Ready-Made vs Custom CRM: How a Small Business Should Choose

Most small businesses start with a spreadsheet, then move to a ready-made CRM. At some point the CRM starts to feel like it's in the way. Before you pay for a custom one, it helps to weigh ready-made vs custom CRM: when building your own is the right call, and when it isn't.

What each option means

• A ready-made CRM is a product you rent, usually per user per month. HubSpot, Zoho CRM, Pipedrive and Salesforce are well-known examples. You get a lot on day one, and you shape your process around the tool.
• A custom CRM is software built around your process. You pay to build it and to keep it running, and it belongs to you.
• In between, you keep a ready-made CRM and add a few custom parts: an integration, a form, a report or an automation.

When a ready-made CRM is enough

• Your sales steps are the usual ones: new lead, first call, proposal, won or lost.
• Your team is small, and the monthly price per user is easy to afford.
• You need something working this week.
• The tools you already use, such as email, calendar and accounting, connect to it.

When a custom CRM pays off

• Your process doesn't fit. For example, jobs with stages that only your trade has, price calculations, approvals, site visits, or records that aren't really "contacts" and "deals".
• Your team keeps growing. A ready-made CRM costs more with every user you add. A custom one costs money to build and maintain, but not for each extra person.
• It has to work with your own systems: your website's enquiry form, your POS or stock system, WhatsApp, or a database you already run.
• You need control over the data: where it is stored, who can see what, and what happens to it when you leave a provider.
• You pay for several tools just to work around gaps in one.

Questions to answer before you decide

1. Write down every step from first contact to paid invoice. Which steps doesn't your current tool support?
2. Who will use it, and what does each person need to see and change?
3. Which systems must it exchange data with?
4. What will each option cost over three years? For a ready-made CRM: the monthly price, times your users, times 36. For a custom one: building, hosting and maintenance. Get real quotes for both.
5. Who will look after a custom system once it is built?
6. Can you start small, with the three or four screens your team uses every day, and add to it later?

If you go custom

• Start with the screens your team uses daily, and bring your existing data in on day one.
• Insist on the basics of security: a login for each person, two-step verification, roles that limit what each person can see, and a log of every change.
• Plan backups, and test that a backup can actually be restored.
• Make sure the contract says the code and the data are yours.

Devtings builds custom CRMs and web applications for small and mid-size businesses in the US and the UK. If you aren't sure which way to go, tell us how your sales work and we'll help you decide. See our SaaS and CRM development and custom web development services, or get in touch.