Episode Overview
In this episode of CRM Stories, we speak with Mike Campagnolo, from Salt Lake City, Utah.
In this episode, Mike, from caddie Inc. shares his expertise on creating exceptional user experiences within CRM systems. We delve into his company’s philosophy of client success, their first venture capital investment in a promising AI startup, and the exciting future growth opportunities it presents.
Mike also provides a fascinating case study involving a solar advisory firm assisting Fortune 500 companies in developing solar infrastructure for cost-saving and environmental accountability. He emphasizes the importance of human interaction amidst rapid automation capabilities and shares his insights on tackling Salesforce challenges, enhancing both new and existing systems.
We’ll also touch on Mike’s personal interests, his extensive professional background in CRM, and the technological solutions his firm offers, from Lifecycle Marketing to custom app development. Plus, get a sneak peek into a new product launch aimed at addressing repetitive client needs across diverse industries.
Interview Highlights
caddie Overview
- Acts as a CRM implementation partner.
- Specializes in optimizing CRM setups, particularly Salesforce.
- Also offers custom CRM solutions, including using Airtable.
- Described as software agnostic; adapts solutions to client needs.
- Provides lifecycle marketing consultations, with a primary focus on Salesforce.
Focus on User Experience in CRM Systems
- Emphasis on excellent user experiences.
- High-touch client service with rapid communication.
- Philosophy centered on making clients successful for company growth.
Investment in AI
- Cata Group’s first venture capital investment in a smaller AI company.
- Commitment to supporting startups and smaller businesses.
- Anticipation and excitement about possibilities and future growth.
- Press release expected in about 30 days.
Maintaining Human Interaction in CRM
- Importance of maintaining human interaction against automation.
- The balance between automating tasks and preserving client engagement.
Solar Advisory Client Case Study
- Involved developing metrics and formulas related to energy.
- Focus on installing solar infrastructure for cost savings and efficiency.
- Benefits included cost reduction, environmental gains, and corporate accountability.
- Technical learning curve in understanding energy systems.
Challenges with Salesforce Projects
- Emphasis on the platform’s vastness and understanding client needs.
- Importance of grasping new Salesforce modules before implementation.
- Necessity of proficient expertise when managing cloud projects to avoid losses.
- Transparency and upfront communication with clients.
- Collaboration or recommendations for projects outside of expertise.
Internal Tech Stack and Tools
- Use of iPhone and PC for personal preferences.
- Internal tech stack includes Salesforce for management and Airtable for tracking billing.
- Utilization of Jetstream for running SOQL queries.
Enhancing Existing Orgs vs. Building New Orgs
- Experience in both creating new orgs and enhancing existing systems.
- Common issues in existing orgs often stem from self-implementation errors.
Sales Process Understanding
- Companies frequently misunderstand their sales processes.
- Importance of taking extra time to accurately map out sales processes.
Work-Life Balance
- Mike works long hours, around 60-70 per week.
- Working towards better work-life balance in the future.
- Manages late-night work due to client time zones and internal meetings.
Daily Schedule Preferences
- Enjoys social interaction and discovery with new people.
- Values hands-on work, describing himself as an “extroverted operator.”
Impact and Applications of AI
- Growing presence of AI in improving business processes.
- Implementation of AI in decision-making for clients.
- Usage of ChatGPT for data models, troubleshooting, and other CRM integrations.
Technology Solutions Offered
- Enhancement of daily functions and CRM systems with technology and APIs.
- Services include SEO, website, and app building.
- New product launch planned in the next 3-4 months to address repetitive client needs.
- Broad, utilitarian application aimed to serve as a lead magnet.
Client Base and Industry Solutions
- Diverse client base across industries like real estate, finance, and healthcare.
- Focus on providing solutions for operational metrics and efficiencies.
Career Path and Responsibilities
- Varied career with roles in revenue operations and CRM implementation.
- Certified sales cloud consultant focusing on sales solutions.
- Currently overseeing operations and leading business development.
- Hands-on tasks in business development, relationship building, and solution architecture.
Salesforce Implementation Success Stories
- Successful Salesforce implementation for a real estate payments company.
- Enhanced visibility and efficiency for their sales and revenue operations teams.
- Digital transformation and unique capabilities of Salesforce contributed to success.
- Importance of understanding client processes and strong client relationships.
- Utilized Sales Cloud and Service Cloud, leveraging existing Salesforce functions.
- Success attributed to thorough mapping, quality business analysis, and partnerships.
Full Episode Transcript
Jerome Clatworthy [00:00:00]:
Welcome to CRM Stories with me, Jerome Clotworthy. CRM Stories is a podcast where we talk with Salesforce professionals from all over the world about their careers and favorite Salesforce case studies. Today, we’re joined by Mike Campanolo from the Kati Group. Mike, thanks so much for joining us today.
Mike Campanolo [00:00:16]:
Jim, thank you so much for having me. It’s a pleasure. Excited to discuss, CRM stories with you.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:00:22]:
Beautiful. So whereabouts in the world are you sitting, Mike, as we talk today?
Mike Campanolo [00:00:26]:
Certainly. Yeah. So I’m located in Salt Lake City, Utah. And
Mike Campanolo [00:00:30]:
then Salt Lake City. Yeah. And then our team is distributed across New York, New Jersey, California, and Utah.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:00:38]:
Cool. And are you a Salt Lake native or somewhere you’ve moved to later in life?
Mike Campanolo [00:00:42]:
I grew up in New Jersey, actually,
Mike Campanolo [00:00:44]:
and then, moved out to Salt Lake about 7 years ago.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:00:47]:
Yeah. Right. Okay.
Mike Campanolo [00:00:48]:
It’s a
Jerome Clatworthy [00:00:48]:
bit of a change from New Jersey.
Mike Campanolo [00:00:51]:
Yeah. Yeah. It’s, it’s quite different, but, I really love it here.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:00:54]:
Yeah. Right. Well, let’s let’s somebody or work you’re doing or what?
