Sam and Steve discuss the practical applications of AI in modern sales and marketing. Steve explains his process for using Gemini's Deep Research feature to generate detailed company reports, condensed infographics, and audio summaries for effective account-based marketing. Sam shares his techniques for leveraging AI to create personalized connection requests on LinkedIn and to repurpose podcasts into engaging social media posts. They also explore how AI is changing SEO, shifting the focus from ...
Aug 20, 2025•28 min•Ep. 126
In this episode, Steve and Sam are joined by special guest Clint Oram, who recently left SugarCRM after exactly 21 years. The group explores the future of CRM, the transformative power of AI, and how technology is reshaping the way organizations think about customer relationships, system design, and collaboration.
Jun 02, 2025•33 min•Ep. 125
Jennifer Noonan, VP and GM of CX and IPMC Business Units at Infor, joins Steve and Sam to discuss the evolution of Infor CRM SLX (formerly SalesLogix) and its role in industry-specific digital transformation. Jen shares how Infor’s vertically aligned strategy enables the delivery of tailored ERP and CRM solutions to manufacturing, distribution, and service-based organizations. The conversation covers CRM and ERP integration, quoting workflows, and why CRM should be the system of engagement while...
Apr 17, 2025•39 min•Ep. 124
Is your organization ready for CRM? Sam and Steve discuss the ten readiness statements from CRM Switch's online calculator: https://crm-readiness-calculator.crmswitch.com/
Feb 28, 2025•32 min•Ep. 123
In this episode of CRM Talk, Steve Chipman and Sam Biardo discuss AI agents and their impact on business. They talk about how AI agents have evolved from basic IVR functionality to sophisticated business tools. Steve mentions Greg Eisenberg's insights about various types of agents (acquisition, research, content, and community agents) and how they're replacing human tasks at a fraction of the cost ($2,000 in agent costs vs $2 million in salary costs). They discuss Salesforce's Agentforce, with S...
Dec 07, 2024•29 min•Ep. 122
Sam Biardo of Technology Advisors and Steve Chipman of CRM Switch discuss the changes and trends in CRM implementations over the past few years. The key points discussed include the shift towards low-code/no-code platforms, the transition from on-premise to cloud-based solutions, the reduced need for developers and increased reliance on business analysts, the growing involvement of clients in the configuration process, and the emphasis on delivering a minimally viable product (MVP) in shorter im...
Oct 23, 2024•33 min•Ep. 121
Sam Biardo of Technology Advisors and Steve Chipman of CRM Switch 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 Near the end, we t...
Sep 26, 2024•42 min•Ep. 120
Steve Chipman of CRM Switch and Sam Biardo of Technology Advisors talk to Sati Hillyer, founder and CEO of OneMob, about his journey from starting the AppExchange at Salesforce to developing and advancing his company's video platform for sellers over an almost ten-year period. With a OneMob microsite, sellers can provide context, content, and a clear next step for the prospect. 👉 If you are in sales, you can sign up for a Forever Free account at https://onemob.com/pricing-benefits/...
May 17, 2024•35 min•Ep. 119
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.
Mar 09, 2024•33 min•Ep. 118
Steve Chipman of CRM Switch and Sam Biardo of Technology Advisors talk to marketing guru Ross Simmonds, who shares insights on creating valuable content and leveraging AI to optimize and distribute it more efficiently across channels. Topics include the disconnect between marketing and sales teams, taking an investor mindset with content assets, events, and video for lead generation, email outreach fatigue, and predictions for increased AI usage and industry consolidation....
Feb 15, 2024•42 min•Ep. 117
Steve and Sam discuss quote-to-cash (Q2C) solutions that enable sales teams to quickly generate quotes and receive more orders. They cover use cases for field and desk-based sales, components like CPQ and eSignature integrations, rule-based guidance, and vendor solutions from Conga to MobileForce. Also discussed are sales scenarios with frequent pricing changes, needed integrations, and evaluating vendors based on industry-specific requirements.
Jan 31, 2024•31 min•Ep. 116
AI-generated summary 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...
Dec 14, 2023•33 min•Ep. 115
Steve and Sam talk about the state of SEO in the context of CRM and leads.
Oct 10, 2023•30 min•Ep. 114
Sam and Steve discuss CRM AI use cases for sales, marketing, customer service, customization & configuration, data migration & integration, analytics, and automations.
