Jonathan Green 2024: [00:00:00] Using AI to improve your CRM game with stay's Special guest, Michael Hudlow on the Artificial Intelligence podcast.
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Are you tired of dealing with your boss? Do you feel underpaid and underappreciated? If you wanna make it online, fire your boss and start living your retirement dreams now. Then you can come to the right place. Welcome to the Artificial Intelligence Podcast. You will learn how to use artificial intelligence to open new revenue streams and make money while you sleep.
Presented live from a tropical island in the South Pacific by bestselling author Jonathan Green. Now here's your host.
So Michael, I'm excited to have you here because a lot of people. Our focus on AI for generating content or [00:01:00] AI outward, but I'm really interested in AI inward how AI can help me to be more efficient, whether it's organizing my emails or organizing my customer flows and keeping track of which communications we have with which customers.
But I'd love to start at the top, 'cause a lot of people maybe not familiar with the term CRM or they're not really sure which part of their business they're using as a CRM. So let's just start right at the top and give people a basic understanding. What a CRM is, how it fits into a business, and why every business kind of needs to have one.
Michael Hudlow: Sure. That is a great topic, and thanks for having me. It's interesting because you're correct. The concept of CRM currently really is really meant to be a system based, high tech way of coordinating all of your customer information. And putting it in such a place that it is easily recalled or even provides insight into that information to help you make better business development.
Decision. What's funny about it is that, at least [00:02:00] funny for me, so you can see if it's humorous to you or not, is that, everyone is already using a CRM system of sorts. It might be on a, a spreadsheet, it might be on a scratch pad on your desk, but it is a system.
It's just probably not a great system. Modern CRM systems and usually the big ones that come to mind are, Salesforce or Microsoft Dynamic. Oracle, SAP. But there are, 50, 60 more CRMs out there. Some for niche markets some are just, more affordable sugar. CRM and also one that's coming on very strong in the past few years is HubSpot.
HubSpot. And what does an a characteristic of a good CRM that is successful? What I tell individuals usually leaders at a firm. Is, the bigger systems are expensive. And the only way you're gonna get, your value out of them or increase the ROI out of those systems is to embrace it yourself as a leader and [00:03:00] promote it and champion that system.
And the other thing I tell people from the highest level is you have to figure out a way to, to invoke to. Tell everyone at your firm to welcome a sharing attitude. All of these systems rely on data. If you have salespeople or whomever that are saying, yes, I'll use the system, but I'm not really gonna give you all my best stuff, then the system just isn't gonna work well.
And I just think that's something that everyone has to keep in the back of their mind. That the technology's a change, but the process is also a big change. At your firm,
Speaker: you've dialed into what I think is the biggest. Pain point of CRMs or the hurdle, which is getting people to actually put the data in.
So it, if someone is doing 20 phone calls a day and then they say, oh, if I start filling in all this data, now I can only do 18 phone calls a day, I'm gonna make less money. So there's this trade off, right? And it's the trade off between doing and preparing and. [00:04:00] That's the where a lot of people get stuck.
They go I'll do all my calls and then I'll do my CM at the end of the day. By the end of the day, you can't remember who's who. And I use two Cs. I use a personal CRM 'cause I can't always remember who people are. And then a business one to manage clients and customer flows. So I know if I say I'm gonna do it later, but the end of the day, I can't remember what I talk to each person about.
So I know you talk a lot about AI and this is a. One of the things that's really interesting to me is how can AI help people to solve that particular pain point? Or what's the solution besides getting people excited by it, which is to add in more of an automation element or something that makes it easier to get the data into the CRM.
Michael Hudlow: So there, there's a couple, there's a couple different points there. And firstly I'm gonna do it just real casually, quickly without even the AI component. What you just said is an absolutely true and it is one of the hugest hurdles. To overcome. If you are a project person, implementing a new CRM system at a [00:05:00] firm it's what I call those, the naysayers, the, the people that are inadvertently saboteurs because they are, a a user that is in a point of respect or a higher up on the hierarchy chain, but they themselves are not using the system to the best of the advantage. So as a result, all of the individuals who report to them are, they're not gonna do it either. That just happens all the time. So I think, from a non-AI perspective, what you said is true until the system has enough information itself to start prompting you.
Saying, so you don't have to put in the information. The information is coming to you and saying, and then obviously all of this gets augmented and improved with the implementation of ai. That can also help out with these things. But it's more you get up and rather than opening up your computer and saying, what do I do next?
Or, open up your, your Black book of contacts, the system itself can say, Hey, it's Monday. Here are the 15 people that [00:06:00] you know, either you haven't called or they've called you and then you just run down a list. And by running down that list, it's documenting that you did whatever, write an email, make a phone call, whatever you had to do.
And therefore it actually becomes less. But yes, there is a little bit of an, it's like you have to go uphill a little bit and then you have this long coast afterwards. But that initial uphill battle, which can be alleviated to some degree by good data, the, the system, having access to good information, that helps out a tremendous amount as well.
