CRM adoption fails when teams treat it like data entry instead of a communication tool. In this episode of Burn The Playbook Podcast, Marc Crosby sits down with Michael Venman, founder of The Sales Nerd, to break down why the sales-marketing handoff keeps breaking, what “stage zero” really is, and how to build rev ops systems teams actually use.
What you'll learn
Chapters
00:00 CRM is a communication tool
00:58 Intro: Michael Venman and The Sales Nerd
03:10 Where CRMs break: handoffs between teams
04:33 Execs see the CRM differently than reps
06:51 Common mistake: starting with stages, ignoring handoffs
08:13 Stage zero explained: tracking SDR meetings and qualification
10:11 Defining lead vs opportunity is cultural
12:55 Fix lead quality with ICP grade, persona grade, lead score
15:05 Before and after examples: routing and closing lost
19:18 Track win reasons, not just loss reasons
22:05 Why renewals and churn risk come later
23:12 Process beats tools, and AI reflects your system
27:12 Using call transcripts for account summaries
30:23 Low-hanging fruit: email sync and click-to-call
31:07 Burn it or build it: rapid fire rev ops takes
39:19 One CEO move: actually use the CRM
40:14 Where to find Michael and the book
Who this helps
Guest
Michael Venman, Founder, The Sales Nerd
https://thesalesnerd.com
LinkedIn: Michael Venman https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelvenman/
Book: A Sales Funnel That Scales (Amazon)
Host
Marc Crosby, Digital Rebels Consulting
https://DigitalRebelsConsulting.com
Marc Crosby on LinkedIn
crm adoption; revenue operations; revops; go to market; b2b sales; sales and marketing alignment; lead qualification; mql sql; sdr handoff; sales funnel stages; hubspot; salesforce; data quality; pipeline management; closed lost reasons; win reasons; churn risk; customer success handoff; sales process
#Leadership #BurnThePlaybook #B2B #RevOps #Sales #Marketing
crm adoption starts at the top: CEOs need to use it #RevOps
stage zero fixes the SDR to AE handoff mess #Sales
stop the lead wars with ICP + persona + score #Marketing
hope is not a pipeline strategy: close lost faster #Sales
AI won’t fix bad process, it will expose it #B2B
CRM = Communication Tool
Stop The Lead Wars
Use The CRM
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