Customer relationship management (CRM) and marketing automation has evolved over the years with each change or tweaks refining the systems for the better. Read on for the trailblazers in the industry who are the brains behind the CRM and marketing automation tools that we use today.

A trailblazer is an innovator, a shaker, a leader who makes an impact in their field and leaves a path for others to follow. The CRM and marketing automation space has many innovators and influencers worth following for the best advice and reviews on the various products available in the market.

CRM and market automation are the cornerstone of every successful business. CRM is sales- focused while marketing automation is marketing-focused. CRM software is useful in securing sales by collecting contact information to personalize the sales process. Marketing automation software is useful in automating and streamlining repetitive marketing tasks like email marketing, mobile messaging, and social media posting.

A marketing automation software makes it possible to use a single platform for all these tasks. Marketing automation begins with raw leads leading up to qualified well understood leads, which are then passed on to the sales team to customize the sales experience.

20 Trail Blazers Leading the Way in CRM And Marketing Automation

CRM and marketing automation have evolved over the years with each change or tweak refining the systems for the better. Read on for the trailblazers in the industry who are the brains behind the CRM and marketing automation tools that we use today.

A trailblazer is an innovator, a shaker, a leader who makes an impact in their field and leaves a path for others to follow. The CRM and marketing automation space has many innovators and influencers worth following for the best advice and reviews on the various products available in the market.

CRM and market automation are the cornerstone of every successful business. CRM is sales- focused while marketing automation is marketing-focused. CRM software is useful in securing sales by collecting contact information to personalize the sales process. Marketing automation software is useful in automating and streamlining repetitive marketing tasks like email marketing, mobile messaging, and social media posting.
A marketing automation software makes it possible to use a single platform for all these tasks. Marketing automation begins with raw leads leading up to qualified well understood leads, which are then passed on to the sales team to customize the sales experience. Amplispot says,

“Implementing multi-channel marketing strategies increases the chance of marketing content being seen by consumers, which in turn increases the potential for revenue generation.”

CRM and Marketing Automation Trailblazers

The history of CRMs dates back to the ’70s when stand-alone mainframe systems were used for sales automation systems and customer data files. Over time, this technology has evolved as the market demands.
Top CRM tools such as Agile CRM are now more interaction-based and as such have gone social providing users with invaluable social media analytics, which they can use to create meaningful content and engagement with both existing and potential customers. Agile CRM is also cloud-based hence users can access CRM data on their mobile phones on the go.

We thus need to acknowledge some of the brains behind these developments.

1. Matt Heinz – founder and president of Heinz marketing
Heinz Marketing is a B2B (Business-to-Business) and sales acceleration digital marketing firm that was started in 2007. Matt Heinz has over 15 years of experience in marketing and business development accrued while working at companies such as Microsoft, Boeing, Verdiem, Market Leader, and The Seattle Mariners. He is an expert on B2B demand generation, content strategy, pipeline management, and enablement of sales. He helps clients focus on marketing, customer acquisition, and retention, and scaling up revenue.

2. Manu Das – Founder, president, and CEO of Soffront Software Inc
He used $6,000 of his savings to create software that manages customer service, feedback, product quality, and customer’s history of purchase. He has worked for FMC cooperation, Stanford University, National Semiconductor, and later moved to Olivetti Technological Center where he created a database project based on lotus notes, to help manage product development on a large scale. In 1992, he left Olivetti to start Soffront.

3. Michael Maoz – Vice president of innovation strategy at Salesforce
Michael joined salesforce from Gartner, Inc., where he is a Gartner Fellow and a member of one of the first global CRM software company. At Gartner, he was the founder of the CRM practice. He is one of the creators of the CRM space. He is also a board member at Rutgers center for innovation education.

4. Jon Ferrara – CEO of Nimble
Nimble offers its product as a SaaS (software as a service), which integrates marketing tools, simple smart CRM, and social media. He co-founded the award-winning CRM software – Goldmine – in 1989. Goldmine is the first CRM software solution to integrate marketing automation and sales with a customer email address, contacts, and calendar. Ferrara is a renowned speaker focusing on social sales and marketing. He has been featured in influential magazines like Forbes and Fortune.

5. Paul Greenberg – President of a consulting firm, The 56 LLC
Greenberg is known as “the godfather of CRM”. His company focuses on prime CRM strategic plans and does customer strategy consultation. He is also the founding partner of BPT Partners LLC, a CRM training company. He is the executive president of the CRM Association and chairman of the advisory committee in the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, CRM center for excellence.

He is the author of CRM at the speed of light: Social CRM strategies, Tools, and Techniques for Your Customers, which is a bestseller. His other book, CRM at the speed of light: Essential customer strategies for the 21st century, has been translated into eight languages and is being used in more than 70 universities. It is in its 4th edition and has been christened “The Bible of The CRM Industry.”

6. Perry Norgarb – Founder and editor-in-chief at SmallBizCRM.com
He is based in South Africa and has spoken at several sales conferences. He has his own software company and boasts of over 20 years of experience dealing with sales and marketing in IT solution companies, and helps them decide on the best CRM suited for their business. He co-hosts a radio show in South Africa where he discusses software tools for use in small businesses.

7. Matthew Guay – Lead reviewer at Zapier
Zapier is based in California, USA, and gives its users the power to integrate the web applications they use to create customized automated workflows. Zapier is a must-have for any business looking to streamline their processes since it works with over 750 applications. Matthew has written a book – Ultimate Guide to CRM Software -, which is considered the most insightful CRM guide on the web. He shares more insights on his blog on TechInch.

