CRM Excel: Is it Productive or Should you Switch Over to a Lead Management Software?

The concept of CRM Excel has been around for a long time now and there’s no denying that this popular spreadsheet software makes it much easier for people to manage all sorts of data. In most cases, Excel as a CRM alternative is the go-to tool for many small business owners who are just getting started and have limited resources. The software offers basic functions for entering and tracking prospect data, creating charts and graphs, and using formulas to perform quick calculations.

However, as your business grows, you may find yourself needing additional features and more advanced functionalities. For all of its benefits, CRM Excel offers, solely relying on it definitely has some limitations. That’s why small business owners should consider adopting customized, specialized software instead. A software that shall offer far more features and functionalities than CRM Excel possibly could, allowing you to streamline your daily tasks, work more productively, and keep all of your information organized in one place and is easy to access.

Because there will come a point where CRM Excel will no longer be good enough for your organization that is growing, take this as a sign and move to a better software today.

Limitations of CRM Excel for Lead Management

Yes, we agree that Excel is indeed a great tool and offers a number of advantages for anyone who is starting out their business or runs a small business. It is definitely easy to use the software, anyone can get a quick grasp of how it works in a short span of time as there isn't a steep learning curve for mastering the basics. And because it is easy to use, most people are familiar with it, either because of work or because they learned it in school or college. Last but not the least, all data is stored in one single spreadsheet so everyone knows where to find it.

However, it's not long before you run into its limitations for lead management. That is because it is not specialized for sales. Certain actions that are important to salespeople aren’t included in Excel. Furthermore, it’s not centralized to your business or sales process.

Other Challenges

• Lot of Manual Data Entry

CRM Excel can be used for a lot of tasks, but sales representatives will have to do these tasks manually: all data you want to store in a spreadsheet has to be entered by sales representatives manually. This can become time-consuming when customer data that needs to be entered increases exponentially. Daily manual data entry tasks could take away sales representative's important time, drain their energy, and open doors to human errors.

• Loss of Time for Salespeople

Managing prospects and leads in CRM Excel is not the only thing that costs sales representatives time. There are many more things that follow: creating data visualization graphs, sales reporting and analysis, creating invoices separately for each customer. These only add to the frustration of a salesperson, which again results in confusion and errors.

• No Real-Time Collaboration on Accounts

If you’re managing multiple leads amongst multiple sales representatives, brace yourself because there almost or no room for real-time collaboration. Of course, you can share Excel files, but real-time collaboration? Excel doesn't allow multiple users to work in the same spreadsheet at the same time. One might argue, oh but Google Sheets does. Yes, Google Sheets does but it has fewer features and loads slower when the file becomes heavy. If you’re a salesperson who needs to enter data on Excel, you’d have to wait for your turn to come till the other sales representative is done. It's just not practical.

• Lack of Scalability & Vision

As your company grows and customers increase, the idea of CRM Excel soon becomes insufficient. For example, Excel won't tell you anything about the upsell opportunities for a certain customer, or when you should give him a follow-up call, this means you would be missing out on such opportunities. Also, we need not remind that sales representatives need to juggle several leads at once, and having a notification system to remind them of meetings and calls is vital. It's easy for reps to add their leads to Excel, only to lose sight of them once other meetings and tasks take precedence while they’re spending more time trying to set notifications.

You Don’t Need a CRM

Many companies make the mistake of moving from Excel straight to Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software.

While CRM software can definitely manage leads and do more, it’s not specialized for salespeople just like Excel isn’t. Moving to CRM is a bit like running before you can walk. A CRM software is much more advanced and is an all-in-one solution for companies that have many verticals. What small businesses need is a middle ground between CRM software and Excel. The objective of a small business is to grow revenue and expand its customer base. A CRM software as the name suggests is better designed to maintain good relationships with the customers, rather than acquire new ones.

Switching to Standard CRM could be Overwhelming for SMBs

Salespeople don’t enjoy using CRM software because it requires them to enter extensive amounts of data about the lead or customer. If you go with a CRM, don’t be surprised to see your reps returning to Excel, as they think it's easier and much more practical.

Instead, when moving from Excel to manage your leads, it is important that you switch to software that centers around simplicity. Don’t impose your sale reps with something that is complicated, this is the reason why salespeople don’t enjoy using CRM software in the first place

Lead Management Software as CRM Excel Replacement

Like we mentioned before, Excel has many advantages, but its inability to multitask and integrate with other apps can dissuade salespeople easily. We live in a plug-and-play culture where several software solutions seamlessly integrate with each other.

Once your company has reached a stage of consistent growth, it's going to need a system designed specifically for sales. Not something that is generic and only works when you’re starting out your new business.

Startups and SMBs are better off turning to lead management software. It is designed keeping salespeople in mind, therefore they would feel more encouraged to use it. The reason: because it keeps things simple and always focuses on the next step.

SMBs and Startups are Better Off Switching to a Lead Management Software

As a salesperson, you need to know the next step, which is why it’s essential to have a tool that easily manages several prospects at the same time. This allows both sales managers and sales representatives to have clear visibility over what action needs to be taken. The chances of missing out an important lead significantly reduce.

The majority of lead management software is now SaaS (software as a service), which means it's easily accessible, and sales teams and managers have access to the whole pipeline. You may think such a solution must be expensive. No, you need not pay for a yearly subscription upfront there is always the option to pay monthly.

propipelines.com also features a mobile app so data can be accessed from everywhere, which is necessary due to the importance of reps spending time in the field. Sales representatives can literally respond and communicate personally with leads on the go.

The best way to tell if our lead management software is the perfect fit for your company is by trying the service. Pro Pipe Lines offers a free trial for 15 days. It is enough time to get a feel and implement the service into your set up. Oh, and it seamlessly imports all those original leads you were working on in Excel.

Why not start with a trial and see what you’ve been missing?

CRM Excel Lead Management Software CRM Excel