Before you configure anything
- 1Write down how a deal actually moves today, including the messy parts.
- 2Agree the stage names with the people who will use them, not just the manager.
- 3Define exit criteria for each stage in one sentence each.
- 4Decide what a qualified opportunity means, precisely.
- 5Pick the fields you will genuinely use. Cut the rest.
Data preparation
- Export contacts and companies from wherever they live today.
- Deduplicate on email and company name before import, not after.
- Decide which historic records are worth bringing across — usually not all of them.
- Assign an owner to every record. Unowned records are dead on arrival.
- Capture open opportunities with their current stage and value.
Configuration
- Set up pipelines and stages to match the agreed model.
- Adjust field labels and dropdown values to your terminology.
- Create roles and assign the right permissions per person.
- Set the follow-up types your team uses — call, meeting, quote chase, renewal.
Launch week
- 1Run one short session walking through a real deal end to end.
- 2Require a dated next step on every open opportunity.
- 3Turn off the old spreadsheet. Two sources of truth means zero.
- 4Have the manager run the pipeline review from the CRM, not from a slide.
The habits that decide the outcome
A CRM stays accurate when three habits hold: every open opportunity has a dated next step, the weekly review is run from the board, and updates are logged at the time rather than reconstructed on Friday. None of these are features. All of them are decisions.
Thirty-day review
- Are there opportunities with no activity in three weeks?
- Is any stage collecting deals that never leave it?
- Are the fields you insisted on actually filled in?
- Is anyone still keeping a private list on the side, and why?