This is a weekly post for you to let out about something which happened this week for you in CRM that mattered: features, client requests that were either great or awful this week, and just generally chat CRM / CRM consulting chatter.

No self promo, just a place to share tales from the front-line of CRM!

Hello, I've applied for a CRM role in the UK as I feel I have some positive transferable skills, but when it comes to revenue and pricing, upselling and cross selling, I'm a little bit lost and hoping to gain some advice or real life experience from customer relationship managers. I'd also welcome information on the day to day tasks, main priorities, any tips, and guidance you might have. I do have a first stage interview, and I'm trying to do some good prep beforehand. Hopefully, I'm posting in the correct community, and I apologise if not!

This is a monthly megathread where you can all clamour for CRM attention without being banned for spamming this forum. Share your CRM, or consultancy service to your hearts content, (just keep your dignity!) The idea here is to keep the rest of r_crm less spammy, so don't be surprised if your regurgitated chatGPT output and link don't ever get approved elsewhere on this sub.

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When replying, please use the following format:

Put [ASK] at the start of your comment if you're asking/looking for something.

... we'll assume the rest are people recommending without being asked :D

As always, please disclose your relation to what you're posting.

Today, two critical flaws were disclosed in PHP, the language behind roughly 70% of websites whose server-side language is known. Attackers can take over a server without ever logging in. Security researchers have estimated more than 22 million exposed instances, and exploitation attempts started before the patch was even released.

Large companies handle days like this with a dedicated security team. They inventory what they run, patch within hours, and watch for signs of compromise.

However with explosion of vibe coded apps and custom built CRMs. Someone ships a tool in a weekend, it works, and everyone was clapping to them. But who is patching the server underneath it tonight? Do they even knows which PHP version it runs?

And this isn’t only a problem if they built their own CRM. If a vendor, an agency, or a consultant runs on a vibe coded system, probably your customers’ names, emails, phone numbers and deal history sit on a server that may never get patched. Attackers anywhere in the world scan for exactly that.

Security and data protection are the least discussed topics in all the AI and vibe-coding hype, and they may be the most important.

Before you trust any platform with your customer data, ask who maintains it after launch. Speed to build nowadays is impressive. Responsibility after you build is what protects your customers.

If you need a CRM that lasts, talk to a CRM expert before you build or buy. A sustainable system comes with proper security, maintenance, and support behind it, not just a fast launch.

Not selling anything and there's no sign up. I'm looking for ideas from people who run files every day. A little different than the typical "CRM" posted here but it is in a similar vein of tracking data.

I work DSCR, fix and flip, new construction and multifamily loans, and I got tired of tracking needs lists, title and insurance orders, rate locks and close dates across a dozen places. So I built my own system, and it now runs a pipeline of 100+ loans.

What it does so far:

- One page per file, from first call to closing

- Paste a lender's conditions email and it becomes a needs list, split into borrower, entity, property, title and insurance

- Follow ups tracked per list (borrower vs title vs insurance), so you know what went out and when

- Title and insurance orders written from what's already on the file

- A flag when a rate lock or close date is five business days out

There's a demo with made-up loans if you want to click around. It gives you your own private copy and resets every night: link in comments.

What I actually want to know:

1. What do you still track by hand, in a spreadsheet, or in your head?

2. What's the thing that slips on your busiest weeks?

3. If you tried the demo, what felt missing or clunky?

Appreciate any thoughts, even "I'd never use this because..."

I've been building a small tool around lead management, and before I take it any further, I want to understand how people actually deal with their leads.

I've noticed that a lot of small businesses and even reps seem to dislike CRMs, but I'm trying to figure out why rather than assuming I know the answer.

For people who manage leads/prospects regularly:

• What's the most annoying part of using your CRM?
• Do you find yourself manually entering/updating a lot of information?
• Do you actually keep your CRM updated, or does it eventually become outdated?
• Do you use the CRM's pipeline/deal stages, or do they not really match how your business works?
• How do you remember what happened during calls/emails and what needs to happen next?
• When you have a bunch of active leads, how do you decide which ones actually need your attention today?
• Is there anything you wish your CRM would just handle automatically?

And if you don't use a CRM, I'm especially interested in hearing why.

I'm not looking for recommendations for another CRM. I'm trying to understand what makes people dislike using them in the first place.

Would love to hear your experiences 🙌

I build custom CRMs and automation systems for small businesses, and the most common situation I walk into is this: the business owner is paying for a CRM, used it properly for 3 weeks, and is now back to WhatsApp and a spreadsheet. The subscription just quietly renews.

