Guides worth reading even if you never sign up
No piece that turns into a sales pitch after two paragraphs. What follows is what we ran into keeping track of our own sales, with sources you can check.
Getting started with a CRM
What is a CRM system?
What the term means, what sits inside one of these systems, when a spreadsheet is still enough, and when it isn't.
About 6 minutes to read
Getting started with a CRM
Getting a CRM going without making it a project
How to start in a week instead of a quarter: begin with what's live, agree one rule, and check after four weeks whether it's still being kept up.
About 7 minutes to read
Choosing and comparing
Spreadsheet or CRM: when is it time to move?
Four signs your spreadsheet has got too small, and three situations where you should stay exactly where you are.
About 6 minutes to read
Choosing and comparing
Choosing a CRM: seven questions that matter
Not which features a package has, but whether you'll still be using it in three months. Seven questions that predict that.
About 7 minutes to read
Choosing and comparing
What does a CRM really cost?
The subscription is rarely the biggest line. Four costs that only show up later, and how to work them out before you sign.
About 6 minutes to read
Sales process
Setting up a sales pipeline that holds up
Stages that describe the customer's steps rather than yours, with a clear point at which a deal is allowed to move on.
About 7 minutes to read
Sales process
What to write down after a call, and what to leave out
Three lines and a next step. Why a full write-up backfires, and what's better left out.
About 5 minutes to read
Sales process
What's a deal worth before it closes?
Why an estimate is good enough, why per-stage probabilities mislead, and which numbers you can actually use.
About 6 minutes to read
Sales process
Learning from the deals you lose
Why "too expensive" is rarely the real answer, the five reasons worth recording, and what ten lost deals tell you.
About 6 minutes to read
Follow-up
Following up without becoming a nuisance
Why most revenue is lost to forgotten follow-up, and what rhythm works for each kind of relationship.
About 6 minutes to read
Follow-up
Tasks you actually finish
Why a task with no date and no owner sits there, and how to keep a list you'll still open in the morning.
About 5 minutes to read
Follow-up
The deal that's stopped moving and nobody noticed
How to see where things have stopped in a quarter of an hour a week, and why that's the only check you really need.
About 5 minutes to read
Follow-up
Your existing customers are your cheapest revenue
Why the quarterly call is always the first thing to go, what to talk about, and how to stop it turning into a sales call.
About 6 minutes to read
Quotes and pricing
A quote that gets approved
What belongs in one, the two parts most often left out, the VAT mistake nearly every new business makes, and why the price shouldn't be on the last page.
About 7 minutes to read
Quotes and pricing
Your quote has gone out. Now what?
When to ring, what to say, how often to repeat it, and when to mark the deal lost.
About 6 minutes to read
Quotes and pricing
Setting your prices as a service business
Work back from what you need before you look at the market. Plus the VAT threshold trap, and what to say when someone tells you you're expensive.
About 7 minutes to read
Quotes and pricing
Payment terms, and what to do when nobody pays
What terms you're allowed to agree, what you're entitled to when payment is late, and a sequence of steps that keeps the relationship intact.
About 7 minutes to read
Winning customers
Where a small business finds its leads
Six sources that work without a budget, in order of what they return. And why you should pick two rather than six.
About 7 minutes to read
Winning customers
Cold outreach without becoming spam
A small sharp list beats a big one. What to say in the first twenty seconds, which register you have to screen against, and how often to come back.
About 7 minutes to read
Winning customers
After the networking event: from card to customer
Why most cards come to nothing, what to send within two days, and how to still know who someone was a year later.
About 5 minutes to read
Winning customers
Asking for a referral without feeling awkward
The awkwardness is in the timing, not the question. When to ask, what to say, and what to do afterwards.
About 5 minutes to read
Working together
Getting your team to actually keep it up
Not with rules or supervision. With one agreement, fewer fields, and something in it for them.
About 6 minutes to read
Working together
Who can do what in your CRM
Four roles that are enough in practice, why read-only is the most useful one, and what to do when someone leaves.
About 5 minutes to read
Working together
From working alone to a sales team
What breaks the moment you're no longer the only one, and the three agreements that catch it.
About 6 minutes to read
Working together
Handing a customer over without them noticing
What has to be in the record, what you hand over in one conversation, and why the customer should hear it from you.
About 5 minutes to read
Your data
Cleaning up your customer list
Duplicates, people who've moved on, and data you're no longer allowed to keep. A two-hour tidy-up.
About 7 minutes to read
Your data
Importing your spreadsheet without bringing the mess
Why you shouldn't move everything, how to prepare the file, and the five mistakes that make an import useless.
About 6 minutes to read
Your data
Getting your data out, and why it matters
What you should be able to export, how to test it before you buy, and why an annual export is sensible even if you're staying.
About 6 minutes to read
Privacy and the law
Customer data and UK GDPR: what you actually have to do
Which rules apply to an ordinary customer list, what you may and may not record, how long you can keep it, and what your customer can ask for.
About 8 minutes to read
Privacy and the law
Can you send that email?
When you may email someone unprompted, why a limited company and a sole trader are treated differently, the exception for existing customers, and what has to be in every message.
About 7 minutes to read
Is a subject missing? Tell us at info@nermio.com. If you want to know what Nermio itself does, that's on the product page.