Now with the with AI built into it, not only are you getting, like with a pure CRM system, you might add a contact. And you might say, Hey reach out to this person every, whatever, every quarter, whatever it may be. But with an AI component. And then, obviously it will do those things.
But with an AI component, it's much more like it's looking at everything and it will be able to say [00:07:00] that company that is on your hit list was in the news today and they said this. And this is where we, these are the kind of product solutions that we have reach out to that person today.
And obviously, or not, obviously, I just shouldn't say that. You also have the fact that ai there are many tools built into, and then third party vendors that make tools that will write that email for you. We will, we'll write the script for your phone call and, with very little review.
You are off to the races and you've done much less than you would've pre ai. So in that, in my scenario right there, you really have two different things. A, an AI looking at forecasting or helping you build your business development pipeline. And addition, you have the AI also. Looking at what that company needs based upon, what you've told it to look at and writing a script down.
There's another component there that it also it can do if you want to [00:08:00] is it can also reach out to your colleagues that you have, that you, as I mentioned before, sharing with that, say. These are the top three people that have that skillset. This is their, and obviously the, you can just keep going with that.
It can even make a, a small nice pitch deck that you shoot over and, and by doing so to a company saying, Hey, remember me, here's who we can do and here's how we can help you with that. You want to talk. All of those things can happen. Almost automagically, and obviously it takes a little bit of work there, but those tools are out there now and in the, business development world being the first person to reach out to a company that has an issue is huge.
So that, that's, that's really where things are picking up.
Jonathan Green 2024: What about for people that are not doing phone sales? I.
Michael Hudlow: Yeah I said before, the phone sales, it can do a script, but it can also and I, I have to say and I've mentioned this [00:09:00] actually to.
Leaders, at Salesforce I think their name is not fair to what they do, and that's, I, I think CRM is a much bigger envelope now even than it was, a few years ago. And most of those tools that I've mentioned do much more than a, than it pro in a way traditional CRM as defined, whatever, 10 years ago.
It doesn't have to be for sales, it doesn't have to be for, cold calling. It, it could be for professional services firms use them all the time because they're, they are capable to capable of managing your intellectual property. So in the same scenario that I just gave before.
You can have AI looking at your top clients that you know, that you are servicing or that are on your, in your pipeline that you are, are interesting or even help create that pipeline based upon what's happening in the world. But it can also search through, the thousands, tens of thousands of intellectual property that your firm is storing that could be relevant [00:10:00] to, to that business development activity.
And then as a result. Rather than trying to scratch your head, you now have a custom library made for yourself. From which to, to, build a response to an RFP if it goes that far. But not only does you have, do you have the intellectual property that you used before, you also have examples of what you've done case study wise at these other, previously.
And you also know the talent that you have available to you. So you know. From a, whether you're a sales person, you're a manufacturing firm, or a professional services firm, or an A law firm, all of these things become relevant. Look, I'll give you to an example as a law firm, law firms, when working on con, and this is just an example, so you know, I.
Take it for what it's worth, if you can relate to it. But, law firms are constantly reusing engagement letters. And this also works for a professional services firm. Engagement letters, but they have carve outs. Where it says, I. This one thing has to happen by this date, or [00:11:00] this happens, or we're not going to do this.
You can have these systems, track those carve outs, excuse me. Track those conditions and even mention to you or remind you of saying, Hey. Are we addressing this? Are we keeping their data in this kind of place? So there's, it's, that's why these systems are becoming so much bigger than they ever were.
They are just morphing into, a over watching brain that is sitting in the background that has access to everything and you have access to it too, but you just can't make the decisions that need to be made as quickly or as efficiently.
Jonathan Green 2024: So for a smaller business who's looking at all of these CRM options?
Salesforce charges a percentage of sales and someone of 'em who's much smaller is looking for something that's much more affordable. What are the kind of. Elements to look for in a crm. What are the most important things? Because a lot of them have a ton of features you're never gonna use for a smaller company.
Salesforce has all of these features. They go, I'm [00:12:00] only gonna use like three of them. How do I figure out what's the right critical element and what is right for a sale for someone like me?
Michael Hudlow: Yeah, that's interesting. Firstly for most companies, Salesforce is per seat. Cost. If you get into very specific, point of sale, then when you get into other things.
But for most companies, they're playing a per seat as opposed to a percentage. But the question is a good one. Here's what I would do. I would look at, before you start looking at, and this is one of the common mistakes I talk about in my books before you. Go looking for anything, and I know this sounds very obvious, but unfortunately, or fortunately for me, it is a hugely common mistake.
Before you go looking for a CRM system of any size and of any value, make sure you're looking at it for a problem that is, let's just say, broken right now at your organization or someone, some a major hurdle that is stopping you to get to the next level. Make sure you look at [00:13:00] it with a, with a.