After enough of these, my honest take is that the problem usually isn’t the tool. The big CRMs are good software. The problem is fit:

Most CRMs are built around sales pipelines and deal stages. A travel agent, a clinic, a real estate broker, a trading company, they don’t think in deal stages. They think “waiting on visa”, “follow up Tuesday”, “docs pending”. Forcing their actual workflow into pipeline logic is more work than the notebook, so the notebook wins.

80% of features go unused but you pay for 100% of them, per seat, forever.

And the thing that actually makes money, follow ups happening automatically without anyone remembering, usually needs extra setup or add-ons anyway.

So my rule when someone asks: if an off-the-shelf CRM matches how you already work, absolutely buy it, it’s cheaper and battle-tested. Custom only makes sense when your workflow is unusual enough that you’re fighting the tool daily, or when the follow up automation matters more to you than the database part.

Right now I’m building one for a travel agent whose entire business runs on WhatsApp enquiries. His CRM is basically: enquiries auto-captured, trip statuses that match how he actually works, and a “what needs attention today” screen. Nothing else. He uses it daily, which is more than most paid CRM seats can say.

Curious what this community thinks, since most posts here are “which CRM should I pick”. How many of you have seen the bought-but-abandoned pattern? And where do you draw the line between configuring an existing CRM harder vs going custom?

For anyone selling through agencies (ads, media, SaaS resellers, marketplaces): when an agency gets credit or committed funding that's shared across its clients, how do you model it?

We've seen setups where the agency's funding and each client's spend end up as separate, manually linked records, and revenue rollups and remaining-balance tracking break down.

Curious: What CRM are you on (Salesforce, HubSpot, Dynamics, in-house)?

Custom objects, spreadsheets, or a finance system?

What still breaks?

I am writing a HubSpot AEO review and examining its features regarding visibility in AI-generated answers.

There are several features provided by HubSpot that could be used for that task. They include website and content tools which help to publish, CRM data that unites marketing, sales, and service in one place, and reporting to track results. It is important that everything is located within one platform that allows coordinating customer behavior and content. The problem lies in determining how much of the content appears in AI answers and measuring the process. I am also considering how much of it is handled by HubSpot and how much another software should be used.

What features of HubSpot do you find useful when working with AEO? How does its content and reporting compare to other software?

How do you keep track of who you need to get back to? What works for you, and what tends to slip through?

For nearly 5 months, our LinkedIn to CRM extension Ln2CRM has been on prod and is often named as the best value for money among competitors. It is compatible with HubSpot, Pipedrive, Salesforce, Zoho, and now with Capsule.

You can judge it yourself - what you get for $16 monthly (or $13 on the yearly package):

- Saving of profiles (as leads or contacts), companies, creation of deals with 1 tap w/o leaving LinkedIn;

- Auto sync of messages;

- Email enrichment + you can bring your key to make it waterfall;

- On-page CRM presence badge - see if you have a person in CRM or if they changed the job or role, with suggestions and auto-update;

- Ability to see all the history from the CRM and change all the fields;

- Ability to add notes (even voice-to-text), tasks (create and close them);

- AI commenting, messaging (based on the context of CRM history with the person), auto-inserting templates.

- Hyper flexibility - hide features or buttons you don't need, change colors, dark mode

Competitors with a similar feature set cost x2-x4. In case you don't need bulk enrichment or some fancy 'sales signals', give it a try. There is a free tier as well - enough for occasional work with LI.

We don't gatekeep any feature for high-tier packages as well. You have it all on free. The only limits are different.

Here is a website: Ln2crm.com

Chrome store: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/ln2crm-linkedin-crm-integ/nnimflcjinppejejebkpenhcignofhgi

As AI becomes more powerful it feels like human relationships become more and more important

So it’s weird to me that CRMs still feel so shitty? Static ish databases that doesn’t actually move relationships forward?

I’ve wanted to build my own personal CRM for a while and as I’ve started to collect deals just a database isn’t cutting it anymore.

Would love to open a discussion to see what people think the next evolution of a CRM becomes? Whether is professional or personal, it feels like with agents with more context this becomes so much more useful

I know there’s been some automation features, for email etc but I also can’t help to cringe at the purely transactional nature of CRMs and these newer age “network” tools.

My manager says RevOps doesn't need to be technical. Now we're migrating HubSpot to Twenty "with AI." Thoughts?
I work at a small tech company in Toronto, not a big team. According to my manager, my RevOps role doesn't need to be technical. Only strategic.