Mike Campanolo [00:00:58]:
What brought me out to Salt Lake initially was I was,
Mike Campanolo [00:01:02]:
I was at Goldman Sachs Okay. For some time and then
Mike Campanolo [00:01:05]:
Oh, really? Yeah. They have a big hub out here. So then moved out for that opportunity. And then, you know, after that, you know, progressed in my career, and then obviously, you know, started Caddy Caddy Inc.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:01:19]:
Yeah. Right. Cool. Cool. Before we get stuck in the Salesforce, give us a quick snapshot of what life looks like outside of work in terms of partners, pets, dependents, hobbies? What do you what do you get up to if you’re not working?
Mike Campanolo [00:01:30]:
Yeah. Sure. I’m, an avid disc golfer. I don’t know if,
Mike Campanolo [00:01:34]:
Oh, really?
Mike Campanolo [00:01:35]:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I really I really like playing disc golf. Other than that, a little outdoorsy, but, yeah, primarily I’ll play guitar,
Mike Campanolo [00:01:44]:
you know. Oh, yeah? Yeah. Musician. Nice.
Mike Campanolo [00:01:46]:
But, yeah, big into finance and financial markets.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:01:50]:
Yeah. You watching the big one at the moment? Is that much I’m watching that pretty closely.
Mike Campanolo [00:01:54]:
Yeah. It’s rocketing. But I can’t
Jerome Clatworthy [00:01:55]:
believe it.
Mike Campanolo [00:01:56]:
It’s crazy. It’s crazy.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:01:57]:
Do you see all the ETF, which is pushing the price action just at the moment?
Mike Campanolo [00:02:00]:
I think it’s probably part of it. Yeah. I mean, truly, it’s it’s tough to speculate. But, but, yeah, I think I think that unquestionably, it’s gotta be a little bit, you know, correlated there.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:02:10]:
Can’t get over it. Yeah. It’s distracting me from my work all this time.
Mike Campanolo [00:02:14]:
Hopefully, in a good way. Yeah.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:02:16]:
Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. Alright. Well, how did you first get started in, Salesforce or CRM? Or so tell us a little bit about the category. Is that so you’re an implementation sort of partner in general, or what do you guys do?
Mike Campanolo [00:02:27]:
Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. So we’re an implementation partner. And then, you know, do a
Mike Campanolo [00:02:32]:
variety of integrations to servicing clients, helping them optimize their setup. Mhmm. You’re making it as clean and as frictionless as possible for their processes. I started in Salesforce in the 1st place kind of by overseeing an implementation some years ago when I didn’t know much about Salesforce. And then, you know, along the way, obviously learned more, got more, you know, proficient in it. And then Yep. From there, just like anyone else, you take your certifications, you learn more, you take more certifications, and you become part of the the ecosystem.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:03:07]:
So we do in a sort of tech role to that, or it was sort of a a bit of a u-turn in that sense?
Mike Campanolo [00:03:12]:
That’s a that’s a great question. I was actually overseeing, like, revenue, like, like, rev ops, I guess you would say. And then, eventually, you know, firm wide operations for a company. And then, at at which point, I was like, oh, I, like, really enjoy this, and I can use some of my technical skills
Jerome Clatworthy [00:03:28]:
to Yeah.
Mike Campanolo [00:03:29]:
Create these, like, you know, really, clean ecosystems for people.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:03:33]:
And are you guys sort of focused on CRM type stuff? Would that be Salesforce or something else? Or you do, like, just whatever the client needs, you you have a look at them?
Mike Campanolo [00:03:42]:
Yeah. So we’re primarily in Salesforce, but, we’ve also created custom CRM solutions and
Jerome Clatworthy [00:03:48]:
Oh, really?
Mike Campanolo [00:03:48]:
Airtable for people, and some things, like, that are not out of
Mike Campanolo [00:03:52]:
the box at all. So we’re pretty, like, software agnostic, I would say, in terms
Mike Campanolo [00:03:56]:
of what we deliver to folks. Yeah.
Mike Campanolo [00:03:58]:
We do some mark life cycle marketing consultation too. But I would definitely say, our, like, core driver at the company is Salesforce.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:04:06]:
I’m getting ahead of myself here, but I think you got me interested with the Airtable. Is that just where there might be a small thing and just need something really, really simple? Or is there some other use case where you find Airtable is a really good solution?
Mike Campanolo [00:04:15]:
That’s a great question.
Mike Campanolo [00:04:17]:
Yeah. Simple cases definitely work, well. Even some things that, folks can scale into for, for
Mike Campanolo [00:04:23]:
a little while, we’ve, like, built out some bigger solutions as well. So, yeah. You kind of kind of both ways.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:04:29]:
And I guess, Airtable is like a spreadsheet v 2, and then Salesforce is probably the the next thing on from that is that, like, Airtight was
Mike Campanolo [00:04:35]:
so handy, like Exactly. Exactly. It really depends on what the client’s focus is. If they want something, you know, quick wrap, you know, right right to the point, and simpler, like you were saying. Probably a good solution that we’ve helped, develop for clients.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:04:50]:
Yeah. Cool. Cool. So what kind of roles have you had? So, obviously, now you’re so you’re kinda leading the category, or you’re a big big point there? What sort of roles have you had in in between? Have you sort of done anything and everything, or there’s been a bit of a logical progression? Is it?
Mike Campanolo [00:05:04]:
I I would probably say, yeah, a little bit of anything and everything. I know that’s a very broad answer. But, yeah. So, like, I
Mike Campanolo [00:05:10]:
I myself am, like, a certified, like, sales cloud consultant. So doing a lot of sales cloud solutions for people. Mhmm. And then, yeah, I guess, like, my role in general is kinda overseeing the operation and then leading, you know, business development. I would say, for my core, core, roles here at this point.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:05:28]:
So now you’re sort of making sure the work gets done as opposed to hands on the keyboard all day yourself.
