We recently rolled out attio, and there's a lot I like. Being able to ask AI to change views, move things around and summarize my deals is pretty cool. still finding it a little less intuitive than HubSpot (deals and companies are in same page, along with the list of contacts, for Attio I need to click into each field which is little annoying) which I used at my previous company but I'm getting used to it and learning more into AI

The bigger thing for me as a AE lead is the usual problem of getting everyone to actually update the CRM. always a tough one getting the top reps to stay hygenic.

Initially, I thought the AI agents helped. My team was happy enough to use them, and updates were getting done. But after a week or two, I started reading through the records and found notes scattered across different sections. There was information in Notes, in Description fields, but it was hard to follow, and some of the nuance was missing.

I tried using Grokbot to auto update my CRM as well but it just felt so clunky for me to set up let alone get my team to do it.

So I ended up asking everyone to write their own meeting notes again. Which felt a bit backwards after introducing all this automation.

I think I’m landing somewhere in the middle. If a field has a clear, factual value, great, automate it. For meeting notes, I still want the rep’s own account of what happened and what they think matters.

We already had Willow Voice across the company, mostly for our leadership to use, so I’ve started getting reps to dictate their CRM notes with it too. I give them all a structure to start off with and they can talk through a longer update without having to type everything out. Early days, but so far that’s been working better for us to have all the info in one place, and having all the point of a CRM plus it is also cleaned up.

How are other sales leads handling this? What do you let AI update. and what do you still ask reps to write themselves?

I run my own business selling insurance, and like a lot of people doing outbound calls, I'm working leads in multiple states and all four time zones.

There's a Federal flat rule and then there separate rules about what hours you can call and how many times you can call in 23 other states. They keep changing and I couldn't find any website that was completely up to date. All the states have totally separate websites for this. The hours by state can be really different through the week, Saturday, Sunday and Holidays. For instance Monday was Columbus day and telemarketing is flat banned in states like AL. Several states ban the number of calls/texts you can make in 24 hours.

Under the TCPA, statutory damages for violations covered by the Act can be $500 per violation and $1,500 for willful or knowing violations. State penalties vary, but in some jurisdictions they can reach into the tens of thousands.

I work with 2 different CRMs and it turned out that both of them only block the Federal guidelines of 8 am to 9 pm.

I went online and the few places that posted the rules were not official and hard to read. I set up an AI scraper and just went after all 50 states to find the individual rules. It turns out that the sites that I checked all had at least a few mistakes because the rules keep changing.

So I set up a page that lists all the rules per state with links to the citations that refreshes every morning after the AI run check. There's an email signup on that page that will only send you notifications when rules change. No marketing or anything else.

The problem I kept running into was: "how am I supposed to remember all of these calling rules while I'm actually working?"

I didn't want another checklist sitting beside my computer. I wanted my CRM to warn me before I made the call.

So I built CRM Call Guard.

It's a chrome extension that works "out of the box" on 6 CRMs so far and has a 1 minute configuration to get it to work with almost any CRM. There's a feedback button and if someone has a CRM that offers a free trial I can get it to recognize it in about half an hour.

I'd appreciate feedback, especially from people who spend their day calling leads. If there's a rule, CRM, or real-world calling situation I've overlooked, I'd rather hear about it now.

It runs in the browser on top of the CRM you're already using. It checks the lead's location and local time against the rules I've compiled and gives you an indicator right beside the call button. Everything stays in your browser.

If you're inside the calling window, you get a green indicator.

If there's a problem like the wrong time, Sunday/holiday restriction, frequency limit, then it turns red. If you click the call or text button anyway, Call Guard stops you and tells you why before letting you decide whether to continue.

The rules are kept up to date without you having to do anything.

I built it originally because I needed it myself. Once it was working, I figured there had to be other agents and agencies with exactly the same problem.

So I'm hoping to grow this mostly through agents or white label agencies telling other agents about something that's actually useful rather than dumping money into ads.

The extension is $24/month for two users and has a 7-day free trial.

*CRM Call Guard is a calling-hours/contact-frequency aid, not legal advice or a guarantee of compliance. It doesn't determine consent or Do-Not-Call status.*

Hi! I've been doing newsletters and campaign content for a big retailer for a while. Our CRM & loyalty position has been posted for several months now, and they still haven't found anyone. We're a bit outside the city, so I don't think many people want the commute. I asked my manager if I could take on the responsibility in the meantime, and it looks like I might get it. Let's be real though, it's probably mostly because nobody else has applied who fits.

To be honest, I'm not loving it at the company right now, and a lot of that comes down to feeling micromanaged (I’ve several times experienced someone in my team, just one person though, going in and changing the links in the newsletters so they’re wrong??). Part of why I want this is that it would be my own area. Nobody else really knows CRM there, so I'd finally get to make my own calls without someone looking over my shoulder on every little thing. And it could also be a good way to gather more experience and open new doors (I hope?!).

From the job description, the role covers:

- member communication (newsletters, landing pages, member content)
- developing the loyalty club and member benefits
- segmentation
- automated customer journeys (welcome flow, post-purchase, reactivation)
- analysis and reporting
- working with marketing and e-commerce

We're also moving to Voyado soon, and the role covers two chains.

The posting says you don't need 10 years of experience or to be an analyst. They want hands-on CRM experience, curiosity and someone who gets things done. I'm solid on the content side and already do a the newsletter analysis. But I've never built automated flows or worked on the actual loyalty program (points, tiers, the money side of it).

So for anyone who's done a role like this:

- I have a meeting with my manager today and want to ask for the right support. What would you ask for in my position? Training, courses, a mentor, clearer decision rights? What actually helped you?

- What was the hardest part when you started?
- Has anyone gone through a platform migration (Voyado or similar) early in the job? Any tips?
- Did owning CRM actually give you more freedom, or did you end up with just as many people having opinions?
- Anything you wish you'd learned before day one?

Would really appreciate any honest experiences, good or bad!