Excel is Not a CRM (and other things we need to talk about)
Excel is Not a CRM (and other things we need to talk about)
Nobody starts a business because they love admin. Well, we did, but we're the exception. 🤓
In our very first episode of Guardians of the Gigabyte, we talked through the systems every growing business should know about. There's so much choice out there that most people don't know what they don't know. So here's the short version.
Your CRM is your little black book
And when it's set up properly, it pays off. Salesforce reckons a CRM can boost sales by up to 29%. (And no, that doesn't mean just putting your prices up.)
A CRM is where all your contacts live. We like to call it a contact relationship management system rather than customer, because it's not just about selling.
Half of our CRM is people we'd never sell to: experts we refer clients to and networking contacts we like to stay in touch with. When a client recently asked if we knew anyone who builds Wix websites, we couldn't remember his name. A quick search of the CRM and there he was. 🙌
A good CRM also:
Reminds you to follow up (no more "I'll do that if I remember")
Shows your pipeline, so you can see where leads come from and where they're up to
Saves anyone trying to read your handwriting
It doesn't have to be expensive, either. There are plenty of free and low-cost options that do the job.
And no, a spreadsheet doesn't count
Controversial, we know. Spreadsheets have their place, but that place is not your CRM.
Our quick win: if your contacts live in a spreadsheet, pop it into Airtable. It'll recognise your columns, and you'll instantly have something far easier to search, filter and follow up from. It's not the right CRM for everyone, but it's a brilliant first step.
Project management keeps everything moving
A CRM tracks people. A project management tool tracks work.
A "project" can be anything: onboarding a new client, delivering a coaching programme, building a house. It gives you tick lists, deadlines and milestones, and lets the whole team see where everything is up to.
Some tools do CRM and project management, which is perfect for coaches and consultants. If your projects are complex, like a house build with subcontractors and materials, you'll probably want a dedicated project tool.
(We'll admit to using ours for holiday packing lists too!)
Accounting software, not an accounting spreadsheet
As Steph likes to say: no one should be copying and pasting anymore. Come on, guys. 😅
Starting out on a spreadsheet is fine. Once you're growing, it isn't. Making Tax Digital means more of your tax admin has to be digital anyway.
The likes of QuickBooks, Xero, FreeAgent and Zoho Books connect to your bank, so transactions flow in, invoices go out and payments get matched. Connect it to your CRM and when a client says yes, one click can create their invoice. Ten minutes saved, every single time.
The handy extras
You don't need all of these, and certainly not all at once:
Online payments: Stripe, GoCardless
Booking links: Calendly, TidyCal
Email marketing: great for newsletters, but also for onboarding sequences, FAQs and "here's what happens next" emails
One coach we worked with got her client onboarding down from two hours to under ten minutes, purely by automating the steps that were the same every time.
Start with a process map, not a shopping list
Before you buy any software, map out what you do now. If you want to get to point B, you need to know where point A is.
Once it's written down, you can see what to tweak, what to automate and what kind of system you actually need. Plenty of businesses have nothing documented at all, so if the person who knows how everything works is off sick or leaves, it all goes with them.
It doesn't need to be a big corporate document. Just notes on how you do things right now. Review it every so often, because tech (hello, AI 👋) keeps moving and there's always something new that could save you time.
Not sure where to start?
That's literally what we do. We're system agnostic, so we'll help you find what's right for your business, not sell you the dream of "just plug it in and go". (That doesn't exist. Sorry.)
👉 Take the Stebbington Six to see where your systems could be working harder, or grab a cuppa with us for a chat.