Mike Campanolo [00:05:33]:
Yeah. I think my hands are definitely still in,
Mike Campanolo [00:05:36]:
you know, in the cookie drawer, I guess
Mike Campanolo [00:05:37]:
you would say or whatever. But Yeah. But, yes, definitely. I would say you’re probably primarily overseeing business development, creating those relationships, maintaining them. And then, and then doing some solutions like architecting too so that we can go back to our clients and then see, you know, like, what other solutions have come to market that they may be interested in.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:05:57]:
Yeah. Okay. Fantastic. Well, what we love to do on this podcast is talk through a few case studies. So specifically, an example where, you know, a Salesforce implementation has just blown a business away in terms of its impact on revenue or productivity if it’s more of an operations type implementation. And then an example where you’ve just found it really fascinating yourself, whether it be the the products used or the nature of the, solution you were solving. And then also an example of where something maybe didn’t go so well and lessons learned from that and what you do differently now. Does that sound alright if we move into that?
Mike Campanolo [00:06:29]:
Yeah. It sounds great.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:06:30]:
Definitely. Alright. Perfect. So in terms of the first one, is there something that comes to mind if you think about, I guess, the many orgs you’ve been involved with where, you know, the implementation has just absolutely blown the business away in terms of, you know, impact on revenue or operations efficiency or something like that?
Mike Campanolo [00:06:44]:
Definitely. So probably the core thing I would one of the major ones that stands out for me there is we were working with a company that specializes in almost like real estate payments, I guess you would say, would be the best way to describe it. And then Okay.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:06:59]:
From there Rent and things like that or not?
Mike Campanolo [00:07:01]:
Exactly. Like rent, HOAs, dues. Okay. Yep. And, basically, this company is specifically focused on capturing, more obvious you know, in the event that their portfolio extends, having visibility into, how many new doors they have, and can we go capture that door. So, basically, what we did there was we ended up doing, like, I guess, a series of flows, formulas, counters, and, basically incorporating a way for them to see how many, like, doors were out there that they aren’t that they don’t have yet captured by by plugging in and and creating some integrations on their end. Okay. And that was really good because it helps provide visibility for their sales team on new targets that they didn’t necessarily have complete visibility to.
Mike Campanolo [00:07:50]:
And then from there, we piped that down to, to the revenue operations team and their custom client relations team. Okay. And then so that gave them visibility into into it as well for cross selling opportunities, and they’ve been super satisfied with with the results of that.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:08:05]:
Yeah. Right. And how much do you think that was a result of just sort of digital transformation in general or Salesforce, you know, specifically that product really brought something that nothing else could have?
Mike Campanolo [00:08:15]:
That’s a great question. A little bit of both. I think, like, the architecture of it, was important on our end and to really understand the business. It’s something we really pride ourselves on is that, we really get under the hood. Like, we try to understand the the whole company. Yeah. And then by us understanding the whole company, it allowed us to implement things that only Salesforce could have implemented if that makes sense. So I think, like, that’s really, the key to to our success over the last, couple years here.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:08:46]:
Do you get much pushback when you’re sort trying to do the understanding? Do you find them going, hey, what do you ask me about that for? We’re just trying to talk about how to do this right here. Why do you wanna know what color the the walls are in the back office when we’re just trying to talk about this thing in the front? Do you find that? Or You
Mike Campanolo [00:08:58]:
know, I I I don’t really find that much pushback company. Folks are usually happy to talk about their processes. I would say that, I would say that it’s then our job to take each of those, each of those pieces of information and then piece them together into a fuller picture. And that’s that’s kind of what we think, you know, like, we do we do well on our end.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:09:20]:
Yeah. Sure. And was there any sort of, additional products and clouds? Or was it pretty straightforward sort of vanilla sales cloud sort of implementation
Mike Campanolo [00:09:27]:
from Sales cloud, service cloud, primarily, for this. But, but yeah. So I would say, like, vanilla, but, just a different way of approaching, like, what they you know, things they weren’t utilizing, like forecasting functions and things of that nature and making that really, work for the client.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:09:45]:
Okay. So the out of the box forecasting, you were sort of able to use that sort of reluctant because often that can be a bit rigid and not always fit every situation, but it feels alright in this scenario. Yeah.
Mike Campanolo [00:09:53]:
It was great for us. Exactly.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:09:55]:
Yeah. Right. Okay. Fantastic. Alright. Any other reason do you think that was successful or just really good quality business analysis and, you know, do taking the the time to do good discovery and sort of map out the the end to end before before starting the build?
Mike Campanolo [00:10:09]:
Yeah. A lot of mapping out the end to end. I would also say client relations is incredibly important.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:10:15]:
Yeah. Okay.
Mike Campanolo [00:10:15]:
So I’m
Jerome Clatworthy [00:10:15]:
really excited to to ask any questions of them. That would
Mike Campanolo [00:10:18]:
be great. Asking the right questions, staying in contact with the client, and, yeah, just knowing that you’re there, your partner in it, I think is, like, is is very valuable. I know it sounds trite, but No. Never the yeah. Like, it it really is, you know, like, I we always try to be back to a client at least within an hour of of them corresponding with us. Even if it’s just something simple as saying, like, hey, we’ll call you soon or, like, what what acknowledging that even
Jerome Clatworthy [00:10:44]:
if you can’t respond to detail, just saying thanks for that. You Exactly. That will call soon. Yeah. I’m talking a minute now.
Mike Campanolo [00:10:50]:
Yeah. Exactly. And a lot of those things, of course, can be automated, you know, via Salesforce as well. But, I think it’s important for us to actually, like, show that we’re real people and that we’re here throughout the day. And that’s been yeah. I think a norm, like, it was something we’re very proud of, honestly, on on our end.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:11:06]:
Yeah. Right. Fantastic. Cool. Cool. And in terms of a a second case study, is there one that you’ve worked on where just you personally just found it really fascinating whether it be the tech side of it or, you know, the actual business itself or the the organization and sort of work they were doing and what they were trying to achieve?
