A Simple CRM for Small Business That Reminds You Who to Call Back

HubSpot and Salesforce are big, capable platforms. They're built for businesses with sales teams, marketing departments and someone whose job includes looking after the CRM. If you've got twenty salespeople, complex reporting needs or an admin who loves configuring workflows, they're a sensible choice.

For a business of two to ten people, they can be more than you need. The common story is a free account set up in a burst of enthusiasm, half the fields filled in, and everyone drifting back to email within a month. Not because the software is bad. Because nobody had time to set it up for how the business works.

That gap is where we fit. We do the setup with you, keep it small, and wire your enquiries in so the CRM fills itself.

A tradie's leads come from everywhere: a call you couldn't answer from the roof, a text with a photo of a cracked tile, a form on the website, a builder who emails about next month. The CRM pulls those into one list by customer.

The bit that pays for itself is quote follow-up. You send twelve quotes, hear back on five, and the other seven just fade. A reminder three days later to check in wins a few of those back. The CRM sits in front of your job management app (ServiceM8, Tradify or similar) and works alongside it; scheduling and invoicing stay where they are.

Tax time from July to October is when new-client enquiries pile up, right when the whole team is buried in returns. Someone asks about a sole trader return, someone else about setting up a company, and a third person wants a quote for monthly bookkeeping. Those emails get starred and forgotten.

The CRM tracks each enquiry from first contact to engagement letter, so a partner can see what's waiting without asking around. It works alongside your practice management software and Xero or MYOB; it doesn't replace them and doesn't touch client files. It never gives tax advice. It just makes sure nobody waits a fortnight for a reply.

Brokers already have aggregator software for lodging and tracking loans. What tends to fall through is the front end: the referral from an agent, the weekend enquiry about borrowing power, the past client whose fixed rate is about to roll off.

Our CRM handles that front end. It captures each enquiry, records where it came from (so you know which referrers send good leads), and reminds you of follow-ups. It works alongside your aggregator tools rather than connecting to them, and it never talks rates or gives credit advice. That stays with you.

Kylie manages the office for a family-run air conditioning business in Mount Gravatt. Enquiries came in by phone, email, Facebook and a web form, and she kept them on a clipboard by the kettle. Come the first heatwave in November, the clipboard ran to four pages and she couldn't tell who'd been quoted.

With everything flowing into one CRM, she'd start each morning with a list: new enquiries, quotes sent but not answered, and installs to confirm. Her boss could check it from the van. The clipboard goes back to holding the lunch order.