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CRM Setup Checklist for Small Businesses

10 steps to set up your first CRM (customer database) so it actually gets used. This works with any CRM, including free ones.

Pick one CRM and stop shopping. Choose based on what you need this year, not in five years. Our CRM picker quiz and HubSpot vs Zoho vs Pipedrive guide can help.
Write down your sales steps. List the 4 to 6 stages a customer moves through, such as New lead, Quote sent, Won, Lost. These become your pipeline stages.
Decide the fields you'll actually use. Keep it short: name, phone, email, company, job address or service, lead source, and quote amount. Extra fields that no one fills in only add clutter.
Import your existing contacts. Export your phone contacts, email contacts, or spreadsheet to a CSV file. Clean up duplicates first, then import.
Connect your email. Connect Gmail or Outlook so emails with customers are saved on their record automatically.
Add a web form or lead capture. Put the CRM's form on your website contact page so new leads go straight into the pipeline.
Set up users and permissions. Add only the people who need access. Check how many users your plan includes before you invite anyone.
Create 2 or 3 email templates. For example: quote follow-up, thank you, and review request. This saves you time every week.
Set a follow-up rule. Decide how soon every new lead gets a reply and a follow-up task, such as same day and again after 3 days.
Review the pipeline weekly. Spend 15 minutes each week closing out stale deals and checking what's due. A CRM only works if it stays up to date.

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