Mike Campanolo [00:11:22]:
Yeah. For a purposeful I’m we we had a we have a solar advisory client who basically, helps develop infrastructure for, for major you know, for for big companies, Fortune 500 companies
Jerome Clatworthy [00:11:36]:
Okay.
Mike Campanolo [00:11:37]:
For their solar initiatives. And, that’s been important to us too, just seeing, like, some of the metrics that go into that and then building the right formulas around, around energy. Just something we weren’t, we didn’t know anything about, admittedly, when we started. But, like, learning again, like, uncovering kinda how the company works and then, taking that and then translating that to a product within Salesforce was was, like, really cool and, just something that we we weren’t, aware of before.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:12:08]:
Yeah. So is that in terms of the business of they’re sort of harvesting cellular and feeding it back into the grid, or they were just sort of installing things to help run their businesses? Like, what what was the nature of the solar?
Mike Campanolo [00:12:18]:
Yeah. The ladder, actually, where they’re basically creating, like, infrastructure for, for for you know, like, not Fortune 500 necessarily, but, like, sometimes, but for major companies advising on, you know, where their cost savings could be, what the best is, and, you know,
Jerome Clatworthy [00:12:33]:
like solar packages as a cheaper energy source or a better energy source or something like that. Precisely. Yes. Yeah. Cool. And so in terms of the calculations and the formulas, is that you guys just had to really get your head around That’s yeah.
Mike Campanolo [00:12:44]:
Because it’s
Jerome Clatworthy [00:12:45]:
of the energy system and how how things are kilowatts and watts and all those different things and angles and that, you know, the nitty gritty of how they calculate benefits of, you know, solar and that kind of thing.
Mike Campanolo [00:12:55]:
Precisely. Exactly. And that’s why I was saying it was so fascinating to me. Just something I had never been exposed to and then learning about how that business runs. Like I mentioned before, like, what their key metrics are and what they’re looking for and where their, like, where their rev ops metrics kind of land, and then incorporating that into SFDC. It was just, like yeah. It it was really cool.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:13:18]:
Yeah. Right. Fascinating.
Mike Campanolo [00:13:20]:
So was
Jerome Clatworthy [00:13:20]:
that was the key benefit of that business, like, it’s cheaper for you to get used solar electricity or better for the environment and you can tick a box on your corporate report or what would be your main driver? Do you want me
Mike Campanolo [00:13:29]:
to All all of the above, honestly. Yeah. You know, it it pays for, you know, it’s, yeah. I I guess, honestly, I’ll just leave it at that. Yeah. Probably all
Mike Campanolo [00:13:38]:
of the above. Yeah.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:13:38]:
Absolutely. Yes. I think. Yeah. And so was it just the the technical side that was fascinating or are you sort of connected to that that sort of, sphere in general in terms of, you know, solar sustainability and stuff or more just the technical side of things?
Mike Campanolo [00:13:50]:
Yeah. No. Definitely. No no question. But, I would say, like, even on the technical side of things, it was just, like, it was just really interesting to learn how some of these things work under the hood.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:14:00]:
Just Yeah. Sure.
Mike Campanolo [00:14:00]:
Like I said, something we weren’t really, you know, knowledgeable of Is that Which I thought was cool.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:14:07]:
Side question just out of my own interest. Is that a big deal sort of in the Salt Lake area? Because it’s quite sunny for the most part. Isn’t that around Salt Lake? Or do you have a big winter there? I really know nothing about that.
Mike Campanolo [00:14:16]:
Oh, I think that’s okay. We we have both. It’s actually hot as anything here in the in the summer, but then, we have a big winter as well. So Okay. We don’t really have like a I mean, this may probably a controversial thing to say. We don’t really have, like, a spring or a fall that, like, lasts Yeah.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:14:30]:
Okay. Long.
Mike Campanolo [00:14:30]:
Yeah. It’s it’s yeah. We’re we’re pretty, like, a or b here.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:14:34]:
Yeah. Right. Oh, fantastic. Appreciate that. And then last thing from, I guess, case study point of view, is there something that comes to mind if I talk about, you know, a project or part of a project that really did go well and maybe, yeah, what you learned from that and maybe what you do differently as a result of that that experience?
Mike Campanolo [00:14:53]:
Definitely. So I would say something that’s quite funny is that we’ve, how do I say this the right way? But there there are things within Salesforce that some you know, there’s so much to Salesforce. It’s just such a behemoth. And, like, we always, like, take on job like, we always approach the client and learn more about them and learn more about their business and then work within their product suite. Sometimes we don’t know everything about product suite. So I’d say that a mistake that we’ve made historically, is just, is, like, working on product suites and then trying to basically, like, hey. Like, how does this, not how does it work necessarily? Because I feel like that’s unfair to say. But, like, hammering through the trail heads for areas that aren’t necessarily within our sphere.
Mike Campanolo [00:15:37]:
Yeah. And I think, like, that we need to be that’s something to be mindful of that, like, Salesforce is, it’s big, and it’s probably bigger than you could imagine for some things. And, like, that’s important to, to keep in mind. Again, granted, we always deliver. Like, we always
Jerome Clatworthy [00:15:53]:
Yeah.
Mike Campanolo [00:15:53]:
Just we always make sure that everything’s right at the end and everything’s buttoned up. But there can be, a lot to learn in a very short amount of time, and and that’s important to keep in mind.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:16:04]:
So when you’ve, I’m just trying to clarify. So you might have said, yeah. We can we can learn that or we can figure that out. And then it’s a it turns out to be a bigger undertaking to sort of develop that knowledge and navigate that cloud that you haven’t experienced than than you may have initially expected. So just try to try to remind yourself to allow plenty of time in in the quote and also if you if you’re taking on a new cloud that you’ve not worked with before. You know?
