Every time a 40-page CIM lands in your inbox, the clock starts. But the harder problem isn't analyzing one deal, it's keeping context across the 3 to 10 active opportunities you're juggling at once. You forget where a conversation stalled, and a broker follows up before you remember which business they represent.

Spreadsheets hold up until around deal 30, then nothing ties together. Salesforce is powerful but not built for deal flow; you spend weeks customizing objects for a system that still doesn't know what a CIM or an LOI is.

Curious what people here are actually using. Have you made a general CRM work for M&A pipeline tracking, or found something more specialized? How do you keep CIMs, financials, and broker conversations organized across concurrent deals?

Lead fills form, you emails three days later, books a call, demo happens, proposal goes out as a PDF, three weeks of email negotiation, legal reviews a contract in DocuSign, deal closes in the CRM, someone manually creates an invoice in another tool, payment eventually lands.

How long does it take? how many tools do you use? How many things usually fall thriught the cracks? Any data loss between handovers?

We built something that cuts this to one system. Happy to share if anyone is curious.

I built a Notion CRM for small agencies and consultants who want their sales workflow organized without feeling like they're setting up an entire enterprise system.

It keeps Deals, Companies, Contacts, and follow-ups connected, with views for active, won, and lost deals.

If you just want to try the deal side first, I also made the Deal Tracker available separately for free.

Would love to hear what you’d want in a simple CRM setup.

I feel like when prepping for a client call, the useful context is in email, a drive folder, someone's calendar, or in someone's head. The CRM sometimes has the record, not necessarily all of the important information or is linked in the right way.

How are you guys solving this today? I'm thinking about how AI agents can help with data compilation but AI Assistants need a good data model to build from. Are you running into this?

Hi all,

My org is looking for a new CRM that has strong relationship mapping abilities. We are a membership-based, nonpartisan, public-policy/leadership org and our CRM is most used for internal data tracking like meeting attendance, member engagement, and relationships between both individuals and company entities. Any suggestions appreciated!

Hey all, Quick one

I'm Mansoor, focused on CRM & RevOps and I'm looking for work right now. Open to full-time, contract, fractional, or subcontracting for agencies or companies with overflow. Remote, available EST.

What I do: I build and clean up the CRM side of the GTM stack. Pipeline and deal stages that reps actually follow. Clean data so the reporting means something. I'm currently in the CRM & RevOps cohort here, going deep on the strategy side, not just the button-clicking.

My stack: HubSpot, Salesforce, and Attio on the CRM side. Clay, enrichment, and TAM builds for data. Claude Code and n8n for automation and custom builds. Comfortable wiring these together into one system.

Good fit if CRM is a mess, or you're planning to implement one and want it done right the first time.

If you're hiring, know someone who is, or have overflow, DM me or make an intro. Happy to do a free teardown of your CRM/pipeline first so you can see how I think before you commit to anything.

DM and I'll share my portfolio.

I've got a list of accounts where multiple fields need updating and the thought of opening each record individually is already killing me

i know there are bulk edit/import options in most CRMs, but i'm curious what you guys actually use on your side

Is there a workflow or a tool you've found that makes this quick without creating a mess of duplicate or wrong data? because manual updates don't feel very scalable and joyful.

Today as CRM tools become more flexible and teams use them in different ways, wanted to understand if per-seat pricing still makes sense.
Would it make more sense to pay based on the size of your customer database , the number of contacts or leads, the features your team actually uses, the level of support you need or the value the CRM provides to your business?

Email personalization is often just surface-level, like including the recipient’s first name, company name, and maybe even their industry. It helps, but it doesn't necessarily feel genuine because everyone's getting the same basic level of “personalization” across the board now.

AI personalization takes it a bit deeper by evaluating individual behavior and tailoring the email content to align with what each contact really cares about. It monitors things like opened emails, engaged content, visited pages, and buying process stages.

For example, someone might keep visiting your pricing page, but they haven’t requested a demo yet. In this instance, the AI might trigger an email addressing pricing concerns or showcasing ROI data. Another example is if someone downloaded a case study about a specific use case. The next email they receive could reference that specific use case. The AI determines what content to send based on actual behavior, not generic segments.

