What does CRM do?
In a small business, customer information usually lives in people’s heads, on their phones and in a few spreadsheets. While things go well, that’s enough. The trouble starts when a salesperson goes on leave, a quote goes unanswered or two people call the same customer.
A CRM moves that information from individuals to the business. Anyone who opens a customer’s record sees the last call, the quote that was sent, the work that’s waiting and the next step.
The diagram below follows a request that arrives on WhatsApp all the way to a sale. At every step the record has an owner and a next action.
A request comes in on WhatsApp. The message lands on the customer’s record; a new record is created if the customer is new.
The request is assigned to a salesperson. With a named owner, nothing is left unanswered.
A quote is sent. The PDF goes to the customer and the deal moves to the “Quote sent” stage.
A reminder fires. If there is no reply, a follow-up call appears on the salesperson’s screen.
The order is confirmed. The deal moves to won; the invoice and delivery are opened from the same record.
Example: a request turns into an order in five working days, and no step depends on someone’s memory.
What’s in a CRM system?
CRMs have different names and screens, but their core is similar. The screen below shows an enquiry turning into a sale; most CRMs have a board like this at their centre.
A sample screen that runs by itself
Operational, analytical and collaborative CRM
Three terms come up often when people talk about CRM. They aren’t separate programs but three jobs a CRM does; in a good setup, all three work together.
| Criterion | What it does | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Operational CRM | Runs day-to-day sales and support work | Logging enquiries, tasks, quotes, reminders |
| Analytical CRM | Draws conclusions from the data you’ve built up | Which lead source produces the most buyers |
| Collaborative CRM | Lets different departments see the same customer | What sales promised shows up on the service team’s screen |
Small businesses usually start with the operational side. Once a few months of records have built up, the reports start to mean something.
Which reports does a CRM give you?
What matters is not how many reports there are, but which question each one answers. These are the reports a CRM should give you from the start:
| Sick leave | Question it answers | Who looks at it |
|---|---|---|
| Sales funnel | How many deals are at each stage, and where they get stuck | Sales manager |
| Source report | Where most customers come from, and which sources turn into sales | Owner, marketing |
| Quote conversion | How many quotes were accepted, and how long it took on average | Sales team |
| Overdue follow-ups | Whose calls have been forgotten | Each salesperson, for their own list |
| Salesperson performance | Who made how many calls and closed how many sales | Sales manager |
CRM vs Excel
Excel is a flexible tool, and many businesses start tracking customers with it. The difference shows as the number of records and people grows.
| Topic | Excel | CRM |
|---|---|---|
| Working at the same time | The file locks or copies multiply | Everyone sees the same record at the same time |
| Reminder | None; follow-ups live in someone’s memory | Notifications by task and date |
| History | Only as much as a note typed into a cell | Every call and change is logged |
| Permissions | Anyone who can open the file sees everything | Who sees what is set person by person |
| Sick leave | Built by hand | Generated from the records automatically |
Which businesses should use a CRM?
Not every business needs a CRM. For a business that talks to a few customers a week and where one person handles sales, a well-kept spreadsheet is enough. If two or more of the situations below apply to you, it’s time for a CRM.
Larger businesses adopted CRM first. In 2025, 28.5% of EU enterprises with at least 10 employees used CRM software, according to Eurostat. The share rises with size: about one in four small enterprises (10–49 employees) and almost two in three large ones (250 or more).
CRM is still less common than ERP. Just over half of EU enterprises use at least one of the three main types of business software.
To get a rough idea of what unanswered quotes cost you, enter your own numbers:
Calculation: quotes without follow-up × win rate × average value. Some unanswered quotes are still won, so the real loss is a little lower.
CRM in three businesses: service, property, wholesale
What a CRM looks like depends on what the business sells. Three short examples:
What the three examples have in common is the same: the information isn’t on one person’s phone but on a record everyone can see.
How CRM works with WhatsApp and email
In many businesses, customer conversations happen on WhatsApp. When those conversations stay on employees’ personal phones, the customer’s history leaves with the employee.
In a CRM set up with the WhatsApp Business API, messages land on the customer record; the team replies from the same line, using quick replies and template messages. Email is linked to the record in the same way, so every conversation with a customer sits next to their quotes and service tickets. More on the WhatsApp CRM page.
| Date | Channel | Note | Next step |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 Oct | Asked for a boiler service price | Send quote | |
| 12 Oct | Quote Q-218 sent | Call in 3 days | |
| 15 Oct | Phone | Asked about payment terms | Offer 30 days |
| 17 Oct | Accepted the quote | Open order |
Example: conversations from WhatsApp, email and phone sit on one customer record, in date order.
Types of CRM: off-the-shelf, customisable, custom
Off-the-shelf CRMs run in the cloud, charge a monthly fee per user and are designed around a generic sales process. You can start quickly, and if your process is standard, it’s the cheapest route.
Customisable CRMs let you add fields and stages, but deeper changes often need add-ons, consultants or a higher plan.
A custom CRM is set up around the business’s own process. When it’s built on a ready-made core, as at Pirdir, you avoid the time and cost of software written from scratch, and the stages, fields and reports are shaped around your work.
How much does CRM software cost?
The cost of a CRM has three parts:
With off-the-shelf CRMs the first month looks cheap; the total climbs as customisation, add-ons and users grow. That’s why it pays to work out the five-year total. At Pirdir, setup starts at €2,900 and includes two modules, and usage is €24 per user per month. A general breakdown of the costs is in the guide how much does custom software cost.
Well-known CRM systems
Among off-the-shelf CRMs, the best known are Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho CRM, Pipedrive and Microsoft Dynamics 365. They are designed around a generic sales process and charge a monthly fee per user. Accounting and ERP vendors such as Sage and Odoo also offer CRM modules.
When choosing, look less at the brand and more at how well your own sales process fits the software. That’s why the six questions below matter.