Mike Campanolo [00:16:26]:
Precisely. Yeah. I would say it’s probably the best way to describe it. Yeah. If you’re if you’re taking on a cloud, definitely, you know, like, how do like, knowing it and then knowing a little bit, of, like, how it works under the hood is great. But you really have to be, like, an expert if you’re taking on some of these projects or else you end up just losing time and money by, you know, by by basically, like, learning, learning after hours, and that’s, you know, not good for anyone.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:16:54]:
Yeah. How do you navigate that in your sort of sales conversations if, you know, the project involves an existing org with a cloud you haven’t sort of done much with, do you?
Mike Campanolo [00:17:00]:
Are you
Jerome Clatworthy [00:17:01]:
super upfront or you say, we’re confident in this and maybe we’re not super strong on that, but we can learn as we go.
Mike Campanolo [00:17:06]:
Oh, no.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:17:06]:
No. No. No. How do you sort of present that?
Mike Campanolo [00:17:07]:
Yeah. I know. We’re always upfront. We’re always upfront with the client. It’s never a matter of that. We would never, you know, we’ll always be 100% transparent with the client. Yeah. Like, that’s the most important like like I said, the most important thing for us is the client relationship.
Mike Campanolo [00:17:20]:
So we are upfront.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:17:21]:
Yeah.
Mike Campanolo [00:17:21]:
But like I said, I’ve stayed up, you know, probably countless nights trying to, like, learn learn things on the fly and it’s like And
Jerome Clatworthy [00:17:27]:
your product is
Mike Campanolo [00:17:28]:
Exactly. So so some of those jobs, probably, like, should, you know, like, maybe, like, work with another partner to recommend in the future if it’s just not
Jerome Clatworthy [00:17:38]:
our
Mike Campanolo [00:17:39]:
domain expertise. Yeah.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:17:41]:
Yeah. Absolutely. No. That’s a that’s a good learning. I’m sure we’re gonna take away from that. Well, yeah. That’s the, I guess, case study, discussions out of the way. Now I just wanna geek out a little bit with a few sort of short and sharp tech questions.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:17:51]:
Are you a iPhone or Android? What do you see?
Mike Campanolo [00:17:54]:
I’m an iPhone guy.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:17:55]:
IPhone. Nice. Seems to be the way. Yeah. Mac or PC?
Mike Campanolo [00:17:59]:
PC.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:18:00]:
Okay. And what do you guys use for your, I guess, internal tech stack in terms of comms, project management, you know? What do you guys use?
Mike Campanolo [00:18:06]:
Definitely. Yeah. So we use, a couple of things, but we use Salesforce, obviously, since we’re partners and, like, yeah. So we it’s nice that being a partner, you get a, you know, you get a a version of Salesforce, which is great. So we use a lot of Salesforce to do our internal management. And then, we also use Airtable. Like I was mentioning before, we we do some things on that.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:18:26]:
What do you find that useful for that that Salesforce doesn’t do easily?
Mike Campanolo [00:18:31]:
Yeah. Specifically, I mean, we could incorporate in the Salesforce, but I like tracking, like, our, almost like our it sounds bizarre to say, but I almost like tracking our billing more in there because it’s kind of outside of Salesforce so that we can, you know, have have, like, a separate arena for for things like that that are more sensitive for clients.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:18:50]:
Yeah. Sure.
Mike Campanolo [00:18:52]:
Yeah. But I’d say that, SQL, SOQL, obviously. We use Jet we use Jetstream to run queries on our end. Jetstream, we found to be a really, really good tool for us. I think
Jerome Clatworthy [00:19:04]:
I’ve heard of it. Can you explain Jetstream a bit?
Mike Campanolo [00:19:07]:
Oh, yeah. It’s just basically an interface for SOQL queries. So, like, rather than, trying to think yeah. I guess, like, it it really just helps streamline, like, looking into a client’s back end of Salesforce and then pulling out, like, as much pulling out data and updating data. Big fan of that and would recommend.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:19:27]:
Okay. So not so much in constrict is it more like point and click, like, the data points you want and then it converts it to SQL or it sort of
Mike Campanolo [00:19:35]:
It does a little bit of both. You can write your own queries in there, but they help they help guide you a little bit as well, You know, so where they have, you know, like, what are you trying to do? Like, so I definitely wouldn’t say it’s point and click by any about like that. Yeah. But it’s, but it definitely helps. It helps guide you along the way a bit.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:19:52]:
Okay. Sure. Very cool. And if you were sort of a CEO of Salesforce for the day, what’s if you wave your magic wand, what’s something that you would change that you’d love to see or something that drives you a bit crazy you’d like to see for you still something? Is there any sort of things that come up regularly? You’re like, I just wish, you know, x was
Mike Campanolo [00:20:10]:
Yeah. It’s a funny question. Admittedly, I’m actually very happy with the relationship. So, yeah, I think, I think I’m all good on that front, to be to be honest with you.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:20:19]:
Suggestion feature, bug fix feature?
Mike Campanolo [00:20:22]:
I suggest features, bug fixes.
Mike Campanolo [00:20:26]:
I mean, there there’s a couple things here and there, but, yeah, nothing nothing that drives me too too nuts. Yeah. Honestly, nothing that drives me too too nuts. I mean, I guess, like, you know, going through Salesforce itself, there’s always going to be, a lot of clicking around. I think that’s, like, give us high level Yeah. Thing to say. But, yeah, as long as you’re familiar with it, you can navigate it pretty easily.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:20:48]:
Yeah. Fantastic. And do you guys do much in terms of taking an existing org? So it’s usually building a new org from scratch. Do you have much opportunity to take on someone else’s work and then take it to the next level as well?
Mike Campanolo [00:20:59]:
Yeah. We we’ve done that, for sure. We’ve, like, basically, expanded on work from that other folks have implemented or developed. And then we’ve also started for it from scratch where we can help them with their quick starts and just launch them from from 0 and then, you know, continue to service that that client.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:21:15]:
Yeah. Sure. In terms of those cases where you’ve taken on an existing org, is there, like, a theme or a pattern that comes up in terms of maybe what you might consider poor practice or not ideally, like, oh, I see that a lot. And I think people should be more aware of this when they’re building from the ground up. Is there sort of themes or patterns you see that you think in terms of practice recommendations for other builders out there?
