For the last few years I’ve bounced between Notion, a spreadsheet, and an abandoned HubSpot instance trying to keep track of my clients. None of it ever stuck, and I think I finally figured out why: every CRM I tried was built for sales teams running leads through a funnel. That’s just not how consulting works.
I don’t have “leads.” I have 15-20 real relationships — clients, prospects, referral sources — that I need deep context on, not pipeline velocity. I think in engagements and retainers, not deals and contacts. And the stuff that actually matters (what the CFO said about budget in the kickoff, what the sponsor’s concern was last quarter) always ends up scattered across email threads and my own memory instead of living anywhere useful.
So I’ve been building Retainer — a CRM built around how consultants actually think:
• Engagement pipeline that matches the real lifecycle: Prospect → Proposal → Active → Retainer → Renewal, instead of generic sales stages
• AI meeting intelligence — synced to your calendar, it turns your notes (and eventually call transcripts) into structured summaries and action items automatically
• Stakeholder mapping — track sponsors, champions, and blockers within an account, not just “contacts”
• Time tracking + invoicing built in, so winning the client and delivering the work don’t live in two disconnected tools
• Relationship Radar — nudges you before a relationship goes cold, tied to things like renewal windows and budget cycles, not just “it’s been 30 days”
Basically the goal is one flow from first conversation to paid invoice, in language that actually matches how consultants talk, instead of forcing “opportunity” and “deal stage” onto something that isn’t a sales pipeline.
It’s pre-launch right now (targeting Q3 2026), and I’m mostly here to sanity-check the idea with people who’ve actually lived the CRM-for-consultants problem:
• What do you currently use to manage client relationships, and where does it break down?
• Is billing/time-tracking something you want in the CRM, or do you prefer keeping that separate?
• Anyone tried Productive or Dex for this and have thoughts?
Not trying to spam the sub with a pitch — genuinely want the feedback before I lock in the MVP scope. Happy to share more details or a waitlist link if anyone’s curious, but mostly just want to hear how y’all are solving this today.