Salesforce's Devin Kunysz: CRM-Driven Consumer Goods Growth
The CPG Guys are joined in this episode by Devin Kunysz, Senior Director of Physical Goods Industries, Retail, Consumer Goods, and Manufacturing at Salesforce, the #1 AI CRM—where humans with agents drive customer success together with AI, data, and Customer 360 apps on one platform.
This episode is sponsored by Saleforce
Follow Devin on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/devinkunysz/
Follow Salesforce online at: https://www.salesforce.com/consumer-goods/cloud/
Devin answers these questions:
- Tech Fueled Sales: Why is CPG selling, still operating the way it did in 2010? So much has changed, but the process looks very much the same. What are some of the leaders doing with “tech-fueled sales” that our listeners should be thinking about?
- We talk a lot about 'the cloud' and real-time data, but any field rep will tell you that the back of a grocery store usually has zero cell service. How critical is it for a modern commercial hub to function fully offline, and how does that change the day-to-day life of a field seller?
- Let’s make the unified commercial hub concrete. What does it actually mean to connect trade promotion management, CRM, and retail execution — and how does that change the quality of joint business planning and value-creation conversations with key accounts?
- There’s this catch-22 we see a lot in CPG right now. Growth slows down, so brands freeze hiring or cut budgets—which means they don’t have the resources to actually chase the channels where the growth is happening. What does this vicious cycle actually look like on the ground, and how can the right tech snap a brand out of it?
- Focus on the Consumer: Moving to the consumer side, why should CPG brands be thinking about agentic shopping, and what should they be doing about it?
- AI is inserting a new discovery layer between brands and consumers, and a shopper agent can shrink the digital shelf down to just three to five items. How should CPGs operate in that world so both B2C and B2B revenue don’t suffer?
- Why does a data flywheel matter? CPG data strategy tends to be siloed — consumer insights in one tool, retailer insights in sales notes and spreadsheets. What changes when data is created at every step and flows from consumer engagement to promotion choices to in-store execution?
- One growth pocket is reaching customers that were previously unprofitable to serve, like the long tail of accounts. How does a connected commercial platform make it possible to serve those customers profitably?
- Beyond the traditional channels, we’re seeing market leaders explore enhanced direct channels — not just D2C sites, but using that data to power personalized, breakthrough products at the front of store. How should CPGs think about that opportunity?
- To wrap us up: if you’re a CPG leader listening today, what is the first step you should take to start building a connected front office, and what should they realistically expect success to look like a year from now?
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Devin (00:00)
Hi, I'm Devin Kunysz, Senior Director of Physical Goods Industries, Retail, Consumer Goods, and Manufacturing at Salesforce, and you're watching the CPG Guys Podcast.
Sri (00:31)
Hello, hello, and welcome to this episode of the CPG Guys. I'm of course Sri, known in the trade as Papa Raj, co-founder of Think Blue Consulting and co-creator of the CPG Guys. Father to pop stars, Lara Raj from the beginning Katseye, who just performed on Saturday Night Live and made me actually visit Jalen Brunson from the New York Knicks. And now I'm Mac Toyota and Kiss Nails Girls, Rhea Raj, a solo artist herself, just recently signed two weeks ago with Republic Records.
I'm joined today by my East Coast co host and co founder, Mr PVSB, all the way from Connecticut, where the fall weather surely must have set in. Has it, Peter?
PVSB (01:07)
Well, the leaves are falling, but it's still seventy five degrees here. The leaf peeping has not commenced. We're probably a week or two away from that, but just recovering from all the incredible travel you and I have been undertaking. Las Vegas, San Francisco, Austin, San Diego. It's been a very busy month, Sri, and we're not now that we're into October, we're heading to New York City for advertising week next week. So very, very busy time for all of us
Sri (01:33)
Indeed, sir, and I'm sure you're getting prepped for the NLDS just as I am for the ALDS with unfortunately the Yankees Daddy Tampa Bay. To our audience, we're getting value from these conversations. We have three quick requests from you. The first, subscribe to us on whatever platform you're listening on right now, whether that's Spotify, Apple, Amazon Music, anywhere else you get your podcast, YouTube, hit that subscriber follow button so you never have to miss an episode. Second.
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So it's CPG guys on LinkedIn, hit follow, click the link in the digital show notes of this episode. Subscribe, rate, follow, that's what it comes down to. Three simple actions that help us bring you more of the conversations that matter. Now to our guest. Shoppers have evolved, retailers have evolved. So why does so much of CPG selling still look exactly like it did a decade or so ago? In this episode, we're breaking down how Salesforce is helping brands finally connect the dots. We're talking about ditching the fragmented systems and bringing trade promos.
Customer data, retail execution, all under one single roof. Nirvana for a CPG brand. And retail in the process. We'll discuss why getting your teams in sync is the ultimate cheat code for better retailer partnerships, squeezing out growth in a slow market. We're also tackling the new wave of AI shopper tech and how you can protect your bottom line right now given the volume pressure in the industry.
Today we're joined by one such person working at the center of how CPG companies are rebuilding their commercial engines. Devin Kunysz is the senior director at Salesforce leading the retail, consumer goods, and manufacturing industries. Because he sees the full picture from the factory to the checkout aisle, make, move, sell, he knows exactly how to help CPG brands turn trade span into a genuine competitive advantage. If you want to understand why connected front offices are the future CPG and what AI and shop agents mean for your growth, let's get on to hearing from our guests.
Devin, welcome to the CPG guys on the
PVSB (03:51)
For
Friday morning.
Devin (03:53)
Big, big moment for me. Longtime listener, first time caller. Super excited to spend time with you guys.
PVSB (03:58)
Guys.
Devin (03:59)
Let's get into it.
Sri (04:01)
And we're thrilled to have you on the show, cause given my past life at General Mills and given where the stock is, businesses, volume is, man, we could have used this unified trade promo solution in space. So to our audience, please check out the digital show notes of this episode to find a hyperlink to Devin's LinkedIn profile and the Salesforce website to learn more about what we're going to discuss as we carry on with this conversation, which I will kick off now with our first question for Devin. Devin, so let's just put that word out there.
Tech fueled sales. It's the need of the R, it's the answer to the R, it's the answer to volume challenges. Cause as humans, we ain't figured it out for three years. So hopefully tech's the answer. Why is CPG selling still operating the way it did in 2010? Customer teams, channels, things of that nature. So much has changed in the industry. It's a digital shopper. We believe a third of shoppers are using AI every day in choices for their shopping. But the process is so 2010, if not earlier.
What are some of the leaders doing with tech fuel sales that our listeners should be thinking about now, like today?
Devin (05:01)
Yeah, I mean, by way of proving that, I just got off right before I got on with you guys with some of the CROs of two of the largest companies in the space. And I was laughing with my team because it is exactly the same as when we were key account managers back in two thousand
PVSB (05:16)
Managers by two thousand and eight.
