AI Revolution: Transforming CRM into Sales Best Friend! ????

I've recently had two enlightening meetings with AI SaaS founders who specialize in automating CRM processes. As I predicted in my latest book, "BROKEN – How to Fix B2B Sales, Drive Profitable Growth & Win," third-party software solutions are becoming the key to making CRMs more user-friendly, particularly for sales professionals on the go, in outside/field sales, cutting down on the overwhelming data entry burden. ??

ACT, or Automated Contact Tracking, made its debut in 1987, followed by GoldMine Software in 1989. Surprisingly, CRM systems have not undergone significant changes in over three decades, especially for outside/field salespeople. ???

All CRM companies have done is shift an initially user-unfriendly product to the cloud. (Side note: Now, salespeople can perform 'all' data entry 'after hours,' whether at a hotel, home, or on vacation. While it may sound sarcastic, unfortunately, it's the reality.) ??

“Definition: (#CRM) 2. One of the only multi-billion-dollar industries where 99.98% of end-users hate the product.” - Scott Marker. ????

For years, I've emphasized that the only way to fix this mess is to compel those who mandate CRMs, including CxOs, revenue leaders and sales leadership, to use them daily, just like salespeople. Every Monday sales meeting would involve opening the CRMs of leaders, presidents, all CxOs, revenue and sales leaders ensuring they 'noted' EVERYTHING. Failure to comply would result in no compensation for the previous week. ??"If it's not in the CRM, it didn't happen!"

The leaders of the companies would likely be the first to abandon their CRMs after only a couple of weeks. Only when leadership is "forced" to use a CRM daily, as they mandate for sales, will we see meaningful change. Thankfully, it seems AI is finally the answer. ??

As mentioned earlier, I received a personal demonstration from two founders, giving me a glimpse under the hood of their AI SaaS CRM solution. It's truly impressive how it can automatically fill out fields in your CRM based on parts of meetings and even some follow-ups, taking the reduction of data entry to a whole new level. ??

AI solutions are limited to outside/field salespeople on the move. I asked both founders about an outside salesperson in a vehicle talking to a prospect; both said their solutions were very limited in use. ??

However, despite these advancements, I believe leadership will still face challenges in fully leveraging a CRM because they've never been forced to use a CRM properly, mostly using the CRM to review reports.

Thus, many sales leaders may not realize the power of proper noting for next steps in growing their business. ?? ?? ??

Stay tuned for future videos where I'll share my tricks, tips, and strategies for using a CRM correctly to gain, retain, and grow existing customer business, with or without AI. ???? ??

#AIinCRM #SalesInnovation #CRMautomation #AISales