Uncle Kunkel's Corner
Your biweekly Salesforce digest. Real intel. Real talk. Minimal buzzwords.
The Quick & Dirty
The whole issue, fast
For those of you reading this between meetings (so, all of you):
- Salesforce quietly rebranded Sales Cloud to 'Agentforce Sales', yes, really. More on that below.
- 55% of CRM implementations still fail. Not because the tech is bad. Because nobody wants to do data entry. We talk about this.
- HubSpot's Breeze AI is getting aggressive, 36-day activation vs. Agentforce's months-long setup. Know your counter.
- Trailhead pick this issue: Spring '26 Release Highlights. 25 minutes. Actually useful.
What Salesforce Shipped
New toys from the mothership
Spring '26 dropped February 23rd and there's a lot in here. I've been poking around and these are the ones I think actually matter for your conversations:
This is the big rebrand. Salesforce is going all-in on the agent narrative and renamed the whole product line. Honestly? The features underneath are solid, Sales Workspace is a new hub that pulls together analytics, agent activity, and pipeline insights in one place. The name is... a choice. But the workspace itself is genuinely useful for reps who live in Salesforce all day.
This one's actually cool. Instead of one-way email blasts, AI agents can now respond to replies, answering common questions, recommending products, deflecting support cases. Think of it as turning your email campaigns into lightweight conversations. I've been messing around with it on a client's instance and it's smoother than I expected.
If you sell into banking or financial services, this is your new talking point. AI agents that handle common banking and collections inquiries by voice, at scale, without adding headcount. That last part is the line that makes CFOs lean forward.
There's more in the full release notes but these are the ones I'd actually bring up on a call. The rest is platform stuff that matters more to admins than AEs.
Stats That Slap
Numbers you can drop to sound smart
I don't know why I enjoy digging up CRM stats but here we are. I accept this about myself.
Average ROI for every $1 spent on CRM in 2026. That's not a typo. Use this number.
of CRM implementations still fail to meet objectives. Mostly data entry friction and poor adoption. This is literally why we exist.
Know Thy Enemy: HubSpot (Breeze AI)
What the other guys are up to
We're rotating competitors each issue. This time it's the one you're probably hearing about most in deals right now.
Breeze Prospecting Agent activates in 36 days, not months. Revenue growing at 20% vs. Salesforce's sub-10%. 4.4 stars on Gartner vs. Salesforce's 4.2. They're pushing the 'easier, faster, cheaper' angle hard.
For SMBs and marketing-heavy teams, HubSpot is genuinely good. Credit where it's due. But once you need custom objects, complex approval chains, CPQ, or industry-specific compliance, it starts to stretch. The 'dual platform' trend (HubSpot for marketing, Salesforce for everything else) is actually growing, which tells you something.
Don't fight on ease-of-use, you'll lose that one. Instead: 'HubSpot is great for getting started. Salesforce is what you graduate to when your processes get complex enough that simple breaks.' Ask about their integration count, their compliance requirements, their reporting needs. That's where the conversation shifts.
Uncle Kunkel's Pro Tip
Things I learned so you don't have to
Stop Demo-ing Features. Start Demo-ing Workflows.
I watched three demos last month where the AE clicked through every tab, every button, every setting. The prospect's eyes glazed over by minute four. Here's what I started doing instead: I build one workflow that mirrors their actual process, lead comes in, gets routed, task gets created, manager gets notified, and I just walk through that. Start to finish. One story. The prospect sees themselves in it instead of seeing a product tour. It takes more prep but the close rate difference is not subtle.
Before your next demo, ask the prospect: 'Walk me through what happens when a new lead comes in today.' Then build that exact flow in your demo org. Mirror their language. Use their job titles. When they see their world inside Salesforce, the conversation changes completely.
From the Field
Patterns I'm seeing across deals
Three things I keep running into on calls. Just something I noticed, might be worth paying attention to.
I've had three deals in the last month where the CFO joined the second call, not the fifth. The ROI conversation is happening way sooner. If you're saving the business case for late-stage, you might be too late. Have your numbers ready from call two.
People are tired of hearing 'AI-powered.' I get it. But when you frame it as 'here's an agent that handles X so your team doesn't have to', that lands differently. It's concrete. It's a headcount conversation, not a technology conversation.
