM for iPad and iPhone. In this iOS exclusive, we've got tips not even Siri knows about.

Weekly Bloom

Five Benefits of Silence. Serenity now? If silence was a stock, it’d be “to the moon.”

AI lessons from a Salesforce slump

As they say, you can’t win ‘em all. 

Last week, Salesforce published fiscal Q1 2025 earnings. The quarter marked the first revenue miss since 2006.

After the lackluster reveal, shares took a nosedive, ziplining down 20% within 24 hrs. 

Despite posting 11% year-over-year revenue growth, the house that Benioff built missed the mark on revenue expectations, pulling in $9.13 billion against the anticipated $9.17 billion. 

Benioff, however, was defiant and tipped growth in AI for future wins. 

“Customer data and metadata are the new gold,” he quipped on the earnings call: “We'll be using different models and different UIs [user interfaces] over the years, but we'll be using the same deep data sources.” GenAI models, he suggested, were “commodities” and not where true value lies. 

However, as Reuters reports, there’s worry that Salesforce is facing real AI competition. Plus, their vaunted genAI hasn’t manifested in “top-line results” (yet).

Is the Salesforce slump an early warning sign of a deflating AI hype bubble? Or just the opposite, an indicator that “shiny new AI-related products” are biting on finite IT budgets and sucking up legacy software’s oxygen?

We’ll need a little time to know which way the wind blows. But for now, here’s this grain of salt. 

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

Marketing in a world of AI (via IDC)

AI is the new shakshuka. 

Suddenly everywhere, it promises tasty, guilt-free biz benefits. But beware, not all can ride the AI wave just by copying recipes. It's more about smart planning and less about flash.

Businesses need a solid game plan to map AI's role onto extant biz drama. And it’s not just throwing tech at problems either, but weaving it into the fabric of business operations. 

This is where the concept of a framework struts in, guiding the integration dance of AI across systems, people, and data.

According to IDC, there’s a pentagon of poles to consider:

1. Organizations should strategically deploy AI to prepare for industry disruption.
2. A roadmap is key. One emphasizing use cases based on your idiosyncratic requirements.
3. A considered foundation of Intelligent apps, data, and models to holistically boost your biz.
4. Infrastructure that holds up AI workloads at scale.
5. Good AI and data governance for data security and trust.

More big-brain thoughts from IDC here.

Outreach vs SalesLoft

When it comes to sales engagement, Outreach and Salesloft duke it out like cola wars without the secret recipe. 

Think of it as choosing between two equally tempting pastries in a bakery run by algorithms: both will satisfy your craving for organized, tech-assisted sales, albeit in subtly different flavors. 

Atlanta’s SalesLoft flaunts a user-friendly interface and flirts with better customer support, edging ahead like a well-coiffed tortoise. Seattle’s Outreach, on the other hand, counters with a richer knowledge base—it's the sage old owl in a forest of hotshot sellers.

Both are hush-hush about their pricing, making them magicians of the CRM world: now you see the benefits, now you don’t see the costs. 

Who wins? You’ll have to scroll through our article here.

The hidden costs of compromising on CRM (via SugarCRM)

Sometimes, the promise of a one-stop shop slips into one-size-fits-nobody.

For example, opting for a big name CRM might appear the path of least resistance and greatest functionality, but hidden costs and rigidity can lurk in those expansive product portfolios.

Here are a few things to consider before committing to the bit:

1. Watch out for customization constraints. Make sure your peculiar data needs don’t get scrunched in an ill-fitting straitjacket.
2. Insights and “data deep dive” tools sometimes manifest more like a splish-splash kiddie pool. Make sure what’s available is actionable.  
3. Control freaks, beware: watch out for data ownership rules to avoid headaches later.
4. Can you scale, or are you stuck? When you grow, you don’t want to find software architecture as flexible as a two-by-four.
5. Bait and Switch Contracts: Sweet deals now, renewal shock later? Pop out the magnifying glass on that fine print. 

So, before you tie the knot with a big old CRM vendor, remember, sometimes big is not best. 

The CRM David vs. Goliath struggles continue on the SugarCRM site.

Galactic Gourmet

CRM blips from around the web

Healthcare IT market to reach $907.18 billion by 2031, new report finds. With a projected CAGR of 13.2% driven by cloud, AI, IoT, and growth in emerging economies like India and China.

Yardi announces release of RentCafe Senior CRM IQ. Built for managing senior living prospects and residents, the new platform integrates with the Yardi Senior Living Suite. 

Nucleus Research publishes 2024 Marketing Technology Value Matrix. Marketing technology leaders included ActiveCampaign, Creatio, HubSpot, Oracle, Salesforce, and Zoho. Notable trends include AI and automation for personalization, plus an overriding preference for integration among marketers.

Astronomical Assets

Significant Stock Moves from Last Week

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