For many solo business owners, a customer relationship management platform (CRM) sounds like a smart next step — a way to stay organized, automate follow-ups, and look more professional.
If you’re managing a handful of clients or leads at a time, a full-scale CRM might be more hassle than help. Between setup, costs, and features you may never use, it’s easy to fall into the trap of complicating your business before it’s necessary.
Sometimes, a simple spreadsheet or well-structured email system does the job just fine.
What a CRM Is — and What It Isn’t?
At its core, a CRM manages customer information. It makes the sales process easier to manage by collecting and maintaining data about your customers. Some CRMs have now evolved to become all in one client management systems which claim to automate every aspect of your business.
A basic CRM should:
- Store and organize customer details with tags, notes, and segmentation.
- Visualize and manage client pipelines through various stages.
- Set reminders, tasks, and track activities so you can stay on top of leads.
- Send, receive, and log emails.
- View timelines of all touch points with your prospect, including emails, calls, meetings, per contact.
- Tag and segment, so you can organize contacts by behavior, stage, or source for follow-ups.
- Have easy-to-read reporting and dashboards. These will allow you to create insights on sales and performance.
- Capture leads. Examples are embedding forms on websites or landing pages to add new leads directly into the CRM.
A CRM is not:
- An email marketing tool (even though it can automate emails)
- A time management tool
- A project management tool
- An invoicing tool
- A contracts tool
Once a CRM adds such features, it has moved beyond being just a CRM to becoming a business management platform.
Solopreneurs’ frustrations with CRMs
Most solopreneurs are looking for a simple, clean platform, with predictable pricing. Often, solopreneurs choose the wrong platform because of marketing, hype or lack of knowledge on how a CRM should meet their needs.
Most CRMs are built for broad audiences, so they pack in features designed to meet every possible business need — whether you need them or not.
CRMs are not intuitive enough to adapt the needs of a solo business. Take for instance, automating emails for discovery calls. In one example provided by a solopreneur, a CRM like Dubsado can automate sending emails to a client who requests a discovery call. However, if a client reschedules a discovery call, this breaks the cycle of automated emails that have already been set in place. The CRM does not have the capacity to automatically re-schedule and still send out those automated emails.
When starting out, CRMs target small business. They start at a reasonable price, and then increase pricing as they grow. Honeybook’s new pricing model is a perfect example.
Implementation is another problem. Most CRMs require a dedicated amount of time to set up, which takes time away from your business. If you do not have the time or expertise to set it up, hiring a specialist can cost upwards of $1,500.
So, should your business purchase a CRM?
It depends.
When making tech purchases, a solo business should avoid complexity at all costs. Complexity takes time, effort and money to resolve. When you’re the CEO of everything, you need a system that can practically run itself.
If you’re a team of one, with less than 10 clients, a CRM is not worth it if:
- You’re only using it to automate a few emails.
- You have a simple process for qualifying potential clients.
You would need a CRM if:
- You have a team or you work with 10 or more clients.
- You’re finding it difficult to manually follow up with your prospects and track your leads.
- You have a business with a high level of volume, which is expanding rapidly.
Tips to help solopreneurs choose a CRM
If you do get a CRM, look beyond its features for policies that help you test the platform. So make sure it has:
- A complimentary trial period with no time restrictions, so you can test the platform and see how it fits with your business.
- Unlimited access to all features in the platform without needing to pay more.
- A user-friendly interface and transparent pricing.
- No complex contracts, licenses, or hidden fees.
- Documentation and tutorials to guide you in using the platform.
- Responsive tech support (without additional fees).
- Easy implementation, or if you have the budget, an expert directory of consultants.
- Easy integration with your current systems.
Alternatives to a CRM for a small solo business
- Email marketing platforms can easily tag contacts, send automated sequences, track engagement, and segment audiences. With the right automations, an email marketing system can also handle lead nurturing, follow-ups, and client onboarding.
- A simple spreadsheet can track contact info, customer journeys, follow-up dates, and notes. With filters and conditional formatting, a low volume solo business can easily use Excel or Google Sheets as a flexible and low cost CRM alternative without the overhead of learning new software. Here’s a great example of how Excel works instead of a CRM.
- Airtable combines the simplicity of spreadsheets with the structure of a database. You can manage contacts, link projects, set reminders, and create filtered views for each stage of your client journey. With basic automations and forms, it scales just enough to serve as a nimble CRM for solo businesses. Here’s an example of a basic CRM created in Airtable.
Photo by Liza Summer | Pexels