If you are in a services business (an agency owner, a consultant or a freelancer) you know the value of having a thriving professional network – it grows your referrals & revenues. However, chances are that you are struggling with managing and growing that network.
Finding the right Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution can transform your small business from scattered contacts and missed opportunities to being a well-oiled relationship-building machine.
Customer Relationship Management tools are used to manage interactions with customers, prospects and potential referrers. This is key in helping small teams automate processes and communication.
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll walk you through what a CRM is, why you might need one and everything you need to know about choosing the best CRM for your business in 2025.
What is Regards CRM?
A CRM is a “Customer Relationship Management” system. But forget the jargon
A CRM is a tool that helps you organize, track and nurture every professional relationship. Think of it as a sophisticated digital rolodex that does far more than just store names and numbers – it remembers every interaction, schedules follow-ups and nudges you to build better relationships.
That’s what a CRM database is for your wider network and prospects. But a Customer Relationship Management software can also automate your sales process for you. It starts by managing all your customer data in a centralized resource. This allows for easy, automated communication and engagement across the customer lifecycle – from someone having an query to closing the deal. It also makes it easier for teams to collaborate.
That’s why, for small businesses, agencies, and individual professionals, a CRM isn’t just about “contact management” – it is a virtual assistant that helps you:
Centralize Contact Information
Store all details about your connections in one accessible place.
Track Interactions
Keep a record of every call, email, meeting, or casual chat, with a focus on managing interactions efficiently.
Automate Follow-ups
Setting reminders and automating follow-ups so that no promising connection slips through the cracks.
Streamline Business Processes
Improve and automate business processes such as sales, marketing, and customer support for greater efficiency.
Personalize Communication
Tailor your outreach based on their interests and your shared history.
Identify Opportunities
Spot potential collaborations, referrals, or new business ventures.
Manage Your Pipeline
Tracking deals and opportunities from first contact to close Crucially, for businesses that rely on networking, a CRM for teams transforms a scattered collection of contacts into a structured, actionable network designed for relationship building and referral generation. CRM tools also support mapping the customer journey and building strong customer relations at every stage.
CRM Examples in Action
- A real estate agent tracking potential customers along with property matches and engaging with existing customers
- A tax advisor attending a conference to build their professional network and using CRM tools to capture leads from new customers met at the event
- A consultant managing relationships with past or existing customers for referral or repeat opportunities
- A small agency keeping detailed notes on prospect conversations and preferences, using the CRM system to identify and nurture new contacts
10 Key Customer Relationship Management Terms Every Business Owner Should Know
1. CRM Database
Improve and automate business processes such as sales, marketing, and customer support for greater efficiency.
2. Contact Record
A record of all the information about the contact including where/ how you met, notes you’ve made, public news
3. Lead
A potential customer or business contact who has shown interest in your services.
4. Pipeline
The visual representation of your sales process, showing deals at different stages.
5. Contact Enrichment
The process of automatically gathering additional information about your contacts from public sources.
6. Workflow Automation
Automated sequences of tasks triggered by specific actions or time intervals.
7. Touch Points
All the various ways you interact with contacts (email, phone, social media, in-person meetings).
8. Deal Stage
Mapping a potential deal from introduction to closure across several defined stages (scoping, proposal, budget approval etc)
9. Customer Lifecycle
The stages a customer goes through in their relationship with your business, from initial contact to post-sale follow-up, all tracked and managed within your CRM.
10. Marketing Automation
Automating outreach via newsletters, targeted messages, and promotional content managed and distributed through CRM systems to support customer engagement.
When and Why Do Small Teams Need a CRM?
Many small businesses start with spreadsheets and their phone or even just memory but as your network grows, so do the challenges.
Here are 5 clear signs it’s time to invest in a CRM:
1. You’re meeting people but forget to or are slow at following up with them
When you are introduced to someone new, the sooner you reach out to them, the more likely they’ll remember you. If you find yourself forgetting or delaying follow-ups to new contacts from networking events, conferences, or casual business meetings, a CRM becomes essential. These tools help you organize contacts, save reminders, automate reach outs and ensure you never miss a follow-up.
2. You’re forgetting context on someone you wanted to speak to
Remembering the details of every conversation, who introduced whom, or their recent professional milestones becomes impossible. This makes personalized follow-ups a guessing game. A CRM will help you save essential details and notes from your conversations. It can also enrich the contact by adding public information.
3. Your Network is Your Net Worth
For professionals who rely heavily on referrals and word-of-mouth marketing – such as consultants, agencies, real estate agents, and service providers – maintaining strong relationships is crucial for business growth. When your contact list grows beyond what you can mentally track, a CRM helps you stay organized and proactive.
4. You’re spending a LOT of time using Spreadsheets or multiple tools
Manually tracking who to reach out to, when, and with what message consumes valuable time. If you’re currently managing contacts in Excel, Google Sheets, or juggling between your phone’s contact app, email signatures, and your notebook - you are ready for a unified CRM solution to help you.
5. Your Team is Growing
When you have multiple team members who need access to the same contact information and interaction history, a shared CRM becomes necessary for
coordination and consistency.
CRM is not just for large scale businesses - small businesses also rely on CRM as they scale and require more robust management of customer relationships.
Summary Insights: You need a CRM if
- Leads fall through the cracks
- You forget to follow up
- A team member leaves and you lose their relationships/ contacts
That’s when a CRM tool is handy — especially ones designed for small teams, like Regards.
The Benefits of Customer Relationship Management Software for Small Businesses
Single place to view all your data
A real estate agent tracking potential customers along with property matches and engaging with existing customers
Help stay top of mind with your network
Personalized conversation starters to reach out to more people and keep them engaged so that they think of you when referring people for your service.
