Recap: SugarCRM’s Technology Advisors Workshop
We just finished a SugarCRM Workshop in Chicago that was hosted by our friends at Technology Advisors, a SugarCRM Elite partner. Both current and prospective SugarCRM customers gathered to learn how to streamline their sales processes and turn leads into revenue faster with Sugar. Tech Advisors provided complimentary training sessions on Advanced Workflow and Customer Journey Mapping.
Here are some of the event speakers’ highlights:
Clint Oram, SugarCRM’s Co-Founder and CMO
Clint kicked off the gathering with a SugarCon recap, doing a wonderful job of making everyone jealous they didn’t attend. He showed some video highlights of keynotes and speakers, and some great pictures of the superhero-themed costume party. He then went straight into talking about what the future of CRM looks like. Clint often warns prospective CRM buyers to beware of CRM bloatware. Clint argued that legacy CRM vendors are packing their products with too many features that customers are not asking for, and don’t know how to use. Anything that’s not focused on the job of building better business relationships is diluting the effectiveness of your CRM.
Clint also showcased SugarCRM’s product roadmap, noting how we are stepping on the gas pedal when it comes to innovation in both our Sugar cloud offering and our new relationship intelligence product line. As is typically the case when we show the simplicity and time-saving capabilities of SugarCRM Hint, the audience started nodding and murmuring their approval.
Finally, no CRM discussion is finished until someone says, “the world is heading mobile-first.” The boundaries between your work and personal life are merging. As Clint explained, “we want to build an application that’s as easy to use at home as at work.”
Scott Alder, Channel Account Manager at Act-On
Scott’s session was titled, “A Look into the Future of Marketing” and went through some evolutionary changes made in marketing in recent years, and how Act-On addresses the needs of digitally-savvy business buyers. He said, that you can master the customer journey by focusing on marketing personalization through the best messaging, perfect timing, and the ideal channel. By the way, Act-On recently announced an Act-On for Sugar bundle, for its more than 500 joint customers. The bundle is designed to complement Sugar and aims to help sales and marketing work together to deliver smarter customer engagements.
Jane Curry, CEO at Curry Young Consultants
Jane’s writing workshop focused on how the power of effective writing focuses heavily on the reader, not the writer. It’s the client’s opinion that matters most, and making sure your content is effective and ‘passes the eyeball test’ can allow you to not only write with clarity and power, but give your readers instant access to your insights.
Jane also recommended the ‘so what? test’, meaning business writers must ask themselves, “why do my readers need to know my message?” In business writing, you should almost always begin with the most important information, and let the details follow. When you force your readers to march through endless paragraphs of detail instead of getting to the point quickly, it often drives people away.
My Two Bonus Takeaways:
1) If you think you know why Chicago is called the windy city, think again!
2) Never try Malört at a bar in Chicago.
Thank you to everyone who attended a wonderful two days. And thank you to Technology Advisors for making this a first-class event. We love having our customers and partners together in one place.
– Jonathan