What does a CRM actually do day to day?

A CRM stores every contact, conversation and deal in one searchable record so sales and support teams stop working from disconnected inboxes and spreadsheets. It tracks pipeline stages, fires automated follow-up tasks and reports on conversion rates and revenue by source. The practical payback is faster follow-up, fewer dropped leads and a reliable forecast number that does not live in someone's head.

How much should I budget per user?

Real working tiers run £25 to £90 per user per month once email sync, automation and reporting are included. Free tiers exist but cap contacts, pipelines and integrations. Enterprise plans with forecasting, custom objects and advanced permissions typically start near £120 per user per month on annual contracts with minimum seat counts.

When does a startup actually need a CRM?

Once more than one person is handling deals or you have more than a few hundred active contacts, a CRM pays back quickly through faster follow-up and fewer leads falling through the cracks. Solo founders can run on structured spreadsheets for a while, but most teams move to a CRM within the first year of consistent outbound or inbound activity.

What is the difference between a CRM and marketing automation?

A CRM is the record of contacts, deals and pipeline activity — its job is revenue tracking and sales-team coordination. Marketing automation drives campaign sequences, lead scoring and nurture flows against that data. Many platforms bundle both, but the core CRM function is deal management while marketing automation focuses on top-of-funnel engagement at scale.

How long does implementation take?

Lightweight rollouts for under ten users finish in two to four weeks if your existing data is reasonably clean. Mid-market deployments with custom objects, integrations and historical data migration typically take eight to sixteen weeks. Multi-business-unit enterprise rollouts with complex permissioning and ERP integration can run six to twelve months end to end.

Will it integrate with my existing email and calendar?

Two-way sync with mainstream email and calendar providers is standard across most modern CRMs, including thread logging, shared-inbox support and meeting booking links. Test it against a real rep workflow before committing — sync depth, BCC-drop reliability and shared-inbox handling vary considerably between vendors and are rarely fully demonstrated in a sales demo.

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