Solution
Custom CRM for sales and lead generation
We build a custom CRM when your sales or lead generation works differently from what standard CRMs expect: with address lists from customers, caller teams, appointments for third parties or feedback from your customers. You start with a small core that is in use early on and extend it in short steps. For classic sales with a pipeline and quotes, we honestly recommend a standard CRM.
Who it is for: For companies with telephone prospecting, appointment setting or sales through partners, where several groups work with the same contacts.
Starting point
How the process runs today
Contacts sit in Excel lists, in inboxes and in the heads of individual people. Who called whom and when is in a note, or nowhere. Perhaps a standard CRM was introduced, but the real work carries on next to it, because address batches, appointments for customers or commissions have no place in it.
What it costs
- Contacts are called twice or forgotten, because everyone keeps their own list.
- Appointments are arranged by phone and email, and cancellations and reschedules arrive too late.
- At the end of the month, commissions and billing are pieced together by hand from several lists.
- The standard CRM costs money per user, and the important steps still run in Excel.
Process
What the process looks like afterwards
01
Import contacts
Addresses from Excel, CSV or the old CRM are imported, the columns recognised and duplicates sorted out.
02
Assign
Contacts go to the people responsible as batches or by rules, for example by region, customer or campaign.
03
Call and follow up
Outcome, follow-up date and note are recorded directly in the list, including on a mobile phone on the move.
04
Book the appointment
The appointment goes straight into the right calendar. Cancellations and reschedules come back automatically.
05
Record feedback
Your customers or your field sales team report what came of the appointment: order, order value or reason for cancellation.
06
Report and bill
Overviews show appointments, deals and open follow-ups per person, customer and period, as the basis for commission and invoicing.
When is a standard CRM enough, and when does a custom CRM pay off?
For classic sales, a standard CRM is enough. If you maintain companies and contacts, track opportunities in a pipeline and send quotes, HubSpot, Pipedrive, Salesforce or Microsoft Dynamics 365 give you a proven product. Small businesses often manage their contacts directly in bexio.
A custom CRM pays off when your process departs from this pattern. For example, when you work through your customers' addresses rather than your own, book appointments for third parties, have several groups working with separate data or your customers report outcomes themselves. A standard CRM is then usually run with extra fields, workarounds and Excel lists on the side.
Standard CRM or a solution of your own compared
Standard CRM
- Available immediately, proven and developed further by the vendor
- Strong on pipeline, quotes and email history
- Licence fees per user, every month
- Special processes only with workarounds or costly customisation
- Data usually in the vendor's cloud
Custom CRM
- Reflects your process, including several groups and roles
- Customer portal and billing built into the system
- No licence per user, but project costs and maintenance instead
- New features in short steps
- Data on a server of your choice
Typical building blocks and when you need them
| Building block | What it does | When you need it |
|---|---|---|
| Contacts and companies | one shared database with history, duplicates are detected | always, as the core |
| Call lists and follow-ups | who calls whom today, with outcome and next step | for telephone prospecting and follow-up |
| Appointment booking | appointments straight into the calendar, cancellations and reschedules come back | when an appointment is the goal of the contact |
| Pipeline | opportunities by stage and value | for longer sales cycles |
| Roles and separate areas | each group sees only its own data and its own interface | when callers, customers or partners work in the system |
| Customer portal | customers upload addresses, see appointments and report outcomes | for lead generation on behalf of third parties |
| Reports and billing | appointments, deals and commissions per person and period | as soon as you bill by results |
Having a CRM developed: start small, extend in short steps
2 to 3 weeks
Fixed-price preliminary study
We capture your process, roles, data and integrations. You receive a stage plan and a cost ceiling. Fixed price CHF 4,000 to 9,000.
First stage
Productive core
Login, roles, contact import and the most important list. At Verling CRM, this core was in use three weeks after the contract.
Afterwards
Extension in short steps
Appointment booking, customer portal, reports and interfaces are added one after another. At Verling CRM, there were five extensions in the two weeks after go-live.
Ongoing
Operation and maintenance
Updates, security and smaller adjustments. Plan on 15 to 20 percent of the project cost per year.
Data migration: your contacts come with you
We import Excel and CSV files or an export from your current CRM, map the columns and merge duplicates. Beforehand, we agree together which fields are taken over and what can be dropped.
Data that has grown over the years almost always needs cleaning up: duplicate companies, outdated contact persons, phone numbers in different formats. We plan this work in the preliminary study, because data migration is one of the biggest cost drivers. If new addresses keep coming in, for example from your customers, an import in the portal or an interface takes them over automatically.
What does a custom CRM cost in Switzerland and Liechtenstein?
A CRM for a sales team with contacts, call lists and appointment booking costs CHF 25,000 to 50,000. That corresponds to an internal tool for one department. With a customer portal, several roles and integrations with calendar, email or ERP, plan on up to CHF 80,000. On top of this come hosting and maintenance of 15 to 20 percent of the project cost per year.
Whether this pays off compared with per-user licences depends on the number of users and on how much customisation a standard CRM would need for your process. The price becomes binding with the cost ceiling from the preliminary study.
Integrations
Which systems are connected
We connect calendar and email via Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace. Companies and orders can be passed on to your accounting software or ERP, such as bexio or Abacus, so that the invoice is created there.
- ERP and accounting
- bexio
- Abacus
- Calendar and collaboration
- Microsoft 365
- Google Workspace
Make or buy
Off-the-shelf or custom?
Off-the-shelf software is enough if
- Your sales follow the usual pattern: contact, opportunity, quote, deal.
- Only your own team works in the CRM, without customers or partners.
- Your adjustments can be handled with the product's fields and settings.
Finished products for this case: HubSpot, Pipedrive, Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics 365 are widely used standard CRMs. Small businesses often manage contacts directly in bexio.
Custom is worth it if
- You work through address lists from your customers or book appointments for third parties.
- Several groups such as admin, callers and customers need their own interfaces and separate data.
- Commissions, success fees or billing per appointment should come straight from the CRM.
- Next to the standard CRM, the important steps still run in Excel lists.
Effort
Price range and duration
- Price range
- CHF 25'000 to 80'000
- Duration
- 2 to 6 months
Non-binding estimate, excl. VAT.
What drives the effort
A CRM for one team with contacts, call lists and appointment booking sits at the lower end. A customer portal, additional roles and integrations with ERP or accounting increase the effort. A first core can be productive after a few weeks.
The price becomes binding after the fixed-price discovery phase.
Custom CRM for sales and lead generation
Frequently asked questions
Why not simply use HubSpot, Pipedrive or Salesforce?
For classic sales, that is exactly what we recommend. If your process consists of contact, opportunity, quote and deal, a standard CRM is usually quicker to introduce and cheaper than a solution of your own. A custom CRM only pays off when your process differs from this, for example when you book appointments for third parties, your customers work in the system or you bill per appointment, and the standard CRM only works with workarounds and Excel lists on the side.
Can we take over our contacts from Excel or our old CRM?
Yes. We import Excel and CSV files or an export from your current CRM, map the fields and merge duplicates. How much clean-up is needed is clarified in the preliminary study, because data that has grown over the years almost always contains duplicate companies and outdated contact persons. Ongoing imports, such as address lists from your customers, can be automated.
How dependent do we become on Natter Solutions?
As little as possible, and we make sure of that from day one. Every project is documented and handed over so that it can be operated and developed without us: the repository, architecture description, operations manual and access credentials are in your hands.
Let us talk about your case.
20 minutes are enough to find out whether a custom solution is worth it for you.