Keep every customer conversation in one place

What a CRM does

A customer relationship management system stores contacts, companies and deals in one shared place. Instead of notes in a notebook and emails in different inboxes, every team member sees the same history and the next step.

Who needs one

If you follow up with more than a handful of prospects, lose track of conversations, or share sales work between people, a CRM usually pays for itself in saved time. A solo seller with ten customers may be fine with a spreadsheet.

Setting up a simple pipeline

Start small: define three to five stages (new lead, contacted, proposal sent, won, lost), import your contacts, and agree who owns each deal. Add automation and reports only after the basics are working.

Questions to ask before you choose

• Does it fit the number of users you have today and next year?
• Can you import your existing contacts easily?
• Does it connect to the email and accounting tools you already use?
• What support and training does the provider offer?