💡 ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Dr. Shannon Gregg, President of Cloud Adoption Solutions and researcher in CRM user adoption, sits down with Natalie Bulger to untangle the relationship between people, process, and technology — and why the order of those three words matters more than most organizations want to admit. From over-customized platforms to AI solutions that break before they help, Shannon makes the case that the tool is rarely the problem and the process underneath it almost always is.
The conversation covers where buyers go wrong before they ever walk into a vendor meeting, what responsible selling looks like from the other side of the table, and why simplifying your tech stack is harder, and more necessary, than building it out. If you've ever been handed a solution before anyone finished diagnosing the problem, this one names what that costs.
📩 Connect with Shannon: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannonjgregg/
🌐 Cloud Adoption Solutions: https://cloudadoption.solutions/
📖 It's About Time: How to Do More of What Matters in the Time You Have: https://www.amazon.com/Its-About-Time-More-Matters/dp/1945605014
📖 Sales Ops Design Shop: Grow Revenue without Adding Sales Headcount: https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Ops-Design-Shop-Headcount-ebook/dp/B0D8KC3GZZ?ref_=ast_author_mpb
Life Sciences Sales Lab Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/life-sciences-sales-lab/id1853940547
🎯 KEY TAKEAWAYS
🔹 Process before platform The most expensive technology mistake isn't buying the wrong tool — it's placing it on top of a process that was already broken.
🔹 Over-customization has a cost Every time you customize away from a standard build, you're also customizing away from every future update, release, and fix that comes with it.
🔹 AI doesn't know your organization Generative AI can describe a solution but it can't see your dependencies, your integrations, or the metadata underneath — and that gap is where implementations break.
🔹 The buyer's voice is the most powerful one in the room Coming into a vendor conversation with an open mind and the right questions changes the outcome more than any sales methodology ever will.
🔹 Responsible selling means saying no A seller who tells you what won't work for your situation is more valuable than one who tells you yes and hands you the invoice.
🔹 There are so many different versions of you Not every version needs to be optimized, pushed further, or performing at its peak — and recognizing which one is running on its rails right now is its own kind of intelligence.
TOPICS
LEADERSHIP & CAREER
STRATEGIC THINKING
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
