techone --guide=crm
What a CRM That Actually Runs Your Sales Looks Like
Most companies use their CRM as an address book. They log contacts and deals but cannot see their sales. This guide shows what is possible.
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TL;DR
- Who this is for
- Sales-driven companies, distribution, agencies, services. Companies where the core business is selling and they need to manage it, not just log it.
- The problem
- You have a CRM but cannot see your sales. Pipeline yes, forecast no. Contacts yes, communication history scattered. Reporting? Export to Excel.
- Three layers
- Pipeline (what is in play), activities (who is doing what), reporting (how you are doing). Most companies are missing the second and third.
- The fix
- We set up pipeline, follow-ups and reporting in Pipedrive or Dynamics 365 Sales. We connect Power BI for dashboards.
What you should see when you open your CRM
Your CRM should show pipeline with values, where deals are stuck, rep activity and revenue forecast at a glance. If you cannot see this, you are using it as an address book.
Pipeline with values and stages
How many deals are open and what they are worth. What stage they are in (new contact, proposal sent, negotiation, closing). At a glance, not after an Excel export.
Where deals are stuck
A deal has been sitting in "proposal sent" for 3 weeks and nobody noticed. Your CRM should flag this automatically. Visually, clearly, without clicking through menus.
Who is doing what and whether it works
How many meetings and calls each rep is running. What their conversion rate is. Which activities lead to closed deals and which do not. Data for improvement, not surveillance.
How much revenue to expect next month
Revenue forecast based on pipeline, conversion rate and average deal length. Not a guess, but a number. Even a simple CRM can produce this if someone sets it up.
What are the three layers of a CRM that works?
A working CRM covers three areas: pipeline (what is in play), activities (who is doing what) and reporting (how you are doing). Most companies have the first, the second partially and the third not at all.
Pipeline
Deals, stages, values, owners. Who is responsible for which deal, what stage it is in, when the last contact was. This is the foundation. Without pipeline, nothing else matters. Most CRM tools handle this well.
Activities
How many meetings, calls, emails. Whether the rep followed up or is waiting. Whether follow-ups are scheduled or forgotten. This is where most companies start losing visibility. Data lives in the CRM, in email, in the calendar. Nowhere together.
Reporting
Forecast, conversion rate, average sales cycle length, rep performance. This is what you need for decision-making. Connect Power BI and you get dashboards without switching CRM.
Why do five tools instead of one CRM not work?
Typical scenario: a company has Pipedrive for pipeline. Trello for tasks. Google Drive for documents. After a year they have multiple accounts, multiple databases and nobody knows where the proposals are or who has which follow-ups.
Yet Pipedrive + Microsoft 365 Basic covers all of this: documents on SharePoint, tasks in Planner, email in Outlook, communication via Teams. One environment instead of five, data in Microsoft cloud with enterprise-grade security.
No complete view of the customer
Contact in the CRM, proposals elsewhere, communication in email, notes in someone's head. When a customer calls, you search three systems for what you promised them.
Your colleague does not know what you said
A rep goes on vacation and nobody knows what they were working on. The covering colleague starts from zero because information is scattered.
Reporting takes hours
Want to know how much is in the pipeline? Export, pivot table, manual adjustments. Numbers are outdated before you finish. You decide based on last week data.
New rep starts from zero
A new hire has to learn multiple tools at once. Customer history, open deals and sent proposals are scattered across different systems.
How to tell you have outgrown your current CRM?
Your CRM is no longer enough when
- You cannot see the forecast or pipeline value
- Data lives in more than two systems
- Follow-ups slip through the cracks and nobody notices
- A new rep does not know where things stand from day one
- You need proposals and communication history in one system
- Reporting means manual exports to Excel
Your current CRM is fine when
- You have one salesperson and a simple pipeline
- You do not need reporting beyond individual deals
- Deal volume is stable and you are not adding reps
- All data lives in one system
How does CRM deployment work?
First we understand how you sell. Then we configure the system around your process.
Map your sales process
What does the path from first contact to closed deal look like. How many people sell, to whom, how long a typical deal takes. Without this, a CRM cannot be configured properly.
Choose the system based on your situation
For a smaller team, Pipedrive combined with Microsoft 365 (SharePoint, Planner, Teams). For a company that needs proposals, forecasting and ERP integration, we recommend Dynamics 365 Sales.
Set up pipeline, activities, reporting
Pipeline stages matching your sales process. Automated follow-up reminders. Reporting: forecast, conversion rates, rep performance. Integration with email and calendar.
Train the team and stay available
We run training and set up workflows. We stay available during the first weeks while your team gets up to speed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which CRM system do you recommend?
For a smaller team starting out: Pipedrive + Microsoft 365. Pipeline in Pipedrive, documents on SharePoint, tasks in Planner, communication via Teams. For a company that needs proposals, forecasting and ERP integration: Dynamics 365 Sales. And if you already have Pipedrive and just need better reporting, you do not have to switch. We connect Power BI and pull the data out.
Can you improve reporting without switching CRM?
Yes. Power BI or another BI tool connects on top of any CRM. Dashboards, forecasting, analytics. No data migration needed.
How do you migrate data between CRM systems?
Yes. Contacts, deals, communication history, notes. We have migrated data between various CRM systems.
Do we need CRM or ERP?
If you are a sales-driven company, you need CRM. If you are a manufacturing company, you primarily need ERP. Many companies need both connected. See our From Excel to ERP guide for manufacturing companies.
What does a CRM implementation look like?
We map your sales process, choose the system, set up pipeline, activities and reporting. Training and support in the first weeks. See our portfolio for a reference.
How to integrate CRM with ERP?
Yes. Dynamics 365 Sales and Business Central connect natively. For other combinations, we build integration via API. Your rep sees order statuses and payment history directly in the CRM.
Do we need additional tools alongside CRM?
Pipedrive + Microsoft 365 Basic covers pipeline, documents on SharePoint, tasks in Planner, email in Outlook and communication via Teams. Add Power BI for reporting. One integration instead of five tools. Data in Microsoft cloud with enterprise security, not scattered across a dozen different services.
How long does CRM deployment take?
A simple CRM for a team of 5 takes 2-4 weeks to set up. Dynamics 365 Sales for a larger company is a 1-3 month project. Depends on scope, number of integrations and data migration.
I have a CRM but no reporting. Do I need to switch?
No. Connecting Power BI gives you forecasting, conversion rates and rep performance on top of any CRM. We only recommend switching when pipeline, activities or integration fall short. Reporting can be solved without migration.
Does Pipedrive support Czech language?
Yes. Pipedrive is available in Czech and 20+ other languages. We implement Pipedrive for Czech companies with local currency, language settings and Microsoft 365 integration including SharePoint, Planner and Teams.
Can you add CRM analytics to Dynamics NAV or Business Central?
Yes. We connect Power BI to Dynamics NAV or Business Central for sales dashboards, forecasting and pipeline analytics. If you also need CRM functionality, Dynamics 365 Sales integrates natively with Business Central.
Want to see your sales?
Tell us how you sell today. We will tell you where to start.
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