Monetary I meaning don't do it because everyone else is doing it. That's way too easy. Look at it specifically to solve a specific problem That will also help you dial in what CRM package is best for you. Now, if you were to do a search. Because I can't give an answer to a question like that outside with, giving specific recommendations.
And I know that wasn't what you were asking, but I want everyone to be clear. There are so many niche CRM systems out there. That, there might be one if you're a, a jeweler or a travel agent or a, whatever. And using travel agency as an example, you are correct. You could buy the full Salesforce and you could make that full Salesforce into what you wanted.
That's gonna take some knowledge or quite a bit of knowledge. To do it, but you can do it. And they are great for big companies because big [00:14:00] companies do lots of different things and each department, each, geography can, that can customize it. But for your scenario, let's just say I'm a local travel agency and an A to CRM there are almost certainly CRMs out there that are absolutely targeted for you.
They're smaller, so they're going to be probably supported by a much smaller team of people. They're certainly gonna be cheaper, but they're gonna be probably bang on to what you need. So I would first take a look at those things. See, you type in, travel agency CRM system, and see what pops up.
If that, and if you're in a, if you're in an industry that, let's just say you do that search and nothing specific comes up. I would go to the largest CRM that still has a free of it's available to you for free. So for example, HubSpot major player few, five, six years ago, they were only targeted at smaller companies.
So that's like [00:15:00] in their DNA for a smaller company. The thing about HubSpot is yes, it still has an interface that is very obtainable to manipulate for a smaller company, but it is able to. Expand out to the enterprise level now. Now they've done an amazing job in the past few years so if you were to download, let's, for example, HubSpot and there are others out there, sugar, CRM and unfortunately the list is just too long to talk about today.
But if you were to go to a HubSpot those companies, including the larger guys all have app stores similar to what you use on your iPhone or your Android or whatever. And many of them have people that have built templates, for lack of a better term, that work for an industry.
So you could go, for example, and I'll just stay with HubSpot, but I'm not trying to, just dial in onto them. Only download it, use it, get a free license and then go look at their app store. And you may find [00:16:00] your company there as well. But I, if you have somewhat of a technical leaning.
Then I would say don't be scared to try any of these middle market or smaller CRMs. They're all, for sure, the middle market ones are built very well. And you should be able to get it through with no problem. If you have no experience I would probably I would still do the same search, but at the same time I would probably go look on one of the online services like, Upworks or any of those kind of things, and see if you can hire somebody for cheap.
To do what you wanted to do. But I am gonna go back to my first comment before you just buy something outright. Write down on a piece of paper of what is failing at your company or something that is holding you back, and write it down and make sure whatever you're doing, those two or three things that you've highlighted are addressed.
Because if they're not, you're still gonna have to do them in the future world. Manually, and that's just gonna scatter this whole [00:17:00] process. And in your, you're not gonna meet your own expectations.
Jonathan Green 2024: I think that's some really good advice. Where can people who wanna learn more about you, check out your book and maybe even have you help them set up their serum, where can they find you?
What's the best place to find you online? I.
Michael Hudlow: My website is bia CRM B-I-T-X-I-A-C-R m.com. I'm on LinkedIn under my name. I'm not so sure there's any other Michael LERs and I provide, it's interesting. I provide, and this is just not to scare anybody, but this is. My opinion of the state, of the industry right now, there are so many companies that are three years into, or two years into using or starting their CRM system that are deeply upset because it didn't meet their expectations.
Or they don't, I spent X and I don't think I'm getting half of that money back. And it's a very common problem. Because I think some, there are some very [00:18:00] basic mistakes that were made before purchase that were not addressed. And one of them happens to be what I was just talking about not knowing why you're doing it.
So yeah, you, you have to take some time. But I think, what happens is, the good news is all of these systems are extremely capable systems. They're extremely capable from a technical standpoint. Don't be concerned. For the most part that this system, Hey, I needed to do this. It's can't do that.
It really doesn't happen too much anymore. It's much more likely that you wanna do this, your partner wants it to do that way, and someone else in the firm wants it to do another way and it doesn't meet anyone's expectations and you just have this thing that is, you know, mediocrity. So there is, there are some, and I tell people that, the processes that you have now.
Write them down. Say what you wish they were doing and then take that what you wish to be were doing into the system. Don't take your old processes. They [00:19:00] almost never work.
Jonathan Green 2024: That's some sound advice. Thank you so much for being here for today's episode of the Artificial Intelligence podcast.
Michael Hudlow: You're welcome.
Thank you.
I.
Jonathan Green 2024: Thanks for listening to today's episode starting with ai. It can be Scary. ChatGPT Profits is not only a bestseller, but also the Missing Instruction Manual to make Mastering Chat, GBTA Breeze bypass the hard stuff and get straight to success with chat g profits. As always, I would love for you to support the show by paying full price on Amazon, but you can get it absolutely free for a limited time@artificialintelligencepod.com slash gift.
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