Smile And Dial CRM, A Fable About Transforming Fundamental Constraints

Data assumptions are baked into your CRM’s makeup and can seem impossible to change.  Email marketing requires contacts to have an email, because you can’t do email marketing without one.  Call center software requires prospects to have phone numbers so that agents can do outbound sales.

But what happens when your business needs to change and your fundamental constraints are no longer fundamental?  How do you change your core data model assumptions without starting over or freezing development?

SmileAndDial CRM has spent years positioning themselves as the go to CRM for boiler rooms, pump and dumps, extended car warranties, and other outbound call centers on the strength of their dialer integrations.  They’ve done well, making a quality product for horrible people.  But the FTC is cracking down on junk calls and putting their customers out of business.  They need to expand into email spamming and help support their horrid customers.  After all, keeping your customers out of jail massively extends Customer Lifetime Value.

This series will follow SmileAndDial on their journey to remove phone numbers as a fundamental constraint in their software.  

Part 1 – The problem with direct change
Part 2 – Start TheeSeeShipping
Part 3 – Invisible Shipping
Part 4 – Numberless Contacts appear as if by magic