Do I need a CRM? A plain-English guide
Customer relationship management software, or CRM, has a reputation for being costly, complicated and ignored by the people meant to use it. Set up well, it is none of those things. Here is how to tell whether your business needs one yet, and how to get it right if it does.
What a CRM actually does
A CRM is one shared place for everything you know about your customers and leads: who they are, what you have talked about, what they have bought or asked for, and what needs to happen next. Instead of that information living in inboxes, notebooks and one person’s memory, the whole team can see it, and the system can remind you to follow up.
Signs you need one
- Enquiries get missed or forgotten, especially when someone is off.
- Customer details live in several places that do not agree with each other.
- You cannot easily answer “how many enquiries did we get last month, and how many became work?”
- Follow-ups depend on someone remembering.
- A new team member would struggle to pick up a customer conversation where it left off.
- You copy information by hand between your website, email, spreadsheets and accounts.
If three or more of those sound familiar, a CRM will very likely pay for itself.
Signs you can wait
If one or two people handle a modest number of customers, everyone knows where things stand, and nothing falls through the cracks, a well-organised shared inbox and a simple spreadsheet may be enough for now. A CRM solves problems; if you do not have them yet, there is no rush.
What a CRM costs
Most CRM platforms charge per user per month, from free starter plans up to tens of pounds per user for more advanced tiers. Popular options for small businesses include HubSpot, Pipedrive and Zoho, each with different strengths.
The subscription is rarely where the real cost lies. The real cost of a CRM that fails is the time spent on a system nobody uses. Good setup, which means clean data, simple workflows and connecting it to your website and email, is what makes it worth paying for.
How to choose one
- Start with your process, not the software: how does an enquiry become a customer today?
- Pick the simplest system that fits. You can always grow into more features.
- Check it connects to what you already use: your website forms, email, calendar and accounts software.
- Make sure your data can be exported if you ever want to leave.
- Involve the people who will use it every day before you decide.
Common mistakes
- Importing years of messy data without cleaning it first.
- Buying the biggest plan “to be safe” and using a fraction of it.
- Setting it up without training the team, then wondering why nobody uses it.
- Leaving website enquiries to be retyped by hand instead of flowing in automatically.
How we help
We set up, migrate and connect CRM systems for businesses in Glasgow, Paisley and across Scotland, and we built CRM and support systems used by Selfridges, Harrods and Fortnum & Mason. CRM projects start from £995, with one fixed price before we begin.
Find out more about our CRM setup and migration service, or see how automation can take the remaining admin off your team.
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CRM setup, migration, integrations and reporting, from people who have built them for household names.