The key difference between the two boils down to relevance. Instead of generic batch email blasts, you're sending fewer emails that actually align with where each person is in their buyer journey.
However, this does call for a little more complexity and some data requirements.

Most importantly, you need enough behavioral data for the AI to work from. And you’ll need to set up some content variations ready to deploy. If you only have one generic email template for it to work with, the AI won’t be able to personalize much.

It’s crucial to start simple. Use AI to trigger emails based on specific behaviors (like visited pricing, downloaded a resource, or went dark for 30 days), then expand from there as you build more content.

One thing to keep an eye out for is that AI personalization can feel creepy if it's too specific. There's a line between "this is relevant" and "how do they know that about me?"

The best approach balances automation with authenticity, where the AI handles the targeting and timing, but the content still needs to sound human.

How are you approaching email personalization in your CRM?

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]

My team wanna vibe code our own CRM instead of using Zoho CRM , we mainly b2b so we just use CRM lightly for tracking but not like B2c Users.

Is vibe coding it a good idea?

When building a CRM for small agencies and consultants, I wanted each deal to have its own information without losing the connection to the customer.

So I kept Deals, Contacts, and Companies as separate databases, but connected them through relations.

This means one contact can have multiple deals, while each deal can still have its own:

→ Stage

→ Value

→ Follow-up

→ Expected date

→ Status

I found this makes the pipeline much easier to manage without putting everything into one giant database.

I also made the Deal Database available separately for free for anyone who wants to try this part of the workflow on its own.

How do you prefer CRMs to structure this separate databases or everything in one place?

We took over a CRM where nearly every inactive contact had been dumped into the same list.

Some had never received a proper follow-up. Others had already taken a demo and gone quiet. A few had clearly said no. There were also people who had changed jobs and leads still assigned to sales reps who no longer worked there.

Our first thought was to put everyone into one follow-up sequence.

That would have been a mess.

We cleaned the records first, removed bad contacts, and separated the people we had spoken with from the ones who had simply been ignored. We also marked the clear no’s instead of continuing to chase them.

Only after that did automation become useful. Basic reminders could stay inside the CRM, while the stronger leads got more research before anyone contacted them again. Some needed a personal message. Others just needed to be closed and left alone.

The CRM wasn’t really the problem. We didn’t have a clear picture of what had already happened with each person.

How do you separate old opportunities from leads that were never properly worked?

okay i need to vent to people who actually get it because if i have to explain this to leadership one more time im going to lose my absolute sanity. basically our execs are completely obsessed with turning our CRM into this hyper-automated tracking machine. like they want instant dashboards, zero-click pipeline tracking, and automated everything... but they are completely blind to the fact that our data is actual garbage?? like cool love the vision bro, but you cannot automate a process that the Enterprise AEs are actively fighting every single day.

The main thing driving me insane is this myth of frictionless data capture. Mr. leadership thinks if we just automate all email and calendar logging, we'll magically know everything about the pipeline. except lmao nope...our activity timelines are completely drowned in automated out-of-office replies and useless internal calendar invites, so the data is just pure noise. the Enterprise AEs are literally bypassing the broken sync anyway by keeping their actual good notes on their local desktops. it’s so ironic because i spend six hours fixing broken sync integrations and storage limits just to look at automated dashboards that are entirely fabricated. automated telemetry cannot fix broken sales habits, full stop...

And don't even get me started on the workflow bloat... to try and "force" clean data, they made me build these crazy validation loops where every minor pipeline stage requires them to manually type into that mandatory 'Next Steps' text box. now the page layouts look like a literal NASA control tower. and shocker... it totally backfired. the team is annoyed so they just dump placeholder text like "asdasd" into the text box or straight up manipulate close dates to stop the automated Slack alerts from yelling at them. marketing is out here launching sequences using totally stale data, lead routing is breaking because of missing territory tags, and everyone is confused. at this point a clean Google Sheet beats a choked CRM any day of the week.