Devin (05:18)
and just a way of put introduction, I spent the first fifteen years of my career in industry, right? So I came from industry, I built a brand for Amazon, I led stores at Starbucks, then before that I was a seller and a brand manager at
Heinz, Pepsi, and General Mills. And to your point, nothing and
PVSB (05:34)
Change.
Devin (05:35)
I think what we see broadly is this. DPG companies haven't built the structural technology that retailers during that time since 2008 have built lots of technology. They've built retailer media networks. They've built their insight just listening to your podcast with the Walmart data ventures team. They've built all of that.
And then the cam, here comes your key account manager. I've got my yellow notepad or my laptop that I'm taking notes on. And I've got a beautiful PowerPoint and an Excel grid of my eighteen month plan. I I say this jokingly, but I think that's the opportunity for the industry. As I think about it,
PVSB (06:15)
And as I
Devin (06:17)
what I hear from CROs at the biggest companies is we're invested heavily in insights and RGM. We've done all this work.
PVSB (06:22)
So work
to like get our data right. And then my question to them is how's that executing?
Devin (06:29)
Well, you know, it turns out it's really so
PVSB (06:31)
Hard.
Devin (06:32)
I think what we're seeing is you have to build sort of these and by the way, one of those self serving for a second, is a CRM.
PVSB (06:36)
Systems. Systems. I'm gonna be
Devin (06:43)
I'm not saying a CRM makes a good sales,
PVSB (06:45)
Sales organization.
Devin (06:47)
but I have not yet met a great sales organization that doesn't have so
PVSB (06:50)
And so
Devin (06:52)
I think we can talk a lot as we go through what that looks like, but I'll give you a couple things that I've seen.
I was with one of the largest CPGs in the world. We were in Bentonville looking at the way that they do key account.
PVSB (07:04)
Management at Walmart.
Devin (07:06)
And they were showing me their way they track their joint business.
PVSB (07:09)
Plan outcomes.
Devin (07:10)
And this will shock you. They were taking notes in the notes.
PVSB (07:12)
Not at all. Page
of the PowerPoint slide, right? That back.
Devin (07:16)
And I asked them like how do you translate and
it's like, well, we have one hour meetings with every one of our brand
PVSB (07:22)
Of our band teams.
Devin (07:24)
every week to sort of
PVSB (07:25)
share
what's going on. Well that seems like a system that you could solve for, right? Happens
Devin (07:29)
The same problem happened
PVSB (07:31)
in R GM, the same problem happens across it to our customers right now.
Devin (07:34)
So, how we're talking to our customers now
is how do we help you bridge insights into our institution? And we just had our
PVSB (07:39)
into execute.
Dreamforce event, which is our big conference and one of our best customers is Mars. Incredible
Devin (07:47)
They are an inc
PVSB (07:48)
customer.
Devin (07:49)
and their CRO for the parking division was the construction. It's a great
PVSB (07:51)
For their snack headliner at our consumer goods keynote. Great
session, it's recording online. Maybe we can put that in the show notes as well. We're talking about him.
Devin (08:00)
But he and I were it and he said for him,
the final frontier is fixing this key account trade key. Most CPGs have invested
PVSB (08:06)
Management, the modern key account manager invested
in tech on the backside. They've invested in execution
Devin (08:13)
Intact for retailing
PVSB (08:16)
and
Devin (08:16)
But they haven't
PVSB (08:17)
DSD. And that's where we're spending our time now is what the next generation of tech fueled sales look like.
Devin (08:22)
What does the look like?
So hopefully that's a good opener to the what is happening and why is we just
PVSB (08:29)
The white haven't
Devin (08:31)
invested in that space because everyone says my key account.
PVSB (08:34)
Manager
knows who the buyer is.
Devin (08:37)
My sellers know what we're doing. We just need to go in and execute. And I think tech is for that. I'm happy to talk more forward.
PVSB (08:41)
Think is the unlock. More about that as we go.
Devin, welcome to the CPG guys. Yeah, the CPG guys are quite familiar with Mars. Our dear friend Tim Labelle, the chief Halloween officer as he's known this time of the year, was kind enough to invite us down to their national sales meeting back in March and we had a chance to address our organization. But as I think about all those field reps and salespeople that were in the audience, you know, we talk a lot
On this podcast, and I'm sure you do in your role about the cloud and real time data, but those field reps will tell you they walk into a a store and they head into the back to look at the inventory, and they get like no sell service, none whatsoever. So, how critical is it from your perspective for a modern commercial hub to function fully offline? And how does that change the day to day life of a field seller?
Devin (09:36)
Yeah, I think fully offline is a capability that we've built natively into I'll even take it a step.
PVSB (09:40)
to our product further.
Devin (09:43)
To me, it's actually about turning that visit in the store into paint. So
PVSB (09:48)
By numbers, right?
Devin (09:50)
they completely lose connectivity in the water. By the way, I'm not sure I want them deeply on tech. I want
PVSB (09:56)
In the walk in, right?
Devin (09:57)
them stocking shelves. Tech is an
PVSB (09:59)
Enabler for that.
Devin (10:00)
What I really want is I want to change the actual
PVSB (10:03)
UI for them.
Devin (10:05)
So, how we talk about it now is we think agents are the key to this. Agents let you do work you couldn't do before.
PVSB (10:11)
I remember when I was
Devin (10:13)
Back doing the job, going to
PVSB (10:14)
The store.
Devin (10:16)
and I would get my brief and it'd be an Excel spreadsheet, and I'd have to look what's supposed to be on the end cap this time. You know what's really good that question for you? An AI. So we're working with a lot of these to actually
PVSB (10:23)
at answering that I agent. So these customers and we're saying
Devin (10:29)
give them a pre-visit agent that will pop up and they can ask questions.
PVSB (10:33)
Like store and service before
Devin (10:33)
Like what's the top three priorities in this? Are there any open cases before
PVSB (10:38)
I walk in so that I don't try to sell the manager innovation and talk about is show up. We've all been there, right?
Devin (10:46)
And then the connectivity is super powerful, but I have a I've kind of got guidance throughout my visit that allows me to do the conversation better so that I can focus on what I'm good at, which is getting product on the shelf, pulling product, getting it and then I'm looking through five different cell sheets.
PVSB (10:59)
the back room it back to the shelf selling new things. I'm not spending my time to
see what I'm supposed to sell today. And connectivity is obviously critical to that. So we enable that before it comes in. But I also just broader
Devin (11:11)
So it can sync it's just
up a much bigger if we change the way that agents that will do the
PVSB (11:17)
conversation is how that job is done by adding the
follow up. In fact, actually on
Devin (11:24)
We just introduced a Dreamforce.
PVSB (11:25)
device transcription.
