Custom CRM
A CRM is not big-company software. It is one place holding what you know about each prospect and each client, so you stop losing work simply for not having thought of it in time.
You can see the result before discussing it: the link below is available online, with no sign-up required.
Losing work by forgetting, not by being turned down
Four situations come up with almost every freelancer we meet.
- A prospect asked for a quote in March. They never said no. Nobody called back, and the opportunity quietly died.
- What you know about a client is spread across an inbox, a phone and a notebook. The person holding the rest is on leave.
- Two people on the team called the same contact in the same week, neither knowing about the other conversation.
- You know somebody needs chasing, but not who, and not since when.
None of these losses come from a refusal. They come from scattered information and from memory which, past twenty contacts, stops being a working tool.
Five functions are enough
A CRM that helps a small business fits in these five functions. All of them are in the online demo, exactly as you would use them. The rest is clutter that discourages data entry.
1. One record per contact, in one place
Clickable contact details to call or e-mail, where the contact came from, what the deal is worth, and a history that keeps your notes together with the tool’s own actions: stage change, follow-up done, deal closed. The record answers “where do we stand with them” without digging through three tools. A probable duplicate is flagged before it is created.
Typical situation. A consultant used to find past exchanges by searching his mailbox. Every contact now has a record, and preparing a meeting takes two minutes instead of twenty.
2. A pipeline that speaks your trade
One column per stage, named your way: “quote sent”, “visited”, “deposit requested”. Each column shows how many deals it holds and what they are worth. A deal ends won or lost, with the reason for the loss, and then leaves the pipeline without leaving the tool.
Typical situation. A tradesman had no idea how many quotes were pending. He now sees they represent several weeks of work, and follows up the oldest ones first.
3. Today’s follow-up, not follow-up from memory
This is the function that pays off most. Every record carries a next follow-up, dated and typed: call, e-mail, meeting, visit. The landing screen sorts what is waiting: overdue, today, this week. A follow-up is handled in one click, “done, then the next one in a week”. An active record with no follow-up is flagged, never hidden.
Typical situation. An agency followed up when someone thought of it. With a next follow-up set every time, a noticeable share of unanswered quotes ended up closing.
4. Knowing why you win, and why you lose
Five numbers, readable on a Monday morning: the amount in progress, what was signed over the last three months, the conversion rate, the average time to signature, the overdue follow-ups. Then two lists few small businesses have: the reasons for lost deals, and the contact sources that actually convert.
Typical situation. A broker thought he was losing on price. The recorded reasons mostly showed files left unanswered: he fixed his follow-up, not his rates.
5. Bringing in what you have, without retyping
Your contacts already live in a spreadsheet. They paste straight into the tool, which shows what it is about to create, flags probable duplicates and writes nothing before you confirm. Export the other way is always available: your data stays yours.
Typical situation. An office kept two hundred contacts in a spreadsheet. Moving to the tool took one morning, deduplication included, without retyping anything.
What a CRM will not do
It keeps you from forgetting. It does not sell.
- It does not fill in records by itself. That is the honest limit of any CRM: one that nobody feeds is useless. This is why data entry must stay very fast, and it is a criterion of the scoping.
- It does not guess which prospect will sign. Automatic lead scoring promises a lot and is often wrong on small volumes.
- It does not send e-mail reminders in its standard version: the morning screen is what reminds you of what is waiting. A sent reminder, a connection to your mailbox or your invoicing are added at scoping, not by default.
- It does not make up for a missing method. If nobody follows up today, the tool will make it visible, not automatic.
The gain is in what no longer gets lost, not in your conversion rate, which depends on you.
Frequently asked questions
What does the standard version include?
Exactly what the demo shows: contact records, a pipeline with stages named by you, dated and typed follow-ups, a won or lost outcome with reason, insight figures, import from a spreadsheet and export, in French, Dutch and English. Adapting it to your business, fields specific to your trade or a connection to another tool are priced at scoping.
How much does a CRM cost?
The amount depends on the number of stages to track, the number of distinct users and whether it has to connect to your mailbox or your invoicing. A contact base with follow-ups and a CRM linked to your quotes are not in the same league. The price is set after scoping. As a guide, excluding VAT, most CRMs fall between 2,500 and 5,000 euros. A CRM connected to your quotes and your mailbox can reach 9,000 euros.
Can you take over my existing contacts?
Yes. The tool reads rows pasted straight from Excel, Google Sheets or Numbers, shows what it is about to create and flags probable duplicates before writing anything. A very messy file needs prior cleaning, which is priced separately and mentioned at scoping.
Who sees what if there are several of us?
The standard version is meant for one person or a small team sharing the same follow-up. Separate access, each seeing only their own contacts with a manager seeing everything, is decided at scoping. The choice depends on your organisation, not on a technical rule.
What about personal data protection?
A CRM holds personal data, which brings obligations: knowing where it is hosted, being able to export and delete it on request, and limiting access. A full export exists from the standard version. We are not lawyers: the compliance of your practices remains yours to validate, but the tool must not stand in your way.
What if I do not fill it in?
That is the main risk, and it is better to face it. The remedy is one rule: if creating a record takes more than thirty seconds, the tool will be abandoned. A name is enough to create a record, the rest fills in as the conversation goes. Speed of entry comes before richness of fields.
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