I remember that around 2013, everyone was talking about “CRM 2.0” — what CRM company would displace Salesforce? SFDC was clunky. Implementation took forever. And it never really ended. It seemed like only a matter of time before SFDC would be forced to pass the torch to a hot new CRM company.

As it turns out, SFDC is here to stay. They’ve been an incredibly successful company. When you go to hire your first VP of Sales, they’ll very likely tell you that SFDC is their tool of choice.

But people still love to complain about SFDC. They’ve been successful in spite of the continued cost of implementation and maintenance. So how can you use SFDC but reduce the cost of ownership?

In this post, Taylor Lint, the CEO and Founder at Swantide, shares the best practices for setting up and maintaining your CRM. We discussed:

* How should you set up your CRM early on so that you don’t accumulate a ton of tech debt?

* What are the costs of switching to a new CRM as you grow?

* How can you automate future changes to your CRM, so that you’re not spending a ton of money on admins and contractors?

You can listen to the podcast or else read the lightly edited transcript of the conversation in my Substack newsletter. Let's dive in!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit allisonpickens.substack.com