Devin (11:27)
So you actually can have your device with the record information
PVSB (11:30)
permission of your customer obviously for the conversation.
Devin (11:33)
you have, and it will actually populate your
PVSB (11:36)
visit based on that conversation and say they wanted samples of Chief Halloween
Devin (11:39)
The let's take your achievement.
PVSB (11:42)
officer. They wanted samples of whatever innovation Mars has come up with for this this holiday.
Devin (11:48)
Do you want to send it? And imagine getting back to the script and you've got a that's the kind of that is it's taking things off people's
PVSB (11:50)
To your car and the samples are already shipped tracking link, right? The power that we're talking about
plates. Whether it's offline, online, doesn't really matter. It it does, but it's more
Devin (12:02)
It's kinda
PVSB (12:03)
about taking things off their plate.
Sri (12:05)
Devin, clearly agents are already in play today. These things you're talking about are fully capable today of doing what you just mentioned. And I'm sure you're already well on your way of building it or already have built it in some cases, as you've explained. So clearly salespeople should be able to free themselves up for higher level tasks and more relationship building, if anything. The part I worry about, Devin, is the tools are here, they're going to be used. The smart ones are going to adopt them very quickly and they're going to
Be after the racism, maybe it's to solve for the volume challenges we've had, because AI will take you to the pinpoint precision of where the issue is and what to solve for versus hunting in eight spaces in the forty page binder you and I have been using all of not forty two hundred page PDF we got every Monday morning. But what about, you know, before I go to the next question, my follow up on this one is business process as well as human capital learning and process management.
Have you thought about that and are y'all bringing any capabilities along with the actual technology part to advise these large high Mac market cap C P G companies on what fundamentally needs to change from a business process standpoint in adoption?
Devin (13:21)
It's it's a phenomenal
PVSB (13:22)
question it actually bridges well to the next conversation. But I
Devin (13:26)
think we're talking about that in two sides. The change management component, I actually think I've I've built two CRM.
PVSB (13:31)
There's a a career.
Devin (13:35)
I sort of have a a blueprint.
PVSB (13:36)
For success.
Devin (13:38)
You pick three to five processes and this is a professional
PVSB (13:41)
Yeah.
Devin (13:42)
suck, and you fix them.
PVSB (13:44)
Right.
Devin (13:44)
So I'll get like I use sample requests. I have never met a CPG that it's an ex it's really hard. It's painful new item
PVSB (13:46)
As an example, I do sample requests well. Excel spreadsheet, it's hard, whatever
that is for your business. Every customer that I talk to has a start with those two as examples and then they do five more. Those five most powerful change
Devin (13:57)
Slight nuance of them. I always start with those tell me and then I just say which of those five would be the powerful if you change.
PVSB (14:05)
them. And they tell me.
Devin (14:08)
And then we change them. So yes, we bring people along with Mars. We brought
PVSB (14:10)
Along by the way. Like brought
our professional services team transformed
Devin (14:14)
We helped them translate.
PVSB (14:15)
the way that they built their trade promotions. We actually cut trade promotion planning by fifty percent. So they're so you guys have lived
Devin (14:21)
You know, you as if
PVSB (14:23)
that life, right?
Devin (14:24)
the week long block out your calendar for a week 'cause we're gonna update our trade plans. We fix that. We cut it down a week.
PVSB (14:27)
We're gonna plans down to I guess two and a half days instead of a week, right?
Still painful, but less painful.
Devin (14:35)
So that's to me the change management component is you actually just solve problems with technology throwing.
PVSB (14:38)
solving problem technology versus technology at them.
Devin (14:43)
And then the second half of your question is I
PVSB (14:45)
Yeah.
Devin (14:45)
think what are the business processes? And one of the big changes back to the AI, but
PVSB (14:49)
Software right now goes by agents.
Devin (14:52)
I'll make a point that is kind of starting. So Salesforce, we use
PVSB (14:54)
Starting to come to life. Use
all of our technology very aggressively, right? We we call ourselves customer zero. Call
Devin (15:02)
In the C P G industry you'd come
PVSB (15:04)
it dog fooding, right? We would call it our own product. This agent pilled. Software
Devin (15:06)
you know, trying our I'll tell you this I'm fully age and what drives change management because you know who's really good at using
PVSB (15:16)
AI agents. So I was sitting next to the
Devin (15:19)
To the a C
PVSB (15:19)
CEO of a customer yesterday, and we were talking about CR.
Devin (15:22)
And
he asked me a change 'cause my salespeople hate C Rate
PVSB (15:23)
similar questions like how do I drive this C RM, right?
Every salesperson hates their CRM. We can help you kinda like I don't love CRM. Well here's the reality. I just my phone that sits on my phone and I talk to it.
Devin (15:35)
took out my phone and I opened my agent. Said,
I'm meeting with this CEO.
PVSB (15:42)
Here's what we talked about.
Devin (15:44)
Go ahead and log a meeting with him, set a follow up email
PVSB (15:47)
My
drafts about those things. I'll edit it. And support
Devin (15:51)
Log contribution and log a deal
PVSB (15:53)
so my boss knows what I did. Send.
Devin (15:57)
And he watched that thing go through my
PVSB (15:59)
Salesforce and hit objects and log all those things. Because I want to work like that.
Devin (16:03)
And he goes. And so that's the other this
is I think agents are really cool. And while that future is here, to your point, it's not distributed yet. And so as people start to use more agents, we announced headless CRM.
PVSB (16:18)
Six months ago.
Devin (16:20)
A key account manager could log CRM from a team's channel. They never have to open sales form, right? That's the power going. And we know
There's a world where ninety percent of people
PVSB (16:32)
People don't log into Salesforce. I'll tell
you this: at Salesforce ourselves, of
Devin (16:37)
Nine percent.
PVSB (16:37)
our logs come from Slack. And
Devin (16:41)
We've two X'd the amount of data. So that's how I see the change. But I'm curious if that whole
PVSB (16:42)
In our already very rich CRS because of that.
Sri (16:52)
I was gonna chat with you about this fancy new word we need to bring in the industry called the unified commercial hub, but you just described it. And you answered my question on business process along with it. So Peter, let me turn over to you for the next one.
PVSB (17:08)
There's a bit of a catch twenty two we see a lot in CPG right now. Growth slows down, so brands freeze hiring or cut budgets, which means they don't have the resources to actually chase to channels where the growth is happening. So what does this vicious cycle actually look like on the ground and how can the right tech snap a brand out of it? Yeah. So I mean I I'm
Devin (17:35)
contractually obligated to say the word agent.
Truly I I'm gonna go back to this and say as I look at where this is
PVSB (17:43)
Going.
