Episode 58: A Framework For Building Your MarTech Stack

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Show Notes

Think about how many platforms exist today. It's overwhelming! All this tech brings up a few questions that Doug and Mike discuss, the first being - are there too many CRMs? And is there such a thing as too many? In one way the options allow for more choice to find the right fit for your company, but you're also going to get a lot thrown at you that could add complexity to your business. So then what is a CRM? Doug states that it has to have 3 elements -- a contact object, a company object, and a deal/opportunity object. Today there should be a service object, too. 

The second question that comes up is what is a platform? Most companies nowadays would claim to be a platform because they don't want to say application or feature to appear small. To be a platform, there has to be a customer component. A platform is an operating system; it's a central point for the user. this is where the definition of a CRM has changed. Doug says it's a multi-object database that enables you to store and be a platform for your customer facing operations so you can run your marketing communication, sales, and service through it. To be a true platform, there has to be feature neutrality. 

The final big question asked is, what if the true problem is that you have too much technology? The core stack you choose (CRM, CMS, and Marketing Automation) should equate to 80% of the results you're going to get. There are 5 principles to keep in mind with technology: 

1. The Business process drives technology, not the other way around

2. The simplest stack is the best

3. If you can't do it manually, you can't automate it

4. Don't buy technology, hire it

5. Solve for the whole

If we slowed down and looked at tech through a prism, we'd eliminate friction, and we'd lower costs to be able to spend more time on what matters. Almost every company would be better off if they got rid of everything and mastered their CRM, CMS, and Marketing Automation.