Excel or CRM
When Excel is enough for a firm and when it needs a CRM
For many small firms Excel or Google Sheets is perfectly adequate for keeping track of clients, and a CRM would add more work than benefit. Below we look at when a spreadsheet remains a perfectly good tool, the eight signs that it is no longer coping, when an off-the-shelf CRM is enough and how to switch without chaos.
At a glance
- Excel is enough if…
- one or two people work with clients, enquiries come in one way and the sale is simple
- You need a CRM when…
- enquiries come from several channels, several people handle them and deadlines get missed
- The middle step
- an off-the-shelf subscription CRM, which for typical sales is often more sensible than going straight to custom development
- Custom CRM price with us
- from €3,000, usually 3–6 weeks, a fixed one-page quote; the code and data belong to you
- What to prepare
- a one-page description of the process, a tidied-up spreadsheet and a list of the fields you actually use
When a spreadsheet really is enough
A spreadsheet is not a crutch to be ashamed of: it is cheap, everyone understands it and it imposes nothing. If most of the points below describe you, you do not need a CRM yet.
- One or two people work with clients, and they always know who changed what in the file.
- There are few enquiries, and they arrive one way, for example only by email.
- The sale is simple (enquiry, proposal, invoice) with no approvals and no handing a client from one person to another.
- You do not need to restrict access: everyone can see everything.
- There is one file, not a scatter of copies like “clients_final_v3.xlsx”, and all deadlines fit in an ordinary calendar.
Eight signs the spreadsheet has stopped coping
One sign is not yet a reason to bring in a CRM. A shared online spreadsheet (Google Sheets, Excel in the browser) also allows several people to work at once and gives access from a phone. But if several points apply and recur every week, the spreadsheet is already taking more than it gives.
- Enquiries arrive from the website, by email, by phone and in messengers, and are copied into the spreadsheet by hand. What is not copied over might as well not have happened.
- Two people edit the same file and overwrite each other’s changes, or copies circulate and nobody knows which is current.
- Nobody can answer confidently the question “who is handling this client?”.
- Deadlines and promises such as “I’ll call back on Tuesday” are kept in someone’s head. The spreadsheet itself will not remind anyone of anything.
- It is unclear where enquiries come from, and so which channels are worth developing.
- The history of communication is scattered across email, WhatsApp and personal phones. If an employee falls ill, nobody knows what they promised clients; if they leave, they take the history with them.
- You have to work from a phone (on a call-out, on site, at the client’s), and filling in a wide spreadsheet on a small screen is torture.
- Not everyone should see everything: a manager only their own clients, a contractor only their own part. A spreadsheet can protect a sheet from editing, but it cannot show each person only their own rows.
The middle step: an off-the-shelf CRM
When a spreadsheet stops coping, the next step is usually not custom development but a ready-made, “off-the-shelf” subscription CRM, for example Raynet, FLOWii or HubSpot. It launches quickly, the standard things (contacts, deals, tasks, reminders, import from Excel) have long been ironed out, and many such systems have a free plan or a trial period.
For typical sales and a small team this is often the most sensible choice. But you will have to adapt your process to the tool, you pay for every user, and the data is kept by the supplier, so check in advance that it can be exported in full. How this compares in money with custom development is covered in a separate article on CRM cost.