Devin (17:44)
most CPGs just reality for a dozen fifty of the industry either been in headcount at any given time if you
PVSB (17:46)
Just are not adding head down, right? That's been the reality plus years. I think fifty percent of the industry has either reduction or hiring freeze time to go
back s to two thousand eight. About
Devin (17:59)
So what I have thought about
PVSB (18:00)
a lot is what are the jobs that we're no longer doing? So I'll give you an example. When I was at General Mills, my desk manager and three associates, right? Well, my desk was just what
Devin (18:10)
So what's
PVSB (18:11)
jobs did I stop doing? I had a list. I don't remember what those were now because that was twenty sixteen.
But
Devin (18:17)
Every CPG has that
and so how I'm thinking about it is you start to think about high
PVSB (18:21)
Hiring jobs.
Devin (18:23)
with much cheaper head cap, which is so if I give you an example, let's take the
PVSB (18:26)
AI agents. Well, Peter, a
long tail. I have a customer that
Devin (18:33)
They they tell me this every day. I can serve customers ten units in a way from
PVSB (18:36)
It's an from home operator, right?
Devin (18:39)
but I don't find them until fifty.
PVSB (18:41)
Because
my salespeople don't have time.
Devin (18:44)
Great. We'd love to fix you know who has no problem reaching out to every single one of your trade show leads? An AI agent. In fact, we bought a company that will do
PVSB (18:55)
that for you, right? We have
Devin (18:56)
out of the box agents that can be deployed in thirty to ninety days. 'Cause that's the other when everyone talks about everyone thinks, god, this is six to twelve digital. I'm gonna have to bring in
PVSB (18:59)
Days. The other thing. In you know, a partner, I'm gonna have to spend twelve months over
Devin (19:12)
No. We are working on that can be deployed in thirty to ninety. Kind
PVSB (19:15)
Projects that ninety days
Devin (19:17)
of the change now I'm seeing is you wanna be building
PVSB (19:21)
building
an organization that is very agile and very fluid because your growth priorities might change next year, right? Like the market is moving now.
Devin (19:28)
The way the thing right now, I mean
PVSB (19:31)
Gosh, we're gonna talk about agentic commerce at the end of this, but
Devin (19:34)
Two weeks ago, Muse didn't exist. Now Muse is the number. I
PVSB (19:37)
Number one app in the app store, right? So
Devin (19:39)
think CPGs need to build flexibility into their tooling teams
PVSB (19:42)
Yeah.
Devin (19:46)
to be able to pivot quickly to where the opportunities are. Even though 80% of the business is still gonna cost of the world, the green shoots are gonna change quickly and you need to be able to
PVSB (19:59)
To
adjust to those.
Sri (20:00)
Devin, I'd argue that even though eighty percent of the business is always gonna be in store or be somewhere in that, I do believe very s or we here on the CPG guys believe very strongly that agentic AI shopping is gonna change even the grocery industry, where the in-store model is gonna diminish from eighty to maybe sixty-five, and thirty-five percent is all e-commerce, online, things of that nature due to the agentic nature. Now, even if it stays at twenty percent and doesn't budge, because it
It took COVID to push CPG companies out of their lethargy to really get on with the digital bandwagon. So maybe it'll take that long even on the AI side. But our belief today is the shoppers a hundred percent digital anyway today. Their encounter with innovation now happens on TikTok, happens on Pinterest, happens on Meta, depending on the age and generation they're from, or on Instagram or so many other channels. Some discover it on Reddit for Pizza.
In that sort of scenario, let's think about the consumer who's already there. Convince a CPG brand that they have no choice and they gotta be thinking about agent tick shopping today and what can they do about it?
Devin (21:09)
I got I got you guys. I'm gonna start with a personal so
PVSB (21:11)
Story. So
Devin (21:13)
this is the way that I do my meal planning.
PVSB (21:16)
And it for my family.
Devin (21:18)
I have an AI agent. I've built it. It was a combination of Gemini and me. Walk downstairs, I take a picture of my
PVSB (21:22)
I walk around.
Devin (21:24)
fridge where I keep all the meat.
PVSB (21:26)
meat
and everything that I have that's not currently in the upstairs fridge for cooking, right?
Devin (21:31)
That agent then feeds me the exact list and says, Okay, based on that, here's three recipes for each. Which one do you want? One, two, three. I sit with my make a that agent then spits out a grocery. I take that agent. Now I look I've
PVSB (21:40)
I sell it one with my wife for about ten minutes. We meal plan. Grocery list, right? I love grocery shopping because I
Devin (21:51)
been in this industry for forever.
PVSB (21:52)
and I have a four year old son who also party
Devin (21:54)
Loves grocery shopping, so we go and we
PVSB (21:56)
at the grocery store. But Sri I'll I'll tell you.
Devin (21:58)
I completely agree with you because what's gonna happen is all that behavior moves to click and call and you lose all
PVSB (22:03)
Collect all
of your impulse buyers, right? You're you're spot on.
Devin (22:08)
Let me let me take you even a step further. Let's say that behavior happens to
We've seen what happens when ten to fifteen percent
PVSB (22:16)
of
US customers switch to Ozepic, right?
Devin (22:19)
Now let's imagine ten to fifteen percent of you are
PVSB (22:22)
US customers are
Devin (22:22)
just using click and collect and you lose most of your because
PVSB (22:25)
Your impulse buys.
Devin (22:26)
I'll take you back to what I think's gonna potentially happen any customer agent, it becomes the from teen. If you don't know the history of grocery stores, it used to be I'd walk into a grocery store, I would go to the shop club, and I'd say,
PVSB (22:28)
happen to grocery is a customer using a tick shopping shop clerk from nineteen five, right? And I shop clerk and I
Devin (22:42)
I need chocolate and I need a beef and I need this and that, and they'd go to the back and they'd grab it. Now this was before.
PVSB (22:46)
grab brands.
It was all white labeled. It was just like I just grab whatever.
Devin (22:51)
That's the modern shop clerk. It's an AI agent and by the way, it's retail media on because that's what they say to you, Hey, this is retail media on steroids and
PVSB (23:00)
Amazon
has already launched it. I think I saw last week they launched sponsored conversations. So that's
Devin (23:05)
So coming
very soon. So I guess I'll say, let me let me first thing is I don't think you should flinch on physics. In the current tool,
PVSB (23:09)
My first principle, right? That's where all your investments commercial to thing pay off.
Devin (23:15)
you've got to win at the shelf because let's say sixty, seventy percent of the you have to win. And then you have to win the agenda. And I think what's now
PVSB (23:17)
Still your volume happens there in that battle. Take what's happening right now.
Devin (23:26)
is CPGs are like, mm, I'm not sure if that's big and deal, and I'm not sure that's that important yet. So maybe I'll wait and see. I'm not behind yet.
PVSB (23:33)
Actually someone said that to me yesterday.
