Capture
An enquiry from your website, a form or an email creates the record, without anyone retyping it.
Client data & CRM
Your client data in one place.
Your follow-ups on time.
I help small firms move client information into a CRM, configure useful records and set up follow-up tasks and reports. We agree the data mapping, access and checks before the import, so the system fits how your team works.
By Anne Peire ·
At a glance
- The task
- Keeping client, enquiry and supplier records, and following up on them
- Who it hits
- Any firm where relationships are the pipeline
- What changes
- One CRM, records kept current as the work happens, follow-ups on time
- Proof
- A recruitment agency in London, live since September 2026
The problem
Why the spreadsheet
stops working
It starts well. One sheet, a few columns, everyone knows where it is. Then a column for notes appears, a tab for suppliers, a colour code only one person understands, and a second copy on somebody’s laptop.
The list is updated when there is time, which means it stops being updated in the busy weeks, exactly when enquiries arrive. Knowing when anyone last spoke to a client means searching an inbox. Answering a simple question about the business takes an afternoon.
A spreadsheet can support reminders with extra configuration. If yours relies on manual updates and memory, the missing piece is a maintained process with owners, dates and a shared relationship history.
One shared record, with an owner and a next action.
The change
What it looks like before,
and after
Today, in spreadsheets
- Contacts, enquiries and supplier details in one file, notes somewhere else
- The enquiry list has not been updated for weeks
- Follow-ups depend on someone remembering them
- Counting this quarter’s enquiries means doing it by hand
- Several versions of the same file, none of them certain
- Personal details, and sometimes passwords, in a file anyone can copy
Once it runs in a CRM
- One record per client, enquiry and supplier, with its history attached
- Every new enquiry arrives with a status and a next step
- Follow-up tasks appear at the intervals you choose
- Reports answer your questions from the same data, at any time
- One current version, with access you control
- Passwords moved to a password manager, where they belong
One viewof activity, set against revenue, for a founder-led recruitment agency in London
Recruitment · London
Activity was recorded across spreadsheets, email and notes, and nobody could use it to decide anything. Records now sit in one place, follow-ups come up as a daily list, and the reports answer the founder’s own questions.
Read the case study“I connect every day and look at the to do list that comes up. What really changes my life is no longer going through my emails to follow up, or my notes, or thinking, right, I must chase that one. No more notes scattered everywhere.”
Where automation comes in
A CRM stores the data.
Automation puts it to work.
On its own, a CRM is a tidier spreadsheet. Connected to the rest of the business, it does part of the work for you.
Common candidates
- Importing and cleaning existing spreadsheets
- Enquiry capture from website forms and email
- Follow-up tasks at fixed intervals after each contact
- Status changes when a client goes quiet
- Supplier and partner records, with commission tracked
- A weekly report for the founder
- Alerts on key accounts nobody has contacted for months
- A new client created in your accounting tool when work is won
A practical example
An enquiry arrives. The next step is ready.
A website form or labelled email can become a shared record with an owner, a follow-up date and a reply draft.
- CaptureKeep the enquiry details in one agreed record.
- AssignGive the relationship an owner and a next action.
- PrepareSet the follow-up date and prepare a response draft.
- ReviewThe responsible person checks the context and sends the reply.
Sample clientMarlow StudioStatusNew enquiryNext actionFollow up on 9 OctoberOwnerAnne
In practice
What the CRM project can cover
| Work | What we agree |
|---|---|
| Records and migration | Contacts, enquiries and relevant history, with sample imports and reconciliation checks. |
| Configuration | Fields, shared vocabulary, permissions, owners and useful views. |
| Follow-up | Dated tasks and status changes, with client messages reviewed and sent by a person. |
| Connections and reporting | Supported form, email or accounting connections and reports built from the questions you ask. |
How we get there
Three paid phases.
You decide after each one.
Choosing a CRM before agreeing what a complete record looks like can leave the same problems inside a new tool. The mapping comes first.
Time Leak Audit
I map how the work happens today, estimate the hours that could be recovered and rank the opportunities against your goals. Under two hours of your time.
From £950 · fixed feeProcess Design
A working session with your team, then detailed mapping: the steps, the data, the business rules and the exceptions that decide how the build behaves.
Separately scoped · fixed feeImplementation and handover
I build it in the tools you already use, test it against the agreed scenarios, document it and show your team how to run it without me.
Fixed project price · quoted after Process DesignBefore any of it, a free fifteen-minute conversation. Bring the process as it actually happens, not as it should.
Which CRM should we use?
The one that fits how your business works and what you can afford to run. I compare the options against your own process, the questions you want answered and the tools you already pay for, not against a feature list. Sometimes the right answer is to clean up the CRM you already have.
Will we lose the history in our spreadsheets?
We agree which fields and history to migrate, which notes to archive and how to check the result. The import is tested on a sample, with source copies retained. Your team checks records and totals before accepting the migration; unusual or unmapped data is flagged for a decision.
Will the CRM email our clients on its own?
The system creates tasks, reminders and drafts. An authorised person checks and sends client messages. Your team keeps control of the relationship and of what reaches a client.
What if the team does not use it?
That is the real risk, and it is why the design starts from how the team already works. Recording happens once, as part of doing the job, and the team gets a written guide and a handover. If keeping it current feels like a second job, the design is wrong.
How long does a move take?
It depends on how much data you have and how tidy it is. Your own description of the file is a starting point, not a fact: I count the real rows before promising a date or a price, and that happens during Process Design.
Keep reading
Related
Your business
Where does your client list
live today?
If the honest answer is “in a few places”, that is worth fifteen minutes. No charge, and we will work out whether a CRM is the answer.
15 minutes · No charge
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