Mike Campanolo [00:21:38]:
That’s a really interesting question. I would just say that I’ve seen a lot of scenarios where this when people when people try to self implement rather than rather than getting an outside point of view sometimes
Jerome Clatworthy [00:21:52]:
Yeah.
Mike Campanolo [00:21:53]:
They they don’t sometimes they don’t understand their sales process as well as they think. So then Yeah. From there, it’s, like, takes a little bit of deconstructing and reconstructing, just the way that objects marry up. Sometimes they have a little upside down. Like I said, no harm. It’s, like, nothing we can’t do by any means and help them, remedy. But, I would encourage people who are self implementing or attempting to, probably, however long they think it should take to map out their process, they should probably take, like, maybe another couple days. Like, sleep on it for a few nights.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:22:26]:
Yeah.
Mike Campanolo [00:22:26]:
Visit it again because, you’re getting it wrong off the bat. Yeah. It’s it’s tough to unwind and then, that would probably be my biggest recommendation.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:22:35]:
Yeah. Right. So you think you you can never take enough time to to really map out the process before you start tapping Yeah. You know, before it’s that tough.
Mike Campanolo [00:22:43]:
Exactly. And I I know a lot of orgs, especially when they’re in hyper growth stealth mode, they just wanna, like, go go go. And I You
Jerome Clatworthy [00:22:49]:
would rather fly. Too.
Mike Campanolo [00:22:50]:
Yeah. Like, we’re we move for we move quick here for sure. But I would say that’s one thing that’s probably worth taking, like, another day or 2 to really, really make sure you’re getting right off the bat.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:22:59]:
Yeah. Sure. Cool. Cool. And just on average, how many how many hours do you think you’re working a week? What’s life look like? Have you got a good balance? Or
Mike Campanolo [00:23:08]:
not right now, but I
Mike Campanolo [00:23:09]:
hope to one day. I’d probably say, yeah, somewhere around 60 or so. Yeah. 60 or 70. Yeah.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:23:16]:
You up at the crack of dawn or more so working later at night? What’s your what’s your plan?
Mike Campanolo [00:23:20]:
Yeah. I would say I wake I probably wake up a little later than the average entrepreneur. Not by much. I probably wake up around 8 or 9. But It’s pretty Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But then, yeah.
Mike Campanolo [00:23:30]:
I usually work until like, my last my last meeting today is going to be at 12 at night. So yeah. Yeah. So we yeah. So we’re really doing, like, all day long. Is that more of a work with a
Jerome Clatworthy [00:23:40]:
client’s time zone? You’ve got clients all over the place or something?
Mike Campanolo [00:23:43]:
Yeah. And just some things I like to recap with the team Okay. And with my with my cofounder too. Like, we
Jerome Clatworthy [00:23:48]:
Mhmm.
Mike Campanolo [00:23:48]:
We’re really conscientious about talking about clients, but then talking about strategy going forward. And we always like to end our day discussing some of those things. So
Jerome Clatworthy [00:23:57]:
bigger picture, like, Cali Group stuff. Yeah. Where we’re going? What are we
Mike Campanolo [00:24:00]:
trying to do? Yeah. Exactly. Because probably our big thing too is that we’re working on our ISV application right now as well. Uh-huh. Yeah. So just strategizing for that is really cool. And then kind of, like, how we’re going to, like, what’s the next like, what how do I like, basically, what’s the next, like, release look like on our part? Like, where are we taking this next week? And we like to jam on that a lot.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:24:23]:
Yeah. Right. Yeah. Oh, fantastic. Very cool. And what’s the perfect day for you? Like, door locked, just tapping on the computer, or you love being on the phone talking in, you know, discovery mode, business development mode? What do you what do you thrive on? What gives you energy?
Mike Campanolo [00:24:36]:
Probably the latter. I really like talking to people, like, just in general. I like, like, meeting new people and then doing some discovery and uncovering what they’re kind of looking for and how we can help, how we can help bring their organization to the next level is, like, what makes me happy. But, also, admittedly, I love being under the hood. I’m still, like Okay. You know, I’m, like, probably an operator at heart. But Okay.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:24:58]:
But yeah. So I I extroverted operator.
Mike Campanolo [00:25:00]:
Exactly. So a little bit of both.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:25:02]:
Yeah. Right. And how are you thinking or how are you seeing the impact of AI so far? Or where do you think it’s gonna go? Do you how long until you think, you know, the average administrator is gonna see their their day to day life change in a big way because of what AI might be able to do? What what are you seeing so far?
Mike Campanolo [00:25:17]:
That’s a really cool question, man. I think I think it’s going to expand and obviously keep getting better and improving. But I’ve seen, I was working with a client yesterday on implementing response from chat gpt, and it’s like, it it’s working, you know? Like, it’s going yeah. It’s it’s working. So I’m like, oh, okay. Like, this is cool.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:25:39]:
In terms of, like, just advice on data models or, like, I I find it useful for circle stuff and formulas, like, to typically get something pretty close to what I need or at least find a bug in something I’ve typed myself in in in what way.
Mike Campanolo [00:25:49]:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So for them specifically, it’s taking, it’s taking an input, I guess, you would I I don’t wanna speak about, like, hard to do in-depth, but it’s taking an input and then it’s basically, making a decision about that and then redirecting that to, to the appropriate category or arena. Right? Yeah. Based on, like, what the what attach EBT has been, told to do or at least
Jerome Clatworthy [00:26:14]:
the rules
Mike Campanolo [00:26:14]:
that they’re spending within.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:26:15]:
Interpreting some stuff and then making a adjustment based on its input.
