Bespoke CRM development

A CRM should match the way the business sells. Most are the other way round. The stages are someone else’s, the fields nobody fills are the ones the report needs, and the three features that would change the week sit on the tier above yours.

So the sales team keeps a spreadsheet, marketing keeps a second system, and the two are reconciled by hand before the Monday meeting. Every seat is paid for, including the ones that have not logged in since March.

We build the CRM to the process, in the team’s own words, and we build only what the process needs. The result is lighter than the product you left and does the one thing that product never did: it enforces the rules you already have.

Every build is scoped from your process, so this is what we have built, and a build takes what the first ninety days need.

• Leads as records, so a repeat buyer’s second enquiry counts as a new lead and the person keeps their history
• Pipeline stages in the team’s own vocabulary, with the rules of engagement enforced by the database: time to first contact, neglect, claims and protection windows
• Lists that update themselves, in folders the team can share or keep private
• Forms and website tracking across every site you run, so an enquiry on a microsite reports against the right product
• An email builder and one send policy shared by marketing and sales, so no contact is bombarded by two teams
• Workflows: what happens automatically when a lead arrives and as it changes hands
• Mailbox sync, so one-to-one email from a consultant’s own inbox is logged against the record without anyone lifting a finger
• WhatsApp and calling, logged the same way
• Reports built from one set of metric definitions and run as the viewer, so the leadership dashboard and the consultant’s one-to-one agree
• E-signature for routine documents: terms of business, engagement letters, booking forms
• Roles and permissions held as data, so access is invitation-only and each role sees what it should

In phases. A first module for a small group within weeks, the core next, the sales cutover last, after a parallel run with the old system. Nobody is asked to switch on a Monday morning.

Built on current, well-supported technology, hosted securely and run to GDPR from the first record. Who sees what is set by role and enforced by the system itself. You own the repository and the database from day one. Built to hand over, not to hostage.

No per-seat fees, ever. We maintain it on a retainer, or hand it to your team; either way the roadmap is yours. The second phase is usually cheaper than the first, because the data model is already right.

CityRise, an off-plan property agency in the North of England, came off Salesforce and HubSpot onto one system we built, marketing first and sales last, with the core live three months ahead of target.

Users, integrations, migration and modules, in that order of weight. A replacement for two products at once costs more than a first CRM for a team of five, and should. Tell us which it is.