Spreadsheet, off-the-shelf CRM and custom CRM compared
| What we compare | Excel / Google Sheets | Off-the-shelf CRM | Custom CRM |
|---|---|---|---|
| How fast you can start | Immediately, the spreadsheet already exists | Quickly, often within a few days | With us 3–6 weeks, a demo every week |
| How you pay | Usually nothing beyond what you already have | Monthly for every user | One-off for development, running costs by agreement, no per-user fee |
| Enquiries from different channels | Manual copying | Website and email usually yes, the rest as far as the system allows | Any, including messengers and your own systems |
| Tasks and reminders | By hand or with scripts | Yes, in a standard form | Yes, by your rules |
| Who sees what | The whole file, at most protected sheets | Roles within the system, sometimes only on higher plans | By your roles, for example “only their own enquiries” |
| Client history | A note in a cell, if anyone left one | In the client record, email can usually be connected | In the client record together with emails and messages |
| Where the data lives | In a file with you or in the cloud | With the service provider | On your server or ours; the code and data belong to you |
| When it fits | 1–2 people, few enquiries, one channel | Typical sales, a small team, you need to start at once | A non-standard process, many channels, a growing team |
When a custom CRM is justified
A system of your own is worth considering when your process does not fit into a ready-made one: you have your own stages, several companies or departments under one roof, enquiries come through Telegram and WhatsApp, you need to connect systems that do not talk to each other, or you do not want to pay more and more per user as the team grows.
A custom CRM with us costs from €3,000, and launch usually takes 3–6 weeks. After a free 30-minute consultation you get a fixed one-page quote; the code and data belong to you. If off-the-shelf suits you better, we will say so.
And if the only problem is copying enquiries by hand, automation from €400 (usually 1–3 weeks) is sometimes enough: a form on the website writes the enquiry into the spreadsheet by itself and sends a notification to Telegram or by email.
How to move from Excel without chaos
The order is the same for an off-the-shelf system and a custom one. In our custom CRM, data migration and team training are part of the project.
- Describe the process on one page: how an enquiry travels from the first message to a paid invoice, who is responsible for each step and where things get lost now. This becomes the deal stages in the CRM.
- Tidy the spreadsheet: merge duplicates, put phone numbers and emails into one format, split overloaded cells into columns and delete contacts you do not need.
- Decide which fields you need: what is mandatory in a client record and which columns nobody reads. Every unnecessary field is work for whoever fills it in.
- Move the history: active clients and open deals first, then the archive. Old notes can stay as a single entry in the record, without being split across fields.
- Train the team on live enquiries, not on a presentation. Appoint a person who answers questions and introduce a rule: what is not in the CRM did not happen.
- Agree a short parallel period, for example two weeks: the spreadsheet stays for reference, but new enquiries and changes go only into the CRM. Then lock the spreadsheet for editing. Keeping records in two places at once is exactly the chaos you want to avoid.
Questions and answers
Is Excel or Google Sheets enough for a small firm?
Often yes: if one or two people work with clients, enquiries arrive one way and the sale is simple, a spreadsheet is cheap and perfectly workable. A CRM becomes necessary when enquiries get lost between channels and deadlines are kept in people’s heads.
How is a CRM different from a spreadsheet?
A spreadsheet stores data, while a CRM organises work: every enquiry has an owner and a status, the system reminds you of deadlines, the history of communication is gathered in the client record, and everyone sees only what they are meant to.
At how many employees do you need a CRM?
There is no exact threshold. More important than the number of people is how many channels the enquiries come from, whether several colleagues work with the same client and whether deadlines get missed. Two people with enquiries from four channels may need a CRM, while a bigger team with one channel may get by with a spreadsheet.
Where to start: an off-the-shelf CRM or straight to custom development?
With typical sales and a small team, most often with off-the-shelf. Going straight to custom makes sense if you already know you will not fit into a ready-made system: a non-standard process, many channels including messengers, or a link to your own systems. We compare the costs of both paths in a separate article on CRM cost.
How long does it take to move from Excel to a CRM?
The import itself is usually quick; most of the time goes on tidying the spreadsheet and agreeing the fields, with off-the-shelf and custom alike. A custom CRM with us costs from €3,000 and we usually launch it in 3–6 weeks; data migration is part of the project, and its scope depends on how tidy the spreadsheet is.
Articles and guides
Other services
Updated: 2026-11-06
Tell us what you want to fix or build
The free discovery call takes 30 minutes. We reply within one working day and send a fixed quote on a single page.