Trends

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

Outreach CEO Manny Medina: Selling Success

Making sales account-based is "the ability to take an account and use a holistic approach when dealing with it," said Manny Medina, CEO of Outreach. "You use a combination of marketing and sales to get to that account," he continued. "It's giving a name to something people already do, and it creates...

INSIGHTS

Analytics and Workflow

There's a big difference between B2C and B2B analytics that no vendors seem to be addressing, and it involves the consumption model. I recently spoke with K.V. Rao, founder and chief strategy officer of Aviso, an analytics company focused on sales, and his unabashed opinion is that "if you're trying...

INSIGHTS

Salesforce FY18 Kickoff

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff invited a select group of press, analysts and customers to a fiscal year kickoff presentation overlooking San Francisco and environs. It was held on the 23rd floor of one building that the company monopolizes, just across Mission Street from another that it is building an...

OPINION

4 Email Marketing Mistakes to Avoid

I recently received an email from my health club that said, in part: "Dear Chris, We've noticed you haven't been in as regularly in recent weeks. I understand there may be many reasons for not being able to make it in, but I just wanted to send a quick note to check if you're happy with the service ...

INSIGHTS

Social Marketing Grows Up

It's possible that getting people to follow a brand on social media makes them buy more. However, it's also possible that those who already have positive feelings toward a brand are more likely to follow it in the first place, and that's why they spend more than non-followers.

The United States Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has come under increasing fire from Republican lawmakers who now have the Trump administration to back their efforts. Long-time critic Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R.-Texas, who chairs the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee, comp...

INSIGHTS

Oracle's DB Dilemma

Seeking Alpha is an online outfit that offers investors good research and analysis on tech vendors, and it is especially well versed in Oracle. Its writers' expertise involves matching technologies to investment attractiveness. I am sure you are familiar with the type. XYZ company's product does thi...

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

Oro CEO Yoav Kutner: Getting a Sense of Your Customer

One of the most noticeable recent trends in CRM is that "there are a lot more companies looking for tools to centralize data," noted Oro CEO Yoav Kutner. "We're seeing multichannel businesses that interact with customers both through a brick-and-mortar and through multiple touchpoints.

INSIGHTS

Output vs. Outcomes

How many times have we been lulled into complacency over getting a project or a product done but not necessarily well received, because it was someone else's gig? This is a great reminder that the job isn't done simply because we produce something and shove it out the door. It's also a cue to pay cl...

Had a hard time hiring sales talent lately? You aren't alone. And guess what? It's only going to get worse! There are a lot of headwinds confronting sales recruiters these days. Among the strongest: The number of sales jobs is projected to grow 18.8 percent between 2010 and 2020, so you're facing st...

Customers were more likely to remain loyal to their bank and even recommend it to others, according to the annual survey of bank customers across the United States.

OPINION

Top CRM Blogs of 2016: Countdown, Part 2

There's something to be said for consistency. Baseball Hall-of-Famer Tony Gwynn hit over .300 19 years in a row. The swallows have returned to Mission San Juan Capistrano every year since 1812. Richard Belzer played Detective John Munch in nine different television series over 23 years. Doing things...

INSIGHTS

Oracle's Important Little Acquisition

Oracle has announced the acquisition of Apiary, a small company that tucks into its product line and will not make much of a splash in the financial pages or in tech circles. Nonetheless, it's important strategic news. The value of the deal wasn't publicized -- but the dollars likely would get lost ...

INSIGHTS

Adaptive Intelligent Applications

At OpenWorld, Oracle jumped into the AI and machine learning space for its CX products, aka CRM, and other applications, like HCM, with an interesting difference -- a huge data store to help educate the algorithms that work for you. Machine learning depends on data about prior situations that the le...

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