Devin (23:34)
That's
great. I agree with you. You're not behind. Is the goal to not be behind, or is the goal to leapfrog and be in front? And that's I think the challenge that we as an industry have to embrace. I'm not behind yet. You're 100% right, but you are behind your retail. Like I look at these retailers
PVSB (23:43)
industry has you're hundred percent retail partners, right? Like partners and they are
Devin (23:52)
all in. They've built their shopper agent. I mean, you guys see
PVSB (23:54)
See it at Walmart and Amazon. Amazon
Devin (23:56)
agent has 350 million users, I believe. And here's the crazy thing: agents actually
PVSB (24:03)
Actually
add bascu size. So I don't know if I add about forty percent to the Amazon basket. I see that in my own life. I mean my age.
Devin (24:06)
Agent
upsells me constantly. You should get this thing, you should try that. Like, hey, have you tried this? Like, we'll add
PVSB (24:15)
Like add that to your cart.
Devin (24:18)
so CPGs have to find a way. And I think the other thing I'll flash that the per
PVSB (24:21)
flag is that personal
agents. So we talked about Muse for a second. I'm fully Muse pilled. Muse,
Devin (24:27)
Have you guys tried Muse?
PVSB (24:28)
I'm just curious. Okay.
Devin (24:30)
You like it, three?
Sri (24:32)
The CPG guys are the first to try anything available in the market. I love it.
PVSB (24:36)
Love it too. It's incredible.
Sri (24:38)
And you know what? It will get adopted in mass.
Devin (24:42)
They have three point six billion users. There is no way they've already got five
PVSB (24:46)
Five million.
Devin (24:47)
That's in two weeks. It's actually double the growth.
PVSB (24:50)
curve of Chat GPT.
Devin (24:52)
And if you think about what that means, they probably somewhere
PVSB (24:54)
Probably hits.
Devin (24:55)
between I'd say conservatively, I'd be willing to bet on a hundred million to five hundred million,
PVSB (25:00)
Yeah.
Devin (25:01)
given that Chat GPT's somewhere around a billion, but they should
PVSB (25:04)
Hit
a billion, right? So
Sri (25:06)
Devin, here's here's the issue we need to hit. Talk
Devin (25:08)
Yeah.
Sri (25:09)
about you and I love it. We're using it in our everyday life. How many CMOs are doing that? They represent the greatest brands in the world.
PVSB (25:20)
Tree,
they're still working on their MySpace accounts.
Sri (25:23)
Okay Devin, continue he's right. I back.
Devin (25:27)
Well, okay, so I'll play it out though. Even if you don't want to download Muse, I have lots of people who don't want to download. That's fine.
PVSB (25:32)
That's
Devin (25:33)
You have to be thinking about what's gonna happen. I'll play this out.
PVSB (25:35)
So I'll
Devin (25:37)
You have to be ready for a gentic scale properties,
PVSB (25:40)
On your proper
Devin (25:42)
both consumer facing and B2B. I'll let's just let's take the consumer example. Do you have a
PVSB (25:45)
Service center.
Devin (25:51)
that can handle a twenty percent increase?
Most people don't reach out to C P Gs if they're
PVSB (25:57)
There's
something wrong with their product 'cause the product costs like five dollars and they don't care.
Devin (26:01)
But you know who doesn't care about reaching out to the CPG? Muse. Muse Watch. Is your service center ready to get deluged? E-commerce drove a twenty percent increase every year since e-commerce. What do you think personal? Same thing on the B2B. A couple
PVSB (26:12)
In service context, basically every first launched personal agents are gonna do B side, right? And so I think there's a
Devin (26:21)
things that those CMOs should be thinking about. So I and we can help with Brandon
PVSB (26:24)
With this, right?
Devin (26:26)
like get your service contact center ready for agents because you're gonna build
It's an it's an agent arm a little bit. And then the other thing that is really good for CPGs is kind
PVSB (26:38)
Content.
Devin (26:39)
and I remember a long time ago we were both
PVSB (26:41)
Port
of General Mills 3, right? So they have and probably still have recipe
Devin (26:45)
One of the best the
PVSB (26:47)
content databases in the world. They have all the checks mix stuff and all this incredible powerful recipe database visited web traffic property.
Devin (26:57)
They have to put something in there to help people to create a layer to keep them if they get out. Because content is feeding
PVSB (26:59)
Help people find it. Digital interaction I click onto one of their properties because it's actually
Devin (27:08)
all the AEO stuff. So we the agent becomes
PVSB (27:10)
Talked earlier about how comes
the shop clerk, well, some software we just purchased through all your content.
Devin (27:14)
We've actually got some it goes through content
and tells you what's keeping you from delivering on the Asian experience. And it'll tell you, this piece of content is an option for an agent to read it. And that reduced your refer by 65%.
PVSB (27:26)
Optimized for an A created referrals five percent.
Devin (27:32)
If a CMO wants to talk about that, I will send them their report for free. All they have to do is send me an email, a LinkedIn message. I will happily send
PVSB (27:38)
my email or send
to them for free. Do they want that content? You can me
Devin (27:42)
And if you guys have a CMO who tells you content you just ping
PVSB (27:45)
and I'll send them that report for free. See what that looks like
Devin (27:47)
So they can see 'cause it's really interesting.
PVSB (27:50)
to watch how agents read your content. So content and service core messages.
Devin (27:54)
is my two callages
for these people. If you're not ready for agents yet, get ready to go. You don't have to build an agent on your build a content, build a service
PVSB (27:59)
That's where I would go website.
Devin (28:04)
team, get ready to go.
Sri (28:06)
Peter, I know you and I have been discussing the B do C and B Do B world coming together, so over to you for that one.
PVSB (28:12)
Yeah, absolutely. Devin, AI is really inserting a new discovery layer between the brands and the consumers, right? And a shopper agent can actually shrink the digital shelf down to just three to five items, right? Not the endless scrolling it's curating for you. So if if that's happening, then how should CPG operate in a world so both B2C and B2B revenue aren't suffering at the same time?
Devin (28:43)
Yeah. So I think this is a little bit B to B is easier, right? So the great news is B to B is far easier than B to C because B to C is fragmented. You have to really the amount of
PVSB (28:53)
Prompts they're gonna do are far deeper.
Devin (28:56)
For B2B, you kind of have to win basically just a digital player.
PVSB (29:00)
Outrage.
Devin (29:01)
And by the way, no one's doing this yet. Very few people have gone into this space yet. It's a huge untap. So I remember when I was a brand,
PVSB (29:07)
Guy.
Devin (29:08)
I was one of the first people to put brands in video games.
PVSB (29:12)
It was cheap.
Devin (29:13)
I bought space in the NBA's video game, and I remember being blown away by double digit increases. And because all of a sudden you have
PVSB (29:17)
the results. It was like sales, right?
Devin (29:22)
I was the only food brand in the NBA's video game.
This is the same thing. The first company that gets to a really good agentic B2B motion and we're working with
PVSB (29:30)
Then the couple of companies.
