Small to medium creative businesses, especially in architecture and design, can massively benefit from a solid CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system. The main benefits are boosting client engagement, tracking prospects effectively and streamlining customer facing operations. Picking a CRM that works for you though, can be intimidating. Here’s a brief rundown to help.

Key Considerations

As with most software solutions, there are a large number of over featured products. Quite often, systems are adopted with massive amounts of overreach or excess capacity that will never be taken advantage of by the users or the wider business. For any firm, but especially with a smaller business, it’s essential to understand what the purpose is, what the specific needs are, and what isn’t needed.

Questions to ask before you start should include:

• Do you need marketing and/or customer service features along with the standard CRM? HubSpot for instance offers tiered packages depending on your needs.
• What is the sales process? Map it out thoroughly to see where you need visibility and interaction.
• Who needs access? Most systems have scaling pricing per seat, some charge per active user with no extra charge for view only seats. Think about who really needs to be using the CRM.
• How easy is it to use? Some are incredibly complex (I’m looking at you, Salesforce) and others are simple and visual. Choose one which your team will actually want to use, otherwise it’ll be a white elephant.
• Features: which are must have and which are nice to have? Essentials might include contact management, task reminders and deal tracking. Optionals could include mobile access, marketing automation, advanced reporting. Focus on the must haves and really consider how likely you are to need the optional features.
• What is the growth plan? While this isn’t a huge consideration as most of the systems can be adjusted upwards easily, ensuring that the features that you might need in the future are offered by the system is prudent.

Try Before You Buy

This is essential. Most of the systems offer a free trial period, usually a couple of weeks. It is imperative that you take them up on this before you commit to a contract as many are non refundable and you can almost guarantee that you will find a feature that you need isn’t included after you’ve signed on the dotted line. It’s also much easier to get a feel for whether you’ll gel with a system when you’re using it, it’s very difficult to get any kind of understanding from how they market them on their websites. If you have the time to do so, I’d recommend trying at least two in parallel. It’s a bit more work, but you can get a better understanding of each one’s strengths and weaknesses when they’re side by side.

Who Should I Consider?

There are a few choices which stand out, I’ve listed them below with a brief overview. Notably absent is Salesforce – whilst it is a phenomenal piece of software, it’s totally over the top unless you’re running a huge business with a large sales team. You can, with enough add ons, essentially run your entire business from inside Salesforce. However, it is both complex and expensive and not particularly appropriate here.

1. HubSpot CRM
   Best For: Teams looking for an all in one, scalable platform
   Why It Works: HubSpot’s free CRM comes with essentials like contact management, deal tracking, and email integration – easy to use right from the start. And if your business decides to dive into marketing later, HubSpot has options for email marketing, landing pages, and automation. It’s user-friendly, scalable, and offers a lot of flexibility as your needs grow. Just be aware that the free version is a bit limited and it’s very easy to quickly escalate into an expensive, complex solution. Like Salesforce, you can add multiple elements to essentially run your entire sales, ops and customer service requirements.
   
2. Pipedrive
   Best For: Sales-focused teams that need simplicity and a visual pipeline.
   Why It Works: Pipedrive’s visual, drag and drop pipeline approach feels natural for creative professionals, keeping things straightforward without the usual CRM clutter. For those without a dedicated salesperson, Pipedrive’s intuitive interface makes sales less intimidating, helping track deals without drowning in complexity.
   
3. Zoho CRM
   Best For: Teams needing budget friendly automation and customisation.
   Why It Works: Zoho has come a long way in usability (the user interface used to be absolutely appalling) and now offers features like workflow automation, a customisable dashboard, and integration with other Zoho apps. It’s affordable and loaded with tools, though it does require upfront setup and learning time. 
   
4. Freshsales by Freshworks
   Best For: Teams needing an all inone solution with built-in communication tools.
   Why It Works: Freshsales combines CRM essentials with email and phone integration, plus helpful AI driven lead scoring. Though its third party integration isn’t as broad as others, it’s a good fit for businesses that want to manage communications directly in the CRM.
   
5. Capsule CRM
   Best For: One person bands or small teams with basic CRM needs.
   Why It Works: Capsule is lightweight, affordable, and focuses on basic contact and sales tracking. It’s perfect if you don’t need complex customisation but might feel limited for teams that want to expand features over time.

Top recommendation: Pipedrive

It’s simple and visual, appealing for both admin allergic salespeople and creative teams who want to track their leads without getting bogged down in complex CRM.

Runner up: HubSpot

The free version is excellent if you want to dip your toe in the water. The scalable setup is a bonus, making it easy to expand into email or content marketing whilst remaining in the same ecosystem.

Implementation

Once you’ve tested and settled on a product, it might help to appoint someone within the business to be the lead with CRM. Teams, in my experience, often are reluctant to adopt new software and sometimes the interface can be barrier. Having a go-to person who can handle basic troubleshooting and help to encourage adoption can help massively.