I'm sharing in this post my experience building The CRM Farm Project, which highlighted some personal challenges I am facing. Still, they are helping to address and strengthen some weaknesses and opportunity areas of development, and what's next for our public backlog of CRM technologies, aka "Tested Platforms ✨".
Why Join Our Journey?
The internet has dramatically transformed how we access information. It's now widely available but also overwhelming, with too much content that isn't always curated or trustworthy. The beauty (and sometimes, the nightmare) of it is the democratization and reach of information to a larger number of people looking for answers:
- What to watch?
- Where can I find happiness?
- Who called me?
- How do you lose weight fast?
- Am I going to lose my job to AI?
On the other side, there is always someone producing and offering something, relevant or not:
- Content
- Influence
- Service
- Product
- Miracle Scam—yes, unfortunately
It's a supply vs. demand situation, basically a chaotic information marketplace. You got the idea, and here's my point:
Have you ever felt the frustration of not "receiving" what was promised or expected? How did you feel about it? On the other hand:
Who doesn't feel happy when they find what they are looking for? Or even better: they find what they need... Yes, sometimes we are looking for something that may not be what we need, wasting time until we figure it out. And on some occasions, someone close to us kindly lets us know, pointing in a different direction.
What We Offer
Can you remember and tell a situation where you or someone you know has learned something from someone who shares their knowledge and experiences? And they were able to take it from there, advance it, and build on top of it? It's amazing, right?
The incredible power and goodwill for collaboration and networking are some of the reasons I started The CRM Farm Project, to create a safe space where technology meets practicality in the world of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Customer Experience (CX), driving and making innovation accessible for more people and businesses.
While talking to a few people, recruiters, and hiring managers, during job interviews and networking, they helped me realize something that I was reluctant to and stuck in my way: "What is obvious to me, from my perspective, is not for them and so it isn't for our audience at The CRM Farm Project".
Then, putting things into perspective and reach, I knew I wanted to start enabling people with technology and knowledge, so I had to figure out where to start: should I cover strategy or go way simpler, to remove noise and unnecessary complexities, at this point, and focus on approaching with hands-on tactics. I opted for the second option.
Next: I realized I should pick one technology platform with the best offering in the freemium model, being reachable to anyone and with fewer limitations, and that's why I chose HubSpot—I have extensive experience with it, it's easier to learn when compared to other platforms, and it's kind of "easier" for users to adopt (there are exceptions)—, but in my search, I found many other great tools, and added them to the backlog. This is how the "Tested Platforms ✨" page was born, AND it's our public technology backlog, open for voting and prioritization by the community users.
I started documenting the freemium version of HubSpot for Sales, Operations, Marketing, and Customer Support, in the form of an "online course", and as a nice complement, especially for content marketing (website/blog/forms/etc.) solutions—what end users see—I made available a "live demo", for the sake of showcasing the capabilities you get from a top-notch platform, in their freemium license, with fewer limitations, but still paying zero dollars for it.
So now, you can find the initial modules of the course already available, for free: from setting up your new free account in HubSpot to configuring all essential features for your sales teams, having a fully functional collaborative sales pipeline, and contact-company management.
Upcoming Modules
I'm finishing the recording of the next modules (customer service, marketing, and analytics), and the idea is to cover, end-to-end, the configuration, and hands-on learning on running your business with a free CRM.
I will also include 2 special modules about a) administration: how you can add next-level customizations to boost your business; and b) automation and integrations: the freemium HubSpot version offers limited—almost none—resources for automation, HOWEVER, you can easily navigate around it by integrating tools like Make and Zapier to add powerful automation and features to your free CRM.
It can be an ideal solution for those starting without many resources, but as you grow, this is not a sustainable approach as there are many ways for this to backfire on governance and compliance topics, especially when many people with different objectives and incentives have access and freedom with those tools.
You may want to reserve some time to discuss and plan to invest in a platform that will unlock more powerful resources to enable and boost your business growth, sustainably and properly—it's worth it, trust me.
A Personal Note
I'm still learning this new skill of thinking of storyboards, being in front of a camera, and recording videos for training,—I found myself navigating through the discomfort zone big time, again, it's weird listening to my voice and watching my facial expressions—but I'm loving it and having lots of fun with my mistakes and successes while building something that is feeding my passion and creativity.
My therapist also incentivized me to go down this rabbit role, as this might have a positive effect on the topics we have been working on: exposure, self-sabotage, confidence, and trust. And selfishly saying, the initial results have been very positive for me, in these areas 🙈.
Let The Game Begin
This is a super exciting time in the community where there are plenty of technologies out there—and while I'm by myself, most of them I have never worked on, and I will learn as I test and build knowledge to be shared with you. I can't wait to learn more and share it with you.
The beauty of this is that once you have learned about what CRM is, and have dedicated some time from a strategic point of view, it just gets easier to navigate through it to implement the strategy you know and the experience you possess to find creative solutions to business needs.
Join Our Community 🚀
At The CRM Farm Project, we're not just talking about CRM; we're putting platforms to the test! If you haven't checked out our "Tested Platforms ✨" section yet, I recommend you to do so and share it with your network, as I do believe this will help someone else who's looking for this content. In this part of the community, we dive deep into the capabilities and features of various CRM systems, giving you the insights needed to choose the right tools or implement new ideas and solutions for your business.
Are you passionate about CRM technologies? Want to build this community together with me? We're calling all enthusiasts to join us and influence our research. Whether you're a CRM expert or just starting, your insights are invaluable. Help us shape the future of CRM evaluations and share your unique experiences.
Get Involved
Your insights are invaluable to us, and your contribution will influence the future of CRM evaluations—you need less than a minute to sign up and share your vote or suggestion, and it's completely free:
- Vote on the next CRM platform we should explore
- Suggest new technologies for us to review
- Participate and help us shape and drive our discussions to deepen our collective understanding of CRM technologies
Join us on a journey to unravel the intricacies of CRM technologies. Explore our existing reviews and resources, and contribute to future discoveries. Together, we can make CRM knowledge accessible and practical for everyone!
Follow The CRM Farm Project for updates and more insights.
Together, we grow 🌱
#CRM #CX #Community #Marketing #Martech #Sales #Operations #CustomerService #DigitalCommerce #DigitalTransformation #Education #TheCRMFarmProject #CRMCommunity #GrowTogether #CRM #CX #TheCRMFarmProject #TechTesting #Collaboration