Devin (29:32)
so again, I I'd say it's two places there. One is it's acquisition. So we talked about acquisition. You have to build any B2B.
PVSB (29:36)
So we talked about how to build a digital interaction layer on any site. Right. If a customer comes to your site.
Devin (29:43)
They might not come frequently, you have
PVSB (29:45)
To have something that can answer their questions to a funnel. And actually at Salesforce, we did about 5,000 uncontacted
Devin (29:47)
And get them into that. We ended up finding we had leads our age
PVSB (29:54)
wiped that out in a couple days, right? Same thing shows processes
Devin (29:57)
Right, you'll have the same all your trade shares. You start to build
PVSB (30:01)
around this to drive side. So how interaction with the customer to them.
Devin (30:02)
And then the C sets. How do you drive the inter keep them?
PVSB (30:08)
That's the other side of it. And
Devin (30:09)
And
PVSB (30:09)
like I said,
Devin (30:10)
we have agents that we can stand up in thirty to nine days
PVSB (30:12)
I need
Devin (30:13)
with you.
PVSB (30:14)
on both sides of that. So it's
Devin (30:15)
If they if a company
PVSB (30:16)
like I don't know where to get started.
Devin (30:18)
again, drop me an email, drop me a LinkedIn, I'll bring it to you
PVSB (30:21)
I don't know if I too many
answers.
Devin (30:24)
Does that answer your question? I I I kinda went back to the well too many times, but yeah, does that answer your question?
Sri (30:29)
Surely does. Our only question back for you is when you have that conversation with those people, can we be a fly on the wall, please?
Devin (30:36)
Please. I I would love to I mean, listen, guys, you guys are really on the cutting edge. You
PVSB (30:41)
Edge of C P G, right?
Devin (30:42)
you guys are thinking about this. And it's nice 'cause you get to think about it from a day. I get the same luxury
PVSB (30:45)
practitioner's standpoint, but you're also out of the data.
I often think about that as like
Devin (30:51)
I get to see three hundred CPG retail and manufacturers.
PVSB (30:56)
manufacturing customers a year.
Devin (30:58)
That's essentially one a day if we back weekends out.
PVSB (31:00)
All right. Sometimes it's two or three.
Devin (31:03)
That lets me see the scale of the when you're in there and you're at, you know, fill in the blank customer, you're like, I gotta grow this brand fiber.
PVSB (31:12)
Five percent.
Devin (31:13)
You're not thinking about the changes.
PVSB (31:15)
The customer.
Devin (31:16)
But I'll tell you what I think is cool. We've never been in more I think you guys talk about
PVSB (31:19)
More opportunities.
Devin (31:24)
I talk about that too. I talk about it a different way. I'm like, how do you go ahead and capture these things so that you can deliver cool and spend so much time on the pitch of their innovation, most of which is going to fail. And I think about the brand. Let's take an example. I'm working with a
PVSB (31:39)
that are actually growing. An example, right? I have a candy
company right now.
Devin (31:44)
on thinking about how they would build front of store assets. So you guys have been to the
PVSB (31:49)
front of store and seen those like pokemon right
Devin (31:51)
Vending machine.
PVSB (31:52)
that are always sold out.
Devin (31:54)
What if you did personalized candy in that fire market?
PVSB (31:57)
space at a much higher margin, right?
Devin (32:00)
Now that requires tech, it requires thinking, but I think if CPG just goes in and says, I'm gonna put my stuff on the shelf and gonna pull it off the shelf with my traditional brand, ship some, I spend a day,
PVSB (32:09)
Grand route and I'm gonna sh digital.
Devin (32:12)
you're gonna get the growth rate of CPG, which is
PVSB (32:15)
Two to three percent.
Right? The brands that are winning doing something. What's gonna happen is you're gonna bankrupt me because when my daughter sees that, she's going to be daddy, you need to get me personalized candy at the front of the store. But I understand what you're saying.
Devin (32:27)
Well,
let's just say I might know a website that get this personalized candy. So I'll thank you for
PVSB (32:30)
That you can go and get I'll send you the link. You can be you can be the hero.
Devin (32:34)
the birthday.
PVSB (32:36)
We can we can help you out.
Sri (32:37)
There's a vicious rumour in the industry that whenever you go to a trade show like grocery shop, there's some C P G guys candy lying around. I don't know if it's true or false, I won't confirm it, but maybe it'll show up at CES and Peter seems to have a picture.
PVSB (32:52)
I kinda right now, those sound delicious. It's been so
Devin (32:52)
need some C P G guys and Ms in a week, so
PVSB (32:57)
a little a little Friday morning action sounds delightful.
Sri (33:01)
All right, let's get a little bit more technical now, Devin, and I want to talk about data. Why does a data flywheel matter? Because CPGs, when they create their strap plans, it's very siloed. Marketing does its own thing, sales inherits. Yes, very little input into it. Consumer insights, you know, hopefully the future is you get one tool, retailer insights are going somewhere else in sales notes and spreadsheets as you've already described. What
changes when data is created at every step and flows all the way from the basket, reverse engineered all the way to the brand team. And that influences promotion choices to in store execution.
Devin (33:43)
gonna get a little philosophical really changes is the power of
PVSB (33:48)
Enterprise context.
Devin (33:50)
And that sounds like something that a tech guy
PVSB (33:53)
say wearing a blazer on a stage, but let me kind of unpack this a little bit, right?
Devin (33:58)
Enterprise context is really important in the context of selling to so let's let's take that joint business plan.
PVSB (34:01)
other companies.
Devin (34:06)
I'm that company that's keeping the notes in the side.
PVSB (34:09)
PowerPoint slide.
Devin (34:10)
Well what's happening is that company probably
PVSB (34:12)
probably
right now is investing in an AI model. So they're investing in open AI or Claude or Gemini who their
Devin (34:18)
To do a bunch of work and search across
PVSB (34:21)
company.
Devin (34:22)
then they're investing in a data lake to
PVSB (34:24)
organize all their data.
Devin (34:26)
And then they come to you and they're like, I'm sorry because ninety-three percent of are stuck in pilot. The model is cool and my data is all organized.
PVSB (34:37)
I was kind of angel
to come and save me.
Devin (34:41)
But now the model
didn't save me and the data angel didn't save me, so what do I do? And then my answer we have to go back to data lakes capture a record of everything that you've done in the great job.
When you go meet with Walmart,
PVSB (34:59)
Yeah.
Devin (35:00)
Data Lake doesn't have any kind
PVSB (35:02)
context
for all of the things that happen there, right? It just has a record of the promotion that you already ran.
Devin (35:06)
recommendations that you agreed to that you
so in between that finding
PVSB (35:10)
We're
Devin (35:11)
goes back to you need this software layer to make it what I
PVSB (35:14)
And so what I
Devin (35:15)
think is happening what I think is happening very importantly in the industry is we're moving from storing everything in an extra
PVSB (35:23)
Yeah.
