A custom CRM for teams still selling from a spreadsheet
Customers in a spreadsheet, deals in email threads, reminders on sticky notes. A CRM built on your rules keeps it all on one page per customer, and the whole sales team uses it at once.
Tell me how you sell todayCall me on +39 347 741 5402
Where customers get lost
Whoever remembers updates the customer spreadsheet. The quote sent in March sits in one salesperson's inbox, and while they're on holiday nobody knows where it stands. The call promised for next week is on a sticky note.
Then a customer phones, and whoever picks up has no idea what they were told last time. The people usually do their job well. What's missing is one place to write things down.
What goes in it
We decide by looking at how you sell. It usually holds:
- the customer page, with contacts, notes and the full history of quotes and orders;
- quotes built line by line, with a PDF ready to send;
- reminders to call back and the day's to-do list;
- the stage of every deal, so you can see what's about to close and what has stalled.
The rest comes from your own work: a price list with different prices per customer, renewals to remember every year, Italian e-invoices with their SDI status.
Two CRMs I've built
The Dracartys CRM started with customers, products and quotes and grew to cover sales, stock and orders. Quotes are built line by line, with markup and discount, and the box with estimated cost and margin stays inside the app: it never ends up on the printed page.
The CRM I use for my own business tracks invoices, payments, and hosting and domain renewals. It replaced a spreadsheet with 18 sheets.
How we start
We look together at your customer file, a real quote and a few emails between salespeople. The first analysis is free. We start with the part that costs you the most time or the most customers, and the rest follows in milestones, paid one at a time.
If you're starting from a spreadsheet, see also Your spreadsheet has turned into your business software.
When it isn't worth it
If two of you sell and the spreadsheet works, keep it for now. A CRM makes sense once there are enough people for information to fall between them, or when quotes follow rules a spreadsheet can barely hold together.
Frequently asked questions
Why a custom CRM instead of a subscription one?
If an off-the-shelf CRM does what you need, use it: you start today and it costs less. A custom CRM pays off when you sell by rules those products don't have, like a quote with a price for every variant and a margin that only the office can see.
Can we bring in the customers we already have?
Yes. I write a script that imports them from your spreadsheet or CSV, and it can run again without creating duplicates until the CRM is ready.
Can it connect to our online shop?
Yes, if the platform has an API or exports a file. The Dracartys CRM is connected to WooCommerce, eBay and Vinted.
Does it work outside the office?
Yes, in the phone's browser, and it installs as a PWA. The CRM I use for my own business also has a page for when there is no signal.
Who owns the data and the software?
You do. The CRM runs on your server or on one I set up and look after, and if you ever want to change provider I give you the code and the database.
Read more
- The service: Custom business web apps
- Work of this kind: CRM Dracartys
- Work of this kind: CRM gokalex
- More pages like this: Software for one specific job
Write to me
Tell me in a few lines how many people sell, where you keep customers and deals today, and what slips through most often. If you have a customer spreadsheet, attach it (.xlsx, .csv or inside a ZIP, up to 10 MB): the column headers alone are enough.
- gokalex@gokalex.com
- Phone
- +39 347 741 5402
- Where
- Rovellasca (Como), Italy. With clients further away I work remotely.
- Hours
- Monday to Saturday, 9am to 7pm, Italian timeClients with 24/7 cover can call at any hour, nights and holidays included.