Apr 12, 2023•32 min•Ep. 113
Sam & Steve forget how to think on their own, Enterprise AI megatrends, using ChatGPT for CRM test cases and test data
Feb 25, 2023•37 min•Ep. 112
Tech layoffs, low-code development, ChatGPT in marketing, social media marketing
Jan 13, 2023•34 min•Ep. 111
CRM and CRM-related news & information for April 2022.
Apr 18, 2022•30 min•Ep. 110
Steve and Sam talk to Scott Eller, Chief Relationship Officer & Co-founder of Neuraswitch about transcription, redaction, and sentiment analysis.
Jan 22, 2022•32 min•Ep. 109
A rundown of current marketing & sales AIs.
Dec 23, 2021•33 min•Ep. 108
Sam and Steve talk about enforcing security for remote work, COVID's effect on shared workspaces, hindsight 2020 COVID predictions, Creatio's unique approach to a virtual conference, Sam's mathematical mindset around phased implementation, Salesforce sunsetting the Legacy Workflow Builder, the use cases for low code, integration uptime, people not reading iHateCRM.com, HubSpot's biggest product announcements, handling CRM custom objects, Snowflake, and Destination CRM's 2021 CRM Industry Awards....
Nov 08, 2021•39 min•Ep. 107
Steve and Sam interview Kevin Snow, CEO of Time on Target, sales expert, and technology geek, about CRM implementation challenges, introverted salespeople, accurate sales forecasting, and more. #InternationalPodcastDay
Sep 30, 2021•32 min•Ep. 106
Andy Zambito, Chief Sales Officer, Americas at Creatio, joins Sam & Steve to talk about process management, CRM, digital transformation, low-code, tailored experiences, differentiation, speed of change, speed of operations, and more.
Jul 30, 2021•30 min•Ep. 105
10 questions you should ask when looking at integrating your CRM, 5 reasons a spreadsheet is not a database, 8 plugins to use with your new Wordpress site (relating to Google's new page experience standard)
Jun 23, 2021•29 min•Ep. 104
Sam and Steve verbally expand on several of their respective listicles.
May 06, 2021•30 min•Ep. 103
An interview with Jeffrey Russo, Director of Product, Sales Hub Go-to-Market at HubSpot. HubSpot's evolution from a marketing system to broader front office solution, focusing on the needs of the user experience, streamlining the quote-to-cash process, moving up market, getting "technical debt" that exists within organizations out of the way of the customer experience, applying functionality such as automations across different departments and use cases, HubSpot's durable partner channel, Conver...
Apr 14, 2021•29 min•Ep. 102
Creatio raises $68 million, HubSpot goes enterprise, Sugar's HD-CX, AWS and AI, Salesforce eyes $50 billion in five years. Creatio's first ever funding announcement video Rich Green's Deep Learning & Time video
Mar 12, 2021•30 min•Ep. 101
Salesforce's Vaccine Cloud, Sam's vaccine shot scheduling nightmare, Sam's joint webinar with Creatio, CRM 3.0, how low code/no code has altered roles in CRM deployment & management, field service, ABM, video selling, video training, CRM best practice videos, de-densifying your slide decks, HubSpot's customer code deck, explaining difficult to explain concepts, telling a story, content distribution.
Jan 29, 2021•32 min•Ep. 100
Salesforce's acquisition of Slack (and Acumen), SugarCRM acquires its largest partner W-Systems, CRM vendors & leads, getting found for CRM searches, Creatio's 24 hour event, low-code solutions, BA to developer ratios, Facebook acquires Kustomer, visual development tools & whether they are necessarily simple, the Microsoft/C3.ai/Adobe alliance, CRM predictions for 2021.
Dec 21, 2020•33 min•Ep. 99
An interview with Josh Johnson, senior product manager at Wistia, about Wistia's new audio hosting platform for marketers. Learn more about the audio offering. Chris Lavigne's excellent post and video about how to build a Soapbox Station for video recording.
Dec 07, 2020•16 min•Ep. 98
David Campbell, Vice President of Product Marketing at SugarCRM, joins Sam & Steve to discuss sales, marketing, customer support, data, AI and the customer experience.
Oct 23, 2020•37 min•Ep. 97