Devin (35:23)
everyone maintains eighteen different versions of and then email
PVSB (35:27)
to their demand planner and says, here's our plan for next year,
Devin (35:30)
to one unified
PVSB (35:31)
enterprise context.
Devin (35:33)
and what that cuts so I'll go back to CRO
PVSB (35:35)
story I told earlier. I told you a there was a
Devin (35:37)
that didn't believe they needed a CRO.
PVSB (35:40)
I told them all the stories we just had, and they were like, I don't need a CRM. My people know who the buyer is. We're good. Four division presidents were telling me about on
Devin (35:45)
And then fifteen minutes later her meeting
PVSB (35:50)
Thursday, they have every Thursday for four hours what's happening in the business. And adding back to that platform meeting,
Devin (35:56)
As we unpack I'll give you a I'll fall forward at the end. By the end of that
PVSB (36:00)
they were talking about putting a CRM in place. Cause what if all
Devin (36:02)
It does is it gives you a
PVSB (36:04)
that conversational context of
Devin (36:06)
Everything that happened in the meeting. Walmart is building out a much bigger IRZ.
PVSB (36:10)
your set around XY that can live
in your data lake. The model doesn't know what that means because it's not publicly available. That is rich context that simply amplifies your data lake investment and your model investment because you put that together and all of a sudden you're like, whoa, the model together
Devin (36:28)
Now I know constituents.
PVSB (36:30)
all that stuff in my data lake.
Devin (36:32)
So that's what I'm seeing at least is you have to build the getting things out of heads, email spreadsheets, digitizing that unlike so many other to solve
PVSB (36:41)
Map un blocks other things.
Remember earlier I said nobody wants to fill out the CRM?
Devin (36:48)
Great. Don't do it. Do it from the teams channel. Do it with your voice. Like we're fixing three. You were a s you know, you were you ran
PVSB (36:54)
The logging 'cause kind of commercial organization.
Devin (36:58)
You wouldn't have put a CRM in place because you didn't want your people logging, right? You looked
PVSB (37:02)
Right.
Devin (37:03)
at me and you would have like, Devin, I don't
PVSB (37:05)
I don't
my people spending all day logging things in CRM, that's not our business.
Devin (37:09)
Great. I've fixed that problem for you. Now you can have rich
PVSB (37:10)
Problem.
Devin (37:13)
data and your people won't hate you because
PVSB (37:15)
they
don't have to log it with a bunch of clicks times ten.
Sri (37:19)
All right, Peter. Over to you for the next one over here.
PVSB (37:22)
Yeah, so one growth pocket is reaching customers that were previously unprofitable to serve. Like the long tail of accounts, right? But how does a connected commercial platform make it possible to serve those customers in a profitable manner?
Devin (37:40)
Yeah, so we're we're starting to see people rethink.
PVSB (37:43)
cost to serve, right? So I'll actually give an example from
Devin (37:46)
Consumer adjacent.
PVSB (37:48)
the golf companies country clubs four times a year.
Devin (37:49)
They were going in and seeing a year.
And those sales calls, a human sales call directionally a hundred and fifty to two hundred.
PVSB (37:55)
costs direct
dollars depending on how much you're paying your sales reps, right? Sales call. Not can
Devin (38:01)
That's an expensive stuff. Crazy expensive.
PVSB (38:03)
pay off a hundred and fifty bucks pretty easily on golf clubs, as I can intest, I am a golfer. But
Devin (38:08)
But it's still expensive. So what they did is they switched one call a year and they switched that call to
PVSB (38:14)
an
agentic call. And that agentic call was pretty right. And all they were doing was asking what merchandise
Devin (38:17)
Was replacing a call that was pretty silly for a human to do. That human was going in all they
were, and I'll give you twenty percent Does a human need to do that? No. They send an email to the country club and
PVSB (38:33)
Or the golf shop.
Devin (38:34)
they say, Hey, just send us a list of the merchandise that hasn't sold. We will send you the twenty percent off rebate. You can just mark that down right now. We'll
PVSB (38:42)
Auto
approve it, right?
Devin (38:43)
And that's kind of what we're starting to see I that's why I said earlier, it's so important that you start thinking about jobs you couldn't do earlier.
PVSB (38:50)
Right.
Devin (38:51)
Or rethinking the way that you do the job I want to put tech on my current process. Maybe your current doesn't need to exist anymore because tech can change it. So
PVSB (38:58)
Process doesn't exist anymore because
Devin (39:02)
that's kind of where I'm seeing people in the long run and get much more interesting conversations going is do I need a human to go there? No.
Do I need a human to collect a form from you? No, just email it to me. We'll automatically take
PVSB (39:18)
Right.
Devin (39:19)
all this stuff. And by the way, that makes people happy because they don't want to deal with keep an appointment.
PVSB (39:21)
happier with someone coming and having to appointment
because God, what if something happens at my during the long tail end
Devin (39:28)
If you're you're running an independent.
PVSB (39:31)
business, right? Like I remember when I was calling on the long tail and it's like, gosh, and
Devin (39:36)
This person
PVSB (39:37)
has to go stock the shelves because their front end manager called out, right? That's not
Devin (39:41)
That's
PVSB (39:41)
what you want.
Devin (39:42)
you don't so you just replace those things with something a little bit more cohesive and
PVSB (39:45)
More and thoughtful
and you're off to the races.
Sri (39:49)
So the interesting thing there is I wonder if for these long tail businesses and accounts that we're talking of that were difficult and to serve because of the smaller volume challenges, AI is gonna come in with this partnership with the CRM tools in place and be that answer to finding the two hundred basis points of growth or four hundred basis points of growth at the community level that's evaporated from the ecosystem. But I'm gonna migrate somewhere else.
Beyond the traditional channels, we're seeing market leaders explore enhanced direct channels, not just D2C sites, but using the data to power personalized breakthrough products at the front of the store. How should CPG brands and businesses think about that?
Devin (40:30)
Yeah, I think you guys have to you you know, you have Nick from RBC on finding these new
PVSB (40:33)
here and he always talks about like new insights, right?
Devin (40:37)
I think about this as have to develop as a consumer
PVSB (40:39)
you have direct insights
channel, right? So direct is not a revenue play for make
Devin (40:46)
Most CPG.
PVSB (40:48)
sense to do, right? I I remember we looked at it and it was like, okay.
Devin (40:52)
I make my make a hundred and fifty dollars from this consumer lifetime value. It's gonna cost me fifty
PVSB (40:55)
But
Devin (41:01)
If you can test right. If you can test things and get them into the And then I also think the bigger thing, you're gonna have to build a data. So if we go back to that shop clerk analogy.
