Podcasts
In their CRM Talk podcast, Technology Advisors Inc. co-founder Sam Biardo and CRM Switch co-founder Steve Chipman discuss everything CRM – from the latest releases, to trends in the market, and the future of business technology. Sam and Steve have a combined expertise of 45+ years in the industry, and they bring that expertise to the table in these informative & fun podcast episodes. Join these two experts as they interview technology influencers, banter about recent software news, and give valuable advice for streamlining data & improving business processes. Available for free on the iTunes Store.
Jen Noonan of Infor
In this episode, Steve and Sam are joined by Jennifer Noonan, Vice President and General Manager of CX and IPMC business units at Infor.
The conversation begins with Jen offering a refreshingly clear overview of Infor’s mission to deliver industry-specific software solutions, particularly for sectors such as manufacturing, distribution, and healthcare. She outlines how Infor CRM SLX (formerly SalesLogix) has evolved to meet the needs of modern businesses, focusing on delivering deep functionality without requiring extensive customization.
Jen dives into Infor’s vertical-specific go-to-market strategy, emphasizing the importance of tailoring solutions to distinct industries and micro-verticals. The group discusses how Infor CRM fits into this approach, serving as a matrix layer that spans multiple industries while offering nuanced capabilities depending on the operational focus, whether it is manufacturing, distribution, or services. Jen shares insights into the complexity of determining the best ERP fit, especially in hybrid organizations, and how Infor addresses this through core ERPs supported by integrated modules.
One major highlight is the role CRM plays in unifying customer relationship data with operational systems, such as ERP. Jen talks about how integrated solutions reduce friction for users—particularly sales and customer service reps—by putting everything from sales order history to pricing at their fingertips. She emphasizes that CRM should act as the system of engagement, capturing leads, communications, and customer interactions. At the same time, ERP retains its role as the system of record for financials and fulfillment.
The episode concludes with a look at Infor’s innovation strategy under Koch Industries, which has enabled the company to adopt a long-term perspective on product development. Jen reflects on the rebranding of Infor CRM, which now includes ‘SLX’ as a nod to its SalesLogix heritage, and how cloud transformation has retained the platform’s robust customization capabilities.
The discussion encompasses a range of topics, from marketing automation to CPQ integration and the importance of thoroughly rethinking business processes during CRM implementations.
CRM Readiness Challenge
In this episode of CRM Talk, hosts Steve Chipman and Sam Biardo discuss how to prepare an organization for CRM success before implementing a new system. They emphasize the importance of executive sponsorship, precise requirements, and organizational alignment to avoid costly surprises.
Steve introduces a CRM assessment tool generated with Bolt.new, a platform that allows marketers to build engaging apps quickly, which inspired the episode’s readiness statements.
The hosts explore ten statements to assess CRM readiness. Key points include the need for a unified vision across departments, as CRM initiatives often start in one area, like sales or marketing, leading to misaligned goals.
They stress the importance of identifying specific customer data needs and determining a single source of truth between systems like CRM and ERP. Leadership involvement is critical for accountability and funding, yet many companies underestimate implementation and ongoing costs, including add-ons that complicate projects.
They also highlight the importance of detailed, prioritized requirements from key users, not just vague feature lists, and involving all departments to define goals. Senior leadership must see CRM as a long-term strategic tool, with a shared understanding of success metrics like reduced churn or increased cross-sell.
Well-documented sales and marketing processes accelerate projects, while a change management plan, including engaging influential end-users as cheerleaders, fosters adoption.
AI Agent Ascension
Discussions about CRM and marketing automation solutions and best practices. Analysis of the latest CRM and CRM-related industry news.
Listen to the podcast
HubSpot vs. Salesforce
Sam and Steve 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
At the end, we tack on a AI version of the podcast created with NotebookLM.
Always Be Video Closing
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.
Listen to the podcast
Ross Simmonds of Foundation Marketing
Steve and Sam interview Ross Simmonds, the leading authority on content distribution and using AI in marketing.
Listen to the podcast
Your Perfect AI Self
In this episode, Sam and Steve discuss the benefits of podcasting for marketing versus blogging, based on data showing more people per podcast than per blog. It then covers a survey showing that most marketers are using at least some AI to generate blog content, with the risk of too much AI hurting search rankings.
Sam and Steve agree AI is best for outlines and some after-the-fact SEO optimization, while human-written content ranks better. They discuss various uses of AI in marketing, like generating content sections, outlines, titles/descriptions, Tweets, LinkedIn posts, images, presentations, and videos.
Key takeaways are that AI is extremely helpful for accelerating content creation and distribution but should be used carefully and edited by humans for the best results. The hosts emphasize keeping human-created, original text for critical content like blogs.
They note AI content lacks nuance and sounds formulaic if not edited. Data shows that human-optimized content ranks better in search.
Other topics include using AI for sales enablement assets, contracts, policies, CRM, training, and deflecting questions.
AI is great for outlines, titles, descriptions, and images, but human creativity is essential for resonance and ranking.
Is SEO Dead?
Steve and Sam talk about the state of SEO in the context of CRM and leads.
Listen to the podcast
CRM AI Use Cases
Sam and Steve discuss CRM AI use cases for sales, marketing, customer service, customization & configuration, data migration & integration, analytics, and automations.
Listen to the podcast
Dumbed Down By AI
Sam & Steve forget how to think on their own, Enterprise AI megatrends, using ChatGPT for CRM test cases and test data
Listen to the podcast