8. Steli Efti – CEO and founder of close.io CRM and ElasticSales
Steli Efti helps startups in their efforts to scale up their sales. She is the author of The Ultimate Startup Guide To Outbound Sales and is the host of “The Startup Chat” podcast. She is also an alumnus of Y Combinator, the famous seed accelerator which has helped build big companies like Airbnb, Dropbox, and 9gag.

9. Rich Bohn – Renowned CRM Analyst
Rich Bohn is a unique salesman and computer geek who helps companies get value for their money when looking for CRM software. He is the oldest CRM analyst and reviews every single CRM that exists and gives tricks on the use and implementation of the CRMs. His reviews can be found at “SellMoreNow.”

10. Ryan Schwartz – A web and marketing technology influencer
He is also the senior director of marketing technology at MongoDB. Ryan is an advisor to multiple marketing technology startups and was named as a top 25 “Marketing Nerds to Watch” by Lattice Engines. He was also named top 15 “Marketing Automation Influencers You Need to Know” by Heinz Marketing. He has a passion for the integration of the many available automation systems within businesses.

11. Michael Taylor – A CRM expert at Walkme
WalkMe is a cloud-based engagement platform that is used by SaaS vendors and over 800 enterprise service providers. It guides users on its platform to take action within any online experience. He runs a blog “CRM simplified” which is a rich resource for everything CRM. The blog helps businesses with recommendations and links to other quality CRM articles and provides tips on the implementation of infographics.

12. Michael Peggs – A New York-based consultant and content expert
He is also a founding member of Marccx, a content marketing agency. He offers his guidance and advice on large scale marketing automation and organic lead generation. He shares his insights on many platforms including the Huffington Post.

13. Brent Leary – Co-founder and partner at a consulting firm CRM Essentials
CRM Essentials focuses on small and medium-sized startups. He has worked for companies like Compaq, Salesforce, Microsoft, IMF, and World Bank and gathered over 15 years of experience. He is a prominent speaker who is highly sought-after to address issues on small businesses, CRM, and technology. He shares his knowledge on platforms such as Inc.com, TechTarget, and SmallBizTrends.

14. Peter Kanzajy – Founder of TalentBin
TalentBin is a talent search engine and CRM recruiter. Kanzajy is the driving force behind “Modern Sales Salon” which has a member base of over 100. It is an invite-only peer learning platform which is focused on sales system, operations, and management.

15. Marc Benioff – Founder and CEO of saleforce.com
Benioff is a pioneer in the CRM space. Marc is also a renowned speaker, author of Behind The Cloud, philanthropist, and a huge SaaS evangelist. He built salesforce.com from a startup to one of the fastest-growing companies. He began this startup from his rented apartment and has steered its growth into a force to reckon within less than 10 years.

16. Jeff Kaplan – Managing Director of THINKStrategies
THINKStrategies is a consulting firm that focuses on technology companies and the impact they face in their transition from product-based platforms to service-based solutions, known as SaaS. He is also the founder of “Cloud Showplace”, a large-scale resource center for SaaS, PaaS (platform as a service), and LaaS (logging as a service). Jeff Kaplan is the host of “CloudSummit” a show that highlights successful stories on cloud solutions and strategies.

17. Denis Pombriant – An award-winning software analyst and speaker
Pombriant runs a consulting firm, “The Beagle Research Group.” The company focuses on software for businesses, customer experience, and relationship management. As a consultant and researcher on customer engagement, he advocates for embracing customer service, which focuses on data and analytics.

He also advocates for customer service that strives to understand and focus on the needs of customers whenever they arise. His insightful resources can be found in The Beagle Research Blog, The CRM Magazine, The CRM Buyer, and Diginomica a blog on cloud applications and digital enterprises. He is an author of two books on customer loyalty namely: Solve for the Customer and You Can’t Buy Customer Loyalty But Can Earn It.

18. Scott Brinker – A computer programmer and entrepreneur
He is the current VP Platform Ecosystem at HubSpot, Editor at Chiefmartec.com, a marketing technology blog, and Program Chair of MarTech. Martech focuses on the growing angle of revenue operations which connects marketing and sales operations as well as customer success operations.

Scott is also the author of the bestseller book Hacking Marketing. He teamed up with Tim Stryker and Richard Skurnick between 1986 and 1990 to create several multi-player adventure games, called Quest for Magic and Kyrandia. He became the CEO of the software company Galacticomm at the age of 21.

20. Anita Campbell – Founder and CEO of SmallbizTrends.com
SmallbizTrends is the most popular, and independent small-business blog on the internet that offers information, advice, and news to small businesses, like CRM software. she serves on several advisory boards and is the co-author of Visual Marketing: 99 Proven Ways for Small Businesses to Market with Images and Design.

She has been named in more than 3 Forbes list of 25 Most Influential Women Tweeting About Entrepreneurship, 20 Best Branded Women on Twitter, and 30 Women Entrepreneurs to Follow on Twitter. Anita has also been named by Hubspot as one of the 100 most powerful women on Twitter.

Conclusion

Most CRM trailblazers offer their exhaustive reviews on literally every CRM product on the market, giving businesses an easier time in the choice of platform to use and software companies ideas on what to improve on. CRM and marketing automation are no longer a choice but a pivotal part of any business that has the goal of succeeding. When looking for CRM and marketing automation software, it is smart to check out reviews especially done by market influencers with an eye for detail and market experience.