PVSB (41:10)
database. Analogy
from earlier in the conversation choices
Devin (41:15)
You really have two
PVSB (41:16)
now.
Devin (41:17)
you can completely accept that retailers own the data and own the consumer and you're for it.
PVSB (41:22)
They're gonna pay them for it,
which is what's happening right now.
Devin (41:26)
Or you can try to build a case for data. And that's what some of those direct to control
PVSB (41:32)
Consumer
brands are pulling in, right? Is they're going in and they're saying, Hey, I can thing the list,
Devin (41:35)
I know these things 'cause I have an email
PVSB (41:38)
they come to my site, they interact with my content. So I actually
Devin (41:41)
actually
know this additional space that so I see it channel learn what sells kind
PVSB (41:43)
categories going as almost like an R and D channel
Devin (41:49)
of push the winner and then you can decide where you want to go big and it lets you kind of test things either in a channel that's not dependent
PVSB (41:59)
On retail, because Suri, back to your point, eighty percent in store to sixty five percent in store, right? That fifteen percent that moves to digital, kinda up for grabs, right? And some of that get
Devin (42:05)
Fifteen digital.
PVSB (42:10)
caught by just advertising spending and it's gonna stay the same, but some of it's gonna shift because all of a sudden a brand that made sense in store because it had super eye catching packaging and was generating impulse by.
Devin (42:21)
incredibly good at why
doesn't deliver on the needs of a body like trying to GLP one crayon
PVSB (42:25)
modern consumer, right? I think people trying to answer the craze, trying to answer the protein craze,
fiber, which I've been told is the next craze coming, right? have
Devin (42:36)
That's where you have
PVSB (42:37)
to have
Devin (42:37)
stuff in the incubation
PVSB (42:39)
Arm.
Devin (42:40)
ready to go that you can bring to the forefront. So that's what I would be doing.
PVSB (42:44)
If
I was running a brand. Devin, my head is spinning. You know, in since the beginning of the millennium, I've done four deployments of Salesforce at various companies, and I am constantly amazed every time I did it, of all the additional capabilities, benefits that come from that. And the roadmap that you've laid out for us today is making my head spin in a very good way.
So to wrap up, if you're a C BG leader who's listening to this podcast episode, and we have quite a number of them that do, what's the first step you should take to start building a connected front office and what should they realistically expect success to look like a year from now?
Devin (43:31)
Yeah. I think it's important that you pick a problem. We kinda
PVSB (43:33)
to solve, right? So we have a
Devin (43:35)
went back to the
PVSB (43:36)
conversation around, hey, start at long tail. Start
Devin (43:39)
Like some of them people some of the people start
PVSB (43:43)
at away from home.
Devin (43:44)
some of them start with their retail business and they pick process people start.
PVSB (43:46)
joint planning and pick that process and they saw some people start with trade, right?
Devin (43:51)
The nice thing is our commercial
PVSB (43:52)
Commercial.
Devin (43:52)
hub can do all of that plus D S D. So I would say pick a problem and then I'll also speak just to your retailer executives for a second, right?
PVSB (44:02)
Right.
I I sort of ignored them, but they are a a big part of my business, right? Retailers and manufacturers as well.
Devin (44:08)
The manufacturers and the CPGs get on the
PVSB (44:11)
commercial
hub train, right? We talked about that.
Devin (44:14)
For the retailers, let us come in and help you get ready for a and you might say, Look, Devin, we've
PVSB (44:18)
We've already
built our shopper agent. It's best in class. That's great. Do you have your back ready?
Devin (44:23)
That's back end
to handle a Gen Tech scale. You have your data.
PVSB (44:28)
you have your data ready to serve that shot in real time?
Devin (44:33)
We do so many things for read.
PVSB (44:35)
Yeah.
Devin (44:37)
So I would just think for the CPGs and the manufacturers, get your commercial one part of your commercial you need help with. We will show if
PVSB (44:41)
commercial hub ready and pick part of the commercial team that is broken that you're going to show you what next gen CRM looks like.
Devin (44:49)
you haven't seen a CRM since twenty it's changed.
PVSB (44:50)
twenty eighteen changed
a lot and it's boggling how much of a work orchestration engine correctly.
Devin (44:58)
It becomes when done.
PVSB (45:00)
And then on the retailer side, ready
Devin (45:02)
Let us get you right.
PVSB (45:03)
for a gentic scale because I think to Sri Nai's point
Devin (45:06)
A couple of million to a hundred million music to be live in the
PVSB (45:09)
Are going to arrive in the wild
in the not so distant future, and you gotta get
Devin (45:14)
You've got to
PVSB (45:15)
ready for that, or else you're going to be
Devin (45:17)
B
PVSB (45:18)
struggling to catch up. And that's a brand risk
Devin (45:20)
Amen.
PVSB (45:20)
most customers will walk away after just two bad experiences. I'd get ready for that right now if I was a if I was a CPG or a retailer. So that's my
Devin (45:30)
Leave for the the team.
Sri (45:32)
Power Packed Rich Conversation, Peter, the type that you and I love to have. You know, we kinda went deep into the industry, also challenging the industry somewhat, 'cause the industry needs the help to bridge that four hundred, five hundred basis points of volume growth that's evaporated over the last three years since March of twenty twenty three. So Peter, what would be your big takeaway today?
PVSB (45:54)
I'm squarely focused on the power of enterprise context that Salesforce commercial hub enables, right? It helps organize the data capture and the organization of of that information, providing context to how that this data can be applied to solve critical real-time business priorities. Right. That is that's where it is. And and and how the users of the tool
can choose to engage with it whether they're actually using the tool or not. Devin gave a great example. He does a lot of his activation in Slack. That's how you and I operate, Sri. And for people who use Microsoft platform, they can use Teams. So it really is about meeting the users where they are and helping them solve real business priorities. That's my big takeaway, Shree.
Sri (46:47)
I can go in 30 different directions, but I'm going to pick one easy one here. As trivial and silly this is gonna sound to the both of you, I think this is very important. Number one, no more logins. Number two, AI-based voice call voice conversation capturing with notes. Silly, trivial, small, game changes for a field sales force. I'll keep that as a backdrop to close out a conversation.
Devin, it was a pleasure to host you on the CPG guys today.
Devin (47:20)
It was a pleasure to be here. Gentlemen, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.
PVSB (47:23)
And
Devin (47:24)
Thank you for having.
Sri (47:26)
To audience, if today's conversation sparks something for you, a new idea, a perspective that's brand new, or just a reminder of why this industry is worth showing up for every day. Share it, tag us, tell a colleague the more voices we bring into this community, the shop or all of us get at the end of the day to our followers on LinkedIn that trusts us to inform, educate, and entertain you about our industry. Thank you for your trust and encouragement. Until next time, keep pushing the conversation forward. I'm Shree on behalf of my co-host PVSP. This has been the CPG Guys Podcast.
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