The Funnelholic

Social CRM is my new hobby. When I originally heard the term, I mocked it because I didn’t understand it. Sorry about that. Now I am listening, and I am starting to get it. Here is how I got here:

1. Ignorance: I ignored social CRM and when asked, I mocked it. Again, sorry.

2. Enlightenment: Salesforce.com bought Radian6, and I moderated a roundtable with some of the top social CRM experts in the business: Mike Fauscette, Brian Vellmure, Mitch Lieberman, Steve Woods and Esteban Kolsky. I realized that these are smart guys and I needed to figure out social CRM.

3. Education: I asked some people whom I should follow then started following them on Twitter. I started to read what I could (when I could). Brian Vellmure is now one of my boys, and is a resource for me on the topic.

Here are my observations on social CRM:

• I have stopped reading regular “social media” experts. What I like about the social CRM crowd is they don’t talk about “how to set up your Facebook” page. Instead they are focused on tying social back to the organization.
• Warning: It can be hard trying to distinguish the thought-leaders from the wannabes. From the looks of it, there are CRM analysts who added the word “social” to the front of their expertise. There are social wonks who have tacked “CRM” onto the back of their expertise. You have to be careful in determining who’s who.
• If you want to know the definition of social CRM, I found a good one here on Focus.com.
• The list at the end of this post might be wrong. I have thrown this out here to get reactions and am prepared to refine the list. Here is what I did: 1) Asked my respected friends whom to follow; 2) Added some of my favorite CRM guys (shout-out to Chris Bucholtz) even though I am not sure they all claim to be on the social CRM bandwagon. If they don’t now, they will soon enough.

How about this for a big, hairy goal that should prove to you I am beginning to understand the market: I hope Esteban Kolsky reads this and rips me. Then I know I have arrived. Seriously, if I am wrong, let me know, I am cool with that. But please don’t insult anyone.

So, here it is — the 70 (OK, 71 and now 72) people I follow on the topic of social CRM (in random order):

1. Greg Satell
2. Lauren Vargas
3. Frank Eliason
4. Rachel Happe
5. Tatyana Kanzaveli
6. Becky Carroll
7. Blake Landau
8. Ray Wang
9. John Rourke
10. Jeremiah Owyang
11. Michael Wu
12. Maria Ogneva
13. Jim Berkowitz
14. Graham Hill
15. Jacob Morgan
16. Jon Ferrara
17. Laurence Buchanan
18. Ed Sullivan
19. Brian Vellmure
20. Michael Fauscette
21. John Perez
22. Allen Bonde
23. Robin Carey
24. Blake Cahill
25. Amber Naslund
26. Adrian Ott
27. Barry Dalton
28. Arie Goldshlager
29. Leila Summa
30. Don Peppers
31. Gregory Yankelovich
32. Mike Boysen
33. Wouter Trumpie
34. Mark Tamis
35. Marshall Lager
36. Mark Reuter
37. Russ Hatfield, Jr.
38. Bill Odell
39. Merlyn Gordon
40. Nitin Badjatia
41. Mark Behrens
42. Bob Warfield
43. Wim Rampen
44. Bob Thompson
45. Janet Jozefak
46. Martin Schneider
47. Paul Greenberg
48. Jill Dyche
49. Anthony Nemelka
50. Clara Shih
51. Christopher Carfi
52. Jesus Hoyos
53. David Alston
54. Valeria Maltoni
55. Brent Leary
56. Mitch Lieberman
57. Sanjay Dholakia
58. Prem Kumar Aparanji
59. Josh Weinberger
60. Esteban Kolsky
61. Natalie Petouhoff
62. Andreas Gotthelf
63. Kathy Herrmann
64. Louis Columbus
65. Don Tapscott
66. Anthony Lye
67. Chris Bucholtz
68. Umberto Milletti
69. Jim Storer
70. Jeff Nolan (added 5/17  1.25pm)
71. Brian Vellmure

Interested observer:

71.  Michael Krigsman

At Sherpa last week, I met one of my readers. She said in essence: “I love your blog, but lately you have been bumming me out.”  She’s probably right. I am trying to make the blog reflect what I feel and am thinking at a given time.  Looking over my posts, you can see I’ve gone from irreverent, cocky, and sometimes funny to gloomy, dark, and fear-inducing in a fairly short span of time.  For me, the most important thing is that, as sales and marketers, we deal with REALITY and be as proactive in our adjustments as we can. If I write about sunshine and roses, how is that going to help us get through this?

Speaking of getting through this, when times get tough you have two choices; Lay down or fight.  I have seen a couple marketing departments “lay down” recently and I am really disappointed.  Yes, the world is going to hell, but guess what, your job is to survive and advance.  I look forward to watching which organizations make the adjustments necessary to come out on top in the next couple years.  I especially like those organizations that view negative times as opportunity.  Organizations see blood on the street, and go for the jugular.

Here is a fighter: Netsuite.  Let’s be honest, we know of Netsuite because of Larry Ellison’s early association and because they went  public.  We have NOT seen them putting themsleves out there and aggressively marketing.  Guess what, now they are coming hard, and it’s exciting.  I got the email below from them and while you may see a promotional email, I saw a company sending the proverbial first shot over the bow.  And guess what, they are taking on a Goliath — Salesforce.com.

This is what we need, we don’t need technology companies riding their installed bases, instead we need companies engaging in true hand-to-hand combat.  This is the American way.  A CRM war is just what the doctor ordered, and I hope more and more categories start to play.  (P.S. my boy Chris Bucholtz from InsideCRM has got to be excited about this).  I see more and more of Netsuite out there, and I like it.

So, you wanted something positive?  I am absolutely positive that the real winners of this crisis are the ones who dig their heel in and battle.

The oldest link-building trick in the book is the “best of” list. But this is not merely a link-building exercise. Actually, I have been dying to write this for a while. Since I have started the blog, I have found places on the Web to gather ideas and have had a chance to really think about the people that have given me the foundation for my ideology.

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