Is anyone else genuinely losing it trying to build advanced automated workflows for people who still can't update a deal status correctly?? how are y'all pushing back on leadership's crazy expectations without sounding like a hater??

All CRMs have their limitations. I think one way to mitigate these limitations is to develop your own modules or apps that interact with the CRM that cover the gaps.

The interaction can happen using REST APIs either on the CRM side or your own app.

For example, if a user enters a new contact in the CRM, I want something to happen that is specific to my company. For this to happen, the CRM calls an endpoint in my app sending the contact's info in the request.
The CRM therefore needs to have the ability to define a url that is used to make the request to it every time a contact is saved.

Also, this should work in the opposite direction. I want to call an endpoint in the CRM to save a new contact. For example, I entered a contact in Excel and Excel can send this contact information to the CRM to be entered automatically by calling an endpoint in the CRM.

I was wondering if there's an open source CRM that supports these scenarios. A CRM that has a lot of API endpoints.

The goal is not to modify the CRM'ss code to add new features but to have it interact with my own app which has the extra features. This way I am in total control of the new features.

Loved the product and mindset.

Referred many friends to subscribe.

Their integrations got me banned from LinkedIn.

They didn’t take ownership or help resolve it.

The risk and cost of getting banned is too high.

Stay away.

We recently have been trying to link our Hubspot to our Connectwise and PowerBi through the native integration and we are having major issues with deal amounts not coming through?

If you have been experiencing this issue or perhaps know of a solution, please drop it in the comments below.

Over the last few years, I've built websites for businesses across different industries—clinics, agencies, real estate, education, retail, and local service businesses.

One thing became obvious.

Most clients initially ask for "a website."

But after launch, they come back asking for things like:

• CRM to manage leads
• WhatsApp integration
• Appointment booking
• AI chatbot
• Invoice & billing
• Lead tracking
• Email automation
• Analytics dashboard
• Staff management
• Inventory
• Customer follow-ups

At that point, the website becomes only 10–20% of what they actually need.

That's why I'm experimenting with a different approach.

Instead of treating the website as the final product, I'm building it as the front door to a modular business platform where businesses can enable only the features they need.

For example:

• 🦷 Dental clinic → Appointments + Patient CRM + WhatsApp reminders
• 🏡 Real estate → Property CRM + Lead automation + AI follow-ups
• 🏋️ Gym → Membership management + Payments + Attendance
• 🎓 Academy → Student portal + Course management + Notifications

The website stays the same, but the business modules are different.

I'm curious how other developers handle this.

Do you usually stop at the website, or do your clients eventually ask for internal tools and automations too?

I'd love to hear your experience.

We got about 4 stores all luxury retail with expensive than usual products. Got around 400-500 clients who spend monster amount. Then around 10000 who shops once (registered for membership) or sometimes a few.

Whats the best CRM tips you can give me?

If you're unhappy with your CRM and have special requirements, why don't you switch to an open source one and have AI customize it for you? I see people say their CRM doesn't do this or that and they're still spending too much time doing manual work in it.
In this case, customize an open source CRM to address these issues.

Fork the code and maintain it your way.

I know one of the pushbacks is that they don't want to host it themselves or maintain it.
In this case, why don't you hire someone to customize it for you? Let them use AI for that. It will make it a lot cheaper for you and you get the new CRM a lot faster. You test it heavily and if it works to your satisfaction, you tell them to host it somewhere, and you pay them. This is a one time thing.
Then you pay a small hosting monthly or yearly fee to the host. There won't be any per user fees or storage or per X fees. You get all the features for a simple hosting fee and with no limitations.
The hosting company will backup the database for you. Your technical concerns can all be addressed by the hosting type and features. Redundancy, scaling, backups... whatever.

People keep saying you have to maintain it. Once it's running, you don't have to maintain anything.
If an unexpected problem rises, tell the person who did the work to look at it.
If you have a technical person at your company, they can probably fix it.
The person who handed off the new CRM can train you or your technical person.

Every company has its own needs from a CRM, some of which are very specific, and therefore there's no CRM that can do everything you want. Then you will have to create your own CRM or customize an open-source one.