Some context: he and our resident AI guy want to migrate our CRM from HubSpot to Twenty. Part of it is cost, and I get that. The other part is harder for me to understand. My boss isn't a technical guy, and he's under the impression that AI is a tool that can do everything. That idea is being sold to him by the engineer pushing AI across the company

I'll play devil's advocate and say they might be onto something. But I think there's a level of delusion in believing "you can do everything with AI." They've both been proven wrong before, once by me. That got me into a lot of trouble because it was kind of humiliating for him, but he's relentless.

My stance on AI: we might reach the "everything is possible" phase someday. We're not there yet.

So my read is they want to prove everyone wrong. First it was the website. Fine, the site now lives in code and Claude does everything. A PR to change the whole nav bar, a PR to add a comma, millions of tokens burned. It's faster, it's neater, and honestly I like it. But this is no prompt-and-publish deal. I burn a shitload of tokens fixing simple stuff.
Anyway, now they want to do the same thing with HubSpot and Twenty.

Has anyone here actually done this migration? What broke? Did AI help with data mapping, workflows, or integrations, or did it just create more cleanup?

Or am I the crazy one here?

I’ve been reading this sub for a while and I've noticed a pattern. Someone asks what their CRM actually needs to do, and the best answers almost always land in the same place: make logging a call fast, attach a next step with a date, and show who’s overdue. Everything else is optional.

A thread from earlier today is a good example: it describes a 6-month sales cycle with the whole team living in Google Sheets. Nearly every reply says some version of the same thing: Missing features matter a lot less than deals going quiet in month 4 because nobody remembers what was promised in month 1. And if logging takes longer than typing it into the sheet, people go back to the sheet.

This was my life for about 10 years in sales before I moved into product design. The logging and follow-up cadence just felt like admin, so they didn't get done the way they should. So I built an app where you log a call or meeting and set the next follow-up in the same motion, in under 30 seconds, and it shows you who’s due and who’s slipping. That’s basically it.

It's not a team CRM (so no pipeline, no forecasting, no dashboards, etc.). It's for individuals in relationship-heavy jobs who are buried in follow-ups and don't want a Salesforce. I'm starting with real estate agents.

Mods, if this isn’t allowed, please delete. I'm posting here because this community describes the problem better than anywhere else I've seen. I'd genuinely value feedback from people who've actually rolled out CRMs:

• Where does a follow-up-only tool break down? At what point does someone outgrow it?
• When you've put a CRM in front of reps, what made the logging habit actually stick, or not?

If you want to poke at it: ozzo.work (iOS and web). Any feedback, even blunt, would mean a lot.

Hey there!

Small team from Sweden who build an MCP native CRM from the ground up with highest ambition level to help organisations get off salesforce without disrupting their processes.

I'd love to listen into existing pain points with Salesforce and HubSpot so we can ensure a better product and make the transition as smooth as possible.

Just comments in the thread is valuable, but jumping on a 20 min call to go through it in detail would be fantastic!

Hello, good people!

I'm looking for insights from anyone who has used Monday.com's nonprofit program, particularly its free Pro seats and how well it works in practice.

I'm volunteering with US-based nonprofit organizations that want to improve their operational workflows while keeping costs at zero, protecting personal data, and ensuring the systems are easy to use and maintain.

For one of these organizations, I recommended Monday.com's nonprofit program, which offers eligible nonprofits 10 free Pro seats. The director has now asked me to lead the project, which involves designing a system to manage volunteers, donors, partner organizations, and their follow-ups.

I'm open to alternative solutions if Monday.com isn't the best fit. I also considered HubSpot's free CRM, but its limits of two users and 1,000 contacts may be restrictive, depending on the organization's needs.

My main challenge is that I haven't used Monday.com extensively in a production environment. I've worked with HubSpot, Zoho, and Salesforce, as well as productivity tools such as Asana and ClickUp. My experience with Monday.com is limited to briefly reviewing automation workflows for another company earlier this year.

I'm willing to take on the challenge, but before settling on a platform, I'd like to understand what we're getting into and whether there are better options to recommend.

For those who have used Monday.com's nonprofit program, I'd particularly appreciate your insights on:

* How reliable is the platform in day-to-day use, and what has your experience with customer support been like?

* Are there any significant limitations or unexpected costs despite the free Pro seats?

* How well does it handle contact management, relationships, follow-ups, and basic CRM workflows?

* How easy is it for a small nonprofit team to learn and maintain without dedicated IT support?

* Are there any privacy, permissions, or data-management concerns worth considering?