Mike Campanolo [00:26:18]:
Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. So I think I think that’s pretty cool. And then, obviously, we use it just like you said, like help people. Yeah. I can just figure out what’s wrong with this formula. Exactly.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:26:28]:
Where is the extra comma? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Mike Campanolo [00:26:31]:
Exactly. And in on it, it’s something that clients have been asking more.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:26:37]:
Okay. So it’s coming up in client conversations there. Yeah. Are they just like, how can we save money with this? Or is it a big deal? Is it useful to us? What kind of questions do they got?
Mike Campanolo [00:26:44]:
Yeah. That like, yeah. How can we incorporate it? How can we help it, help us? And I think that’s, like, really interesting. So, like, we do a lot of, like, discovery on that end as well, like, trying to, like, learn more about prompts, like, the best way to, implement them, and then the best way to incorporate into CRMs, because it is something that clients are, like I said, very interested in.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:27:07]:
Yeah. What sort of ways have you seen it? Like, just people using it and then doing their work or they’re sending out our API and bringing stuff back in? Or what sort of stuff have you seen so far?
Mike Campanolo [00:27:15]:
A little bit of both. Yeah. I mean, I mean, I’ve seen a lot of folks just help them aid, their current, you know, their current day to day functions.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:27:22]:
Yeah.
Mike Campanolo [00:27:22]:
Just like, hey. This is gonna save me, like, an hour every day. It’s awesome. But then, as mentioned before, you know, I’ve seen it kinda hooking into, hooking into different systems, I guess you would say, and then, like, helping them advance their CRM and what their CRM is doing for them. And that that to me is, like, really, really quite exciting. Because, honestly, that’s the thing is, obviously, we love, you know, helping clients, but, like, if we can save clients a couple button clicks or save them, I save every say if you could save every person on a sales team 15 minutes a day. Absolutely. Yeah.
Mike Campanolo [00:27:54]:
It’s a ton huge that’s a ton of money for the company for for them, you know, in their savings and then, helping them, you know, do what they do well. And, get getting their focus back to sales rather than than, you know, intents and operations.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:28:07]:
She’s a thing that can’t do, which is talking to their potential customers or their existing customers. Right?
Mike Campanolo [00:28:11]:
That’s exactly that’s exactly right, Jerome. Yeah. Exactly.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:28:14]:
And aside from chat, GPT, anything else out there that you guys have seen which is proving useful? Or is that probably the main one that’s being trialed at the moment? You know?
Mike Campanolo [00:28:22]:
I mean, for our clients right now, it’s just that, admittedly. Yeah. Just, like, kind of, working through that through, you know, some of its capabilities. Mhmm.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:28:32]:
Cool. Well, yeah. Fascinating.
Mike Campanolo [00:28:34]:
Yeah.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:28:34]:
Appreciate that, Mike. Well, that’s why interrogation complete. Please tell us all about, Cata Group and what you guys can do and, yeah, what what what you guys are best suited to. I’d love to hear more.
Mike Campanolo [00:28:44]:
Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. So, as mentioned, we’re Salesforce consulting partners. So it’s probably, like, our core driver. And then we’re also Customer IO Agency Partners, which is a magnificent I see. Yeah. Lifecycle marketing tool.
Mike Campanolo [00:28:54]:
So we consult on that platform as well. And And that falls on the Salesforce pretty nicely
Jerome Clatworthy [00:28:59]:
as a to sort of assist with that? Or Yeah. Yeah.
Mike Campanolo [00:29:04]:
Yeah. So that we you can basically use what’s called their, CDP pipeline, and then, you hook everything kinda together so that your, you know, your marketing tool is talking to Salesforce and vice versa. And we So
Jerome Clatworthy [00:29:19]:
that’d be, like, a marketing cloud alternative or not not quite not quite overlapping or is it a less feature ish substitute, would you say?
Mike Campanolo [00:29:27]:
I would actually say no. That’s I’d say that’s fair. It really it’s just it’s an alternative. I guess, it’s probably the best way to say it. But they’ve been magnificent, and we have a wonderful relationship with them. And, yeah, they’re they’re just great folks all the way through. So we do that. But we’ve also done so we’re kind of like a I almost, I I kind of like to call us a tech solutions company.
Mike Campanolo [00:29:47]:
Okay. Yeah. Because we do we’ve done SEO for clients. We’ve done website building. Yeah. Yeah. Just like like, done random integrations across different, platforms and help assisted clients with that. And like I said, we do some app building on as well on our end.
Mike Campanolo [00:30:03]:
So
Jerome Clatworthy [00:30:04]:
So you got a few products in the in the works or already already on market?
Mike Campanolo [00:30:07]:
No. Not not yet to market.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:30:09]:
But,
Mike Campanolo [00:30:09]:
we do have one that’s, like, coming. I would probably say in the next, like, 3 to 4 months, hopefully, you know, if if if everything goes well, we’ll probably have something in the in the marketplace.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:30:19]:
Yeah. So dev in house devs, or you’ve been sort of just getting in the expertise you need to build what the vision you’ve got?
Mike Campanolo [00:30:24]:
Oh, no. No. We’re well, yeah. No. We’re in house. Yeah. For sure. Yeah.
Mike Campanolo [00:30:27]:
So, which is which is great because we have a close connectivity on it all the way through. And then
Jerome Clatworthy [00:30:33]:
And with the ideas without giving away the the secret sauce, with the ideas just stuff that you did over and over for clients, you thought, man, why isn’t there an app for this? Or just Yeah.
Mike Campanolo [00:30:41]:
Kind of
Jerome Clatworthy [00:30:41]:
a random idea you had that you thought, man, the world needs this.
Mike Campanolo [00:30:44]:
That’s exactly right. Yeah. I think that’s the thing, that you tend to see is that, you know, we have clients that range from real estate to finance and, we have health care and so on. Like, we have we have, we’re not really, like we don’t really necessarily have, like, one industry that we’re, like, we hone in, hone in on. What we have seen across those industries is that a lot of clients are looking for the same metrics and solutions. Okay. And to save the same button clicks. Yeah.