With AI coding tools getting better, I'm hearing more prospects say they'll build their own CRM workflows. This happened in 2018 too. It doesn't end well. The counter: 'Building it is the easy part. Maintaining it when your developer leaves is the hard part.'
The common thread: buyers are more sophisticated, more skeptical, and moving faster. The AEs who are winning right now are the ones who match that speed and come prepared with specifics, not slide decks.
The Rookie Mistake
A gentle callout from someone who's made them all
Sending the Proposal Before They Ask for It
I used to do this too. Good call, lots of energy, prospect seems excited, so you fire off a proposal that night. Fast follow-up, right? Except now they have a number before they've built internal consensus. They share it with their boss who has zero context. Boss sees the price, says 'seems high,' and now you're defending a number instead of building a case. I've seen this kill deals that were otherwise moving perfectly.
After a strong call, send a summary email, not a proposal. Recap what they told you, confirm the pain points, and ask: 'Does this capture it? If so, I'll put together some options for your team.' Let them pull the proposal from you. When they ask for it, they own it. When you push it, they evaluate it.
What I'd Do Differently
Hindsight from the Salesforce trenches
I Wish I'd Started Building My Network Before I Needed It
For my first three years selling Salesforce, I was heads-down, quota, pipeline, close, repeat. I didn't go to user groups. I didn't post on LinkedIn. I didn't build relationships with people outside my immediate deals. Then I got laid off during a reorg, and I realized my 'network' was basically my team Slack channel that no longer existed. It took me four months to find my next role because I was starting from zero. The people who landed in two weeks? They'd been showing up to community events, commenting on posts, having coffee chats for years. They had warm introductions. I had cold applications.
Your network isn't a safety net you build when you're falling. It's something you maintain when things are good. Go to one Salesforce community event this month. Comment on three LinkedIn posts from people in your space. It feels awkward at first. It pays off permanently.
The Playbook
An objection I keep hearing, and what I'd say back
We're locked into a 2-year contract with [competitor]. Can't do anything until next year.
This comes up constantly, especially with HubSpot and Zoho contracts. The prospect likes what they see but feels stuck. Most AEs hear this and put a calendar reminder for 11 months out. That's fine, but you're leaving value on the table.
Totally understand, and I wouldn't ask you to break a contract. But here's what I'd suggest: let's do a side-by-side pilot on one team or one use case. No commitment, no overlap with your current tool. That way, when your renewal date comes up, you're not starting an evaluation from scratch, you already have data. Most of the companies I work with who switch started exactly this way.
You're not asking them to do anything scary. No contract break, no rip-and-replace. You're offering a zero-risk way to start building the case internally. And once they're running a pilot, the switching cost psychology flips, now staying with the incumbent is the disruption.
The Win Column
Proof this stuff actually works
Can't tell you who this is, but I'm still a little giddy about it.
Healthcare / Med Device
Sales team was managing 200+ hospital relationships across spreadsheets, email threads, and one very stressed-out coordinator's memory. Reps were showing up to meetings without knowing the last conversation. Twice they pitched the same product to the same buyer a month apart.
Built a unified account view with automated activity logging, territory management, and a simple dashboard that shows last touch, next step, and contract renewal dates. Nothing fancy, just the basics done really well.
Rep productivity up 34% in 90 days. Pipeline visibility went from 'ask Jennifer' to 'check the dashboard.' Two reps told me it was the first time they actually liked opening Salesforce.
When a prospect says 'we're managing fine with spreadsheets,' try: 'That's what our med device client said too, until they pitched the same product to the same buyer twice in a month. Now their reps actually like opening Salesforce. Want to see what changed?'
Homework (But Actually Fun)
One module worth your time
Spring '26 Release Highlights
~25 minutes · Beginner
I know, I know, 'read the release notes' is not exactly thrilling homework. But this module actually walks you through the features that matter for sellers, not admins. Sales Workspace, Two-Way Email, the Agentforce rebrand, it's all in here. And when a prospect asks 'what's new in Salesforce?' you'll have a real answer instead of mumbling about AI. Worth 25 minutes of your life, I promise.