
Leadership Principles From CRM Legend Jon Ferrara

The Customer Journey & Teaching Them How They Can Be Great
00:00 Introduction to the Evolving Sales Landscape
03:00 Understanding the Modern Customer Journey
06:08 The Importance of Building Relationships
09:02 The Renaissance of Sales and Relationships
11:50 Navigating the Sales Process and Tools
15:03 Integrating Technology in Sales
18:01 The Future of Relationship Management
23:49 Building a Cohesive Customer Lifecycle Platform
26:10 The Importance of Follow-Up and Relationship Management
28:55 Reimagining Relationship Management Tools
32:54 Choosing the Right CRM for Your Business
36:19 Understanding the Role of CRMs in Business
In this episode of the Sales Podcast, I catch up with Goldmine CRM and Nimble CRM founder, Jon Ferrara.
We discuss the evolution of customer engagement and the changing dynamics in sales and marketing, as well as how technology has transformed the sales process, emphasizing the importance of building authentic relationships and understanding the customer journey. (Sidebar: I actually met Jon at his office in Santa Monica years ago, and we speak regularly, despite his relocation to the East Coast.)
It's obvious that sales professionals must adapt to and adopt modern tools and strategies while maintaining a human touch in their interactions. (Sidebar: In this age of AI, I keep saying that H2H—Human to Human—sales will be more important than ever.)
Jon shares insights from his many decades of experience in the CRM/startup/tech industries, and advocating for a blend of relationship management and sales automation to drive business success, not to mention how he applies his leadership skills to grow multiple success tech companies.
Of course, we discuss the evolution of customer relationship management (CRM) tools, emphasizing the importance of building cohesive customer lifecycle platforms that integrate social data and marketing automation.
They highlight the significance of follow-up and relationship management in business success, advocating for tools like Nimble that simplify the process.
We also cover the challenges of choosing the right CRM, the need for a relationship platform that spans all departments, and the necessity of understanding one's specific business needs when selecting a CRM solution.
What You'll Learn In This Episode of The Sales Podcast...
"Go date some CRMs to figure out your needs."
- How to make your offering all about the customer's journey
- Why you need to stop "yelling at your customers about how great you are"
- How to teach your customers to be great
- How service is the new sales
- How to earn the intimacy and trust of your customers
- How to apply a process to your purpose
- The need for structure to succeed
- How to both curate and create great content to engage your customers
- Why we live in Outlook (Hint: it has to do with relationships)
- How to create engagement that drives results
- Leadership in the world of high tech, AI, WFH, and social media
"Sales is going through a renaissance."
Catch Up on The Previous Episode of The Sales Podcast
Want to get your dog millions of views on YouTube? Want to stalk your roommate on Facebook and get featured in AdWeek? Listen to last week's episode with "Ghost Influencer," Brian Swichkow. Stream below or right click here to download his episode.
Links Mentioned In The Sales Podcast
- Start your free trial of Nimble CRM
- Follow Jon Ferrara on X
Check out Jon Ferrar's first appearance on The Sales Podcast
Watch Jon Ferrara's demo of Nimble CRM on The CRM Sushi Podcast.
Market like you mean it.
Now go sell something.