* Would you recommend it for this use case, or would you choose another platform?

I'm also happy to hear suggestions for other genuinely free or nonprofit-supported solutions that could meet these requirements.

I'd appreciate honest, practical experiences, especially from people who have implemented or maintained these systems for nonprofits. Thank you!

Everything can be written, typed, and automated but then you have underlying dependencies - (see how complicated even one Contact (just like a Rolodex back in the old days) is.

People switch companies all the time, occupy different roles (get promoted and what not, so they are no longer a viable contact, or are slowly making their way to a more trusted decision maker in bigger sales- which is a subtle but important cue for you to tend to that relationship).

If you don't pick up on these things and rely on an external source of truth (newsflash, it's constantly updated and forgotten) then you will not be able to adapt rapidly and flexibly.

When people ask me what a CRM, I can convey that understanding to them as their simple convenient store owner, (one owner remembers all the time that I get sunglasses and nicotine).

The brain is the best CRM and we are so wrapped up in things that we actually reflexively go back to a recorded instance of our info and reports without getting a feel for things

It's actually so basic but nowadays we have a tendency to hoard and follow the money, but the consequence is that we neglect our best and simple relationships in this chase.

Tldr;

Hoarding data is normalized, but the local and global economy is moving incredibly fast and it's so hard to keep up with the meta.

I recommend you all stick to the basics and foundations beforen reaching for your computer or phone to verify things .

Good luck guys, I will stick my to noggin' but by all means I am not just throwing away all my social media/electronics away- that would be kinda stupid.

🧠🧠🧠

I’m planning to build a CRM for a non-tech startup, and I’d love to hear from people who’ve solved similar problems.

Right now, our entire sales process runs on calls and Google Sheets.

Our sales cycle is pretty long, usually around 3–6 months, and most of our customers aren’t active on LinkedIn or other platforms. So traditional CRM features like LinkedIn enrichment aren’t particularly useful to us.

We also have a specific lead qualification process. For example, customers need to meet a minimum unit requirement to qualify for our product. If they don’t meet that requirement, we may offer them an alternative deal.

I’m trying to figure out what features would actually make our sales team’s lives easier rather than building another complicated CRM.

A few things I’m thinking about:
Lead qualification based on our own criteria
Tracking calls, conversations, and follow-ups
Managing deals across a 3–6 month sales cycle
Automating repetitive tasks currently handled in Google Sheets

Making the CRM simple enough for a non-technical sales team

My question: If you’ve built or used a CRM for a traditional, phone-first sales business, what features turned out to be genuinely useful?
What mistakes should I avoid, and what should I prioritize in the MVP?
I’m particularly interested in practical workflows rather than AI features added just for the sake of it.

It’s a pattern that so many teams rolling out a new CRM experience. The kickoff session goes well, people log activity for the first couple of weeks, and then they default back to their spreadsheets and inbox notes. The intention isn’t really to stop using the CRM. Skipping it just becomes a little easier each day.

But the training itself is rarely the problem. Habit is typically what makes a CRM stick. And habits require repetition at the moments people actually get stuck. For example, if by week three a rep has a question that the initial training session never covered, and nobody is around to answer it, the workaround they come up with becomes the new process.

What tends to work is treating the first training session as the start of a longer process instead of just a one-time thing. The longer process should include short check-ins that ask what's annoying teams, ten-minute walk-throughs of one feature when someone needs it, and a manager opening the CRM in pipeline meetings so the data in it matters. Spacing those touches out over a couple of months seems to be far more effective than a longer first session.

The trade-off is that this takes ongoing effort, and in a small team the person responsible is usually already doing two other jobs. Reinforcement is also easy to skip when things look fine on the surface for the first month.

We’d like to know how others handle this. If you've rolled out a CRM to a team, what did you do in weeks two through eight that actually kept people using it? And if you've watched adoption fade, where did you see it start to slip first?

I am a dj who got tried with trying to keep track of events and leads… I decided to make an app myself.

I learned how to code and I wrote the app. It took me years to write It’s not perfect but I am proud of my work.

The app runs on native windows machines only which has the app catering to a select few of users who are old school like me. But idc I made the app for myself and I like to sit at home on my pc when following up with leads.

It integrates with Google Calendar (if I mark a lead as booked it automatically blocks it out on my calendar)

The app was designed to run from a localized database and it also syncs it all to a cloud database.

If you’re a gig worker (dj, photographer, event planner) anyone whose work is based on a service that ends on a certain day. It can probably work well for you.