August CRM news round-up
AI developments, B2B insights & Salesforce layoffs
👋🏾 Hi, this is Lloyd with a new issue of The CRM Chronicles. In every issue, I cover CRM developments, strategies and technology through the lens of sales and marketing managers, product owners and the C-Suite. Subscribe to get issues like this in your inbox every week.
This week, I wanted to dive into some relevant updates in the CRM space, including AI developments, B2B insights, and some notable Salesforce news.
Here’s the roundup:
You may have heard that last month, Salesforce reduced its workforce by around 300 employees as part of a broader initiative to streamline operations. Although this latest round of layoffs represents a small fraction of Salesforce’s total employee base, it looks like the company is remaining cautious about spending.
In our last news roundup, I mentioned that Salesforce had already reduced its workforce by approximately 700 employees and had cut close to 10% of its total workforce at the beginning of 2023. Despite these cutbacks, Salesforce continues focusing on strategic hiring in key revenue-driving areas, like its Data Cloud product. You can read more on this news here.
And while we’re on the topic of Salesforce; we talked a bit about their Einstein GPT previously—the world’s first generative AI for CRM. It’s been interesting to watch how that is developing and all that it can offer to date. Einstein GPT creates personalized content across every Salesforce cloud, making employees more productive and enhancing customer experiences. It generates personalized emails, specific responses for customer service, targeted marketing content, and even auto-generates code for developers. As generative AI gains traction, CRM vendors are embracing it to improve efficiency, analytics, and personalized interactions.
That being said, the rapid adoption of AI has led to concerns about inflated expectations and potential bubbles.
While AI promises improved customer insights, personalized experiences, and automation, achieving measurable ROI can be elusive. AI’s effectiveness depends on high-quality data, model training, and fine-tuning. This takes time, and if CRM data is incomplete or inaccurate, ROI suffers. Rather than blindly jumping onto AI trends, I would focus on solving specific CRM pain points with AI features that align with your business goals.
Speaking of which, let’s look at some AI-driven CRM startups I’ll be keeping an eye on in 2024:
Pipedrive: Offers AI sales suggestions, helping sales teams optimize their processes and improve decision-making at a startup-friendly price.
SiftHub: A new AI venture, SiftHub, raised $5.5 million to boost sales tasks using GenAI-powered tools, including filling CRMs with publicly available customer information.
Freshsales: Known for its AI-powered chatbot tools, Freshsales streamlines customer interactions and automates repetitive tasks.
Zoho CRM: Known for its broad AI capabilities, Zoho integrates AI across various features, enhancing efficiency and personalization.
These startups leverage AI to enhance customer relationship management, making them exciting players in the evolving CRM landscape.
Let’s look what’s happening beyond the platforms
According to Forrester, AI is bridging human and technical skills in B2B marketing. Marketers are becoming deep diplomats, mastering AI while fostering human connections. Cultivating a culture of continuous learning is key, and the most powerful force remains the human touch.
Generative AI might be revolutionizing B2B customer experience. It enhances conversational experiences for customers, ensuring natural and human-like interactions and it’s only getting better at it. It’s a game-changer for B2B CX2.
Key Tactics for Successful Next-Gen B2B Sales: McKinsey talks about how successful B2B players employ omnichannel sales teams, advanced sales technology, data analytics, tailored strategies on third-party marketplaces, and e-commerce excellence across the full marketing and sales funnel.
That’s all for now. Happy managing and see you next week!