CRM consulting: the right system for your business
HubSpot, Pipedrive, Brevo or a custom solution: I recommend what fits you, not what pays a commission. And set it up.
The difference: whoever actually became a customer flows back as a signal into your Google Ads campaigns.
New customers get all the attention. Yet a lot of money sits elsewhere
New customers cost you ad budget, every single time. Existing customers have already bought, know you and need no expensive click, just a reason to come back. This is exactly where many small businesses leave money on the table: customer data gathers dust in Excel, after the purchase nobody follows up, and the next order goes to the competitor who does exactly that.
A CRM with a few well-built automations changes that. And here is the nice part: once set up, it costs almost nothing to run.
Email expert Jimmy Kim calculates that 20 to 30 percent of revenue should come from communication with existing customers. Even half of that is revenue without additional ad budget.
Follow-up email, reminder, birthday greeting: automations like these run from day one, without any daily manual work.
Which CRM fits a small business?
Short answer: there is no best CRM, only the right one for your workflows and your budget.
| System | A good fit … | Note |
|---|---|---|
| HubSpot | when you want to start with a free plan and add marketing features later | grows with you, gets expensive fast as you scale up |
| Pipedrive | when your focus is clearly on sales: deals, pipeline, follow-ups | lean, quick to learn |
| Brevo | when you want email marketing and contact management in one tool | EU provider, strong at automations |
| ActiveCampaign | when you need sophisticated email sequences and automations | powerful, takes time to learn |
| Custom solution | when standard tools do too much and fit too little | built lean, tailored exactly to your workflows |
I have worked with all five. Which one I recommend depends on your workflows, not on a partner program: I receive no commission from any vendor.
When no standard tool fits: the lean custom solution
Sometimes a big CRM is overkill: you pay for a hundred features and use five. For cases like that, I build lean custom CRM solutions, tailored exactly to your workflows, from lead intake to follow-up reminders. You pay once for development instead of every month for unused features.
Your CRM and your marketing belong together
Many CRM projects neglect this: the most valuable data for your marketing is created inside the CRM. Which lead became a customer? Which inquiry was a waste of time? This information can flow back into your campaigns, so Google Ads learns to bring more of the good inquiries instead of more of the cheap ones. Add end-to-end tracking from the first click to the closed deal and one report instead of three data silos.
This is where my work differs from pure CRM setup providers: I come from performance marketing and set up your CRM so your advertising data benefits from it.
How a CRM implementation works
Clarify your needs
We go through your workflows: How do inquiries come in, who does what, where do things get lost today?
Choose a system
You get a recommendation with reasoning and honest costs, licenses included. No commission-driven advice.
Set up & migrate data
Setup, import from Excel, Outlook or your old system, connection to website forms and marketing.
Train & hand over
You and your team work with it independently. On request, I then set up the first automations for existing customers.
And data protection?
Customer data is the most sensitive thing you store. When choosing a tool, we therefore also look at server location and the data processing agreement, and for email sequences at clean opt-ins (double opt-in). Thought through from an Austrian perspective, implemented for clients in Austria and Germany.
Frequently asked questions
Which CRM is best for a small business?
There is no universal answer. Sales-driven with pipeline thinking: probably Pipedrive. Email marketing at the center: Brevo or ActiveCampaign. Start free and grow: HubSpot. Very specific workflows: a lean custom solution. The answer is in your workflows, not in a tool comparison.
How much does a CRM implementation cost?
Two items: the running costs of the tool (from free to three figures per month) and a one-time fee for setup including data migration. After the free intro call, I calculate transparently what that means for your case, license costs included.
HubSpot or Pipedrive?
HubSpot if marketing and sales should grow together and you want to start with the free plan. Pipedrive if you mainly want to move deals cleanly through a pipeline and keep things lean. I have set up both in practice.
Can my data be migrated from Excel or Outlook?
Yes, that is the standard case. Contacts, companies and history are cleaned up and imported, duplicates merged. Afterwards you maintain one place instead of three lists.
Is this GDPR compliant?
A CRM is only as compliant as its setup: server location, a data processing agreement and clean opt-ins for emails belong in from the start. I factor this into both selection and setup.
Is it worth it with only a few customers?
Especially then. With 50 customers you still know everyone, but right now the setup effort is small, and every automation (follow-up email, reminder, birthday greeting) runs from day one. Catching up later costs more.
Find out which CRM fits your business
In a free intro call (15 minutes) we go through your workflows. You get a first assessment of which system fits, even if you set it up yourself afterwards.
Book an intro call (15 min)