Mike Campanolo [00:31:11]:
Right. So so I would say our our application is going to be a little broad in some ways. But, but I think, like, very utilitarian for a lot of folks. And that’s kind of, like, what we’re targeting with, like, our first, our first launch.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:31:25]:
Yeah. And I so you see that hopefully is one of many, like, to really build that as a a big sort of pillar of the business.
Mike Campanolo [00:31:31]:
Yeah. I think, honestly, it might end up being a lead magnet, you know. Yeah. I could. Yeah. Because it’s like yeah. It’s like one of those things, like, oh, yeah. These people saved me a button click.
Mike Campanolo [00:31:38]:
Let me go talk
Jerome Clatworthy [00:31:39]:
to them
Mike Campanolo [00:31:40]:
and see if they can, if they can help me elsewhere. So, but yeah. So so I guess we’ll kinda see what, like, strategic direction we take that in.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:31:47]:
But Yeah. Sure.
Mike Campanolo [00:31:48]:
Yeah. I can see that I can definitely see it going that way.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:31:51]:
Yeah. And what sort of challenges are so, you know, what do you think, the category for most best suited to you? Where do you guys really shine?
Mike Campanolo [00:31:57]:
Or Probably real like, if someone really wants someone to show up, want to learn the business, and understand it through and through, and then take that business and then translate it to the best user experience in Salesforce or in any or in, you know, a different CRM. Mhmm. That’s probably where we thrive the most. We’re, like, very high touch. Like, we communicate almost like like I mentioned before, if a client pings us, we’ll communicate with them within the hour for the most part. So we’re very high touch, high touch shop. So if you’re really looking for, like like, a lot of attention, I guess, you’d say that’s, like, probably where we’re best suited.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:32:35]:
Yeah. Cool. And where did the name come from? The business name, is that a a golf reference or something else? Yeah.
Mike Campanolo [00:32:40]:
I mean, I was thinking one day that, you know, like, who is, what’s a great example of a trusted adviser for someone Yeah. Which is our goal for
Jerome Clatworthy [00:32:49]:
our industry.
Mike Campanolo [00:32:49]:
I like that. Now. Yeah. Probably one thing, that I like to think and I think it’s about our organization’s identity and our brand is that, like, we don’t wanna be rock stars. Like, we don’t wanna be, like, the rock star. We don’t wanna be shining. It’s much more about making our client shine. And by design, if our client grows, then we probably end up growing alongside.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:33:11]:
Absolutely. So Yeah. I love that.
Mike Campanolo [00:33:13]:
Yeah. So, that’s, like, really what I wanted to message when we founded the company. It’s, like, where it’s not about us, it’s about you, and it’s about your success. And if you’re successful, then we’re successful too.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:33:25]:
Yeah. Perfect. Love that. Well, thanks much for your time today, Mike. Really appreciate that. Last question is, anything exciting on the horizon, whether it be at work or outside of work? Anything really exciting coming up in the near future?
Mike Campanolo [00:33:37]:
Yeah. Definitely. Probably the most something interesting too is that, like I said, I came from banking. So Yeah. Caddy Group, Caddy Inc, I guess, is, like, our our our government’s name. Yeah. But, we just did our first venture around, funding a company, actually.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:33:52]:
Oh,
Mike Campanolo [00:33:53]:
really? Yes. From from our company. So it’s important for us to, help other, founders on their journey as well. So I think that’s unique about Caddy Group. You know, like, we’re, like It’s really interesting cross eyed builders, but then we, yeah, we also do some, I shouldn’t say we do, but we did our 1st venture capital investment into a smaller, AI company. So we’re really actually quite excited about,
Jerome Clatworthy [00:34:16]:
the company invested or you helped organize funding, like, from a variety?
Mike Campanolo [00:34:20]:
Oh, no. Yeah. No. We the company invested in Okay. Into the start up. Yeah. So we’re super excited about that. So, how do I yeah.
Mike Campanolo [00:34:30]:
It’s just probably something you don’t hear that often.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:34:32]:
Yeah. Absolutely.
Mike Campanolo [00:34:33]:
Yeah. So we’re really excited about that and the and the possibilities there. And I think, as we go further, we’re definitely committed to continuing to help smaller businesses launch as well. It’s definitely part of our, mission. And then Yeah. Right. Helping them too, you know. Like, now they’re if they’re like a I don’t call them a portfolio company, but, like Yeah.
Mike Campanolo [00:34:51]:
If they’re if they’re a company that we’re, we’re investing in, then it’s nice because they can lean on us for some of their
Jerome Clatworthy [00:34:57]:
CRM business as well. Very much a shared shared interest in, doing well. So you’ll be more than happy to
Mike Campanolo [00:35:03]:
Precisely. Yeah. Oh, what a
Jerome Clatworthy [00:35:04]:
fascinating model. I love that.
Mike Campanolo [00:35:06]:
Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. I kinda joke. It’s like we, like yeah. We do a lot of things, but, but we’re excited about we’re excited about all of them.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:35:12]:
Salesforce slash SEO slash investment banking, you know.
Mike Campanolo [00:35:15]:
Yeah. Who
Jerome Clatworthy [00:35:16]:
who can match that combination? You know, you get a that’s that’s a real niche in the market, I’m sure.
Mike Campanolo [00:35:21]:
It it’s, it’s a niche. Yeah. But, but, but, you know, it’s very calculated. I will say that. Like, we’re, you know, we feel like so, so we’re excited about it, and we’re excited about our growth for the for the rest of the year.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:35:32]:
Oh, well, that sounds awesome. Well, yeah. I hope all the best for Caddy Group and the, the mysterious seed investment. That sounds amazing, and I really appreciate talking to you, Michael.
Mike Campanolo [00:35:39]:
That should, that PR should launch, probably in about 30 days. So I’ll I’ll keep I’ll keep you posted, Jerome.
Jerome Clatworthy [00:35:46]:
Yeah. Do that. That’d be awesome. Alright. Well, Max, thanks so much for your time today. I really appreciate