What is CRM

Where a CRM helps a business

• There are more leads than one manager can keep in their head, and some get lost.
• You need to see what stage each deal is at and who should call whom.
• Management wants numbers: how many requests, how many deals, where they get stuck.

How we use it

Our main job with a CRM is connecting it to the places leads come from. In automation for a small business a lead from a Telegram bot goes through n8n into Bitrix24 and a Google Sheet by itself, and when a deal status changes the manager gets a Telegram message.

Sometimes the bot itself plays the CRM's role: in Tech Poly VPN the bot tracks customers, payments, discounts and reconciliation statements for corporate clients, and the IT help desk tracks staff requests with statuses, deadlines and reports. CRM integrations are under Automation.

Common problems

• Leads entered by hand. A CRM without integrations becomes a second spreadsheet that people forget to fill in.
• Not every channel is connected. If even one lead source bypasses the CRM, the picture is incomplete.
• Managers do not look at the CRM. A messenger alert about a status change works better than hoping someone opens the system.

When you do not need it

If you have a dozen customers handled by one person, a spreadsheet and a bot that writes leads into it are enough. A CRM is needed when deals, and the people working on them, become numerous.