Ensuring you own your contacts
Too often your hard-earned network and relationships are lost when someone from your team leaves and takes their relationships with them. A CRM can ensure you have all the contacts and information to avoid this.
Save time and effort on repetitive communications
With automated workflows and templates for on-going communication from responding to an enquiry, sharing a quotation and closing the deal.
Makes sure no lead goes cold
With reminders and prompts, a CRM can help you make sure nothing is slipping through the cracks and that you’re reaching out to all your prospects
Clear view of your revenue pipeline
With reminders and prompts, a CRM can help you make sure nothing is slipping through the cracks and that you’re reaching out to all your prospects
Insights to improve your sales process
With sales and deal analytics that can help you answer questions like “how long does it take for an enquiry to turn into revenue?”, “at what stage do deals fall through the most?” etc
Types of CRMs for Different Business Needs
Sales-focused CRMs (pipeline tracking, deals)
- Best for: Businesses with defined sales processes and transactional relationships
- Examples: Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive
- Focus: Lead conversion, deal tracking, sales forecasting, and managing the entire sales pipeline from lead to close.
Sales-focused CRMs improve sales productivity. They help identify and track sales opportunities through the sales process. This ensures that no potential lead is missed and increases conversion rates. Additionally, they automate repetitive tasks and providing real-time insights into sales activities.
Relationship-focused CRMs (great for solopreneurs and service providers)
- Best for: Businesses and professionals who rely on networking, word of mouth and long-term relationships. This can include professionals like real estate agents, insurance brokers, financial advisors, tax advisors, consultants, marketing agencies, IT services and more.
- Examples: Regards, Nimble, Folk
- Focus: Contact enrichment, relationship maintenance, networking intelligence, enhancing customer relationships, and building customer loyalty through personalized communication and customer engagement.
These CRMs play a crucial role in building strong customer relations by helping teams track interactions and understand the customer journey.
All-in-One Business Platforms
- Best for: Small businesses wanting integrated marketing, sales, and service tools
- Examples: HubSpot, Zoho, Monday
- Focus: Comprehensive business management, integrating marketing, sales, and customer functions, and supporting CRM marketing strategies
These platforms streamline both sales and marketing processes, making it easier to manage and automate marketing campaigns, sales, and customer interactions.
The Future of CRM: AI & automation trends shaping CRMs in 2025
In 2025, companies are looking for targeted AI use cases that can make CRMs even easier and more effective to use, while increasing customer satisfaction and sales.
Key Trends Shaping CRM in 2025:
1. AI-Powered Relationship Intelligence
AI can suggest optimal times for outreach, predict relationship strength, and identify at-risk relationships.
2. Conversation Intelligence
Advanced systems analyze communication patterns to suggest personalized conversation starters and relationship-building opportunities.
3. Automated Data Enrichment
Modern CRMs automatically gather and update contact information from multiple sources, reducing manual data entry.
4. Mobile-First Design
CRMs will prioritize smarter automation, enhanced data security, omnichannel communication, and more accessible solutions for businesses of all sizes.
5. Customer Success through 360-Degree View
AI-powered CRMs enhance customer success by providing a 360-degree view of each customer. Proactive engagement helps teams build loyalty throughout the customer lifecycle.
CRM Data and Analytics: Turning Insights into Action
Another key CRM trend shaping the industry in 2025 is in the use of data and analytics. The ability to turn raw customer data into deep insights for you is one of the most powerful aspects of modern customer relationship management.
Your CRM database captures every customer interaction—emails, phone calls, purchases, support requests, and even social media engagement—creating a rich database of customer information. With AI, CRMs can now intelligently analyze customer data to gain insights into customer behavior, preferences, and trends. All of this can be an input into improving your marketing strategies and how you grow your business.
For example, you can identify which messages get the best response or which marketing campaigns generate the most leads. Your CRM could tell you that a prospect is likelier to convert if you send them technical marketing material or whether they prefer texts to calls. This level of insight allows you to communicate better and build customer loyalty over time.
CRM analytics can also provide real-time visibility into your sales pipeline, customer satisfaction scores, and overall business performance. With dashboards and reports, you can monitor key metrics, track the effectiveness of your sales and marketing teams, and quickly spot opportunities for improvement.
The trick is not what it CAN do but how you ask the right questions and leverage the resources at hand.
Summary: Examples of questions that your CRM should answer for you
- How long does it take on average for a lead to convert to revenue
- Average deal size and how that has been changing over time
- Which deal stage do customers typically drop off in
- Which communications get better responses from customers
- What is the likely revenue for next month based on past performance
- Which sales person is more responsive or able to close the most
Key CRM Features for Small Teams trying to grow via networking
Small businesses don’t need enterprise bloat or complicated systems that take days to learn — they need smart & easy systems. We’ve identified the must-have features of relationship building CRMs to support your growth.
AI powered CRMs make it even easier to stay updated, personalize your communication and help you own the relationship.
| Additional benefits of AI based CRMs | Every CRM should have | |
|---|---|---|
| Simple contact management software | CRM database with all your contacts in one place | CRM database with all your contacts in one place |
| Contact Enrichment | Let you add notes and information | Automatically gather information from LinkedIn, company websites and public databases to tell you more |
| Automated follow-ups | You can set the cadence and reminders to ensure no relationship goes cold | Use AI for personalized conversation starters and timely reach outs based on recent news or shared interests – like, “thought you’d enjoy this article |
| Shared notes with team | Ability for the team to share notes and context | Advanced analytics, predictive insights and administrative controls |
Other things to look for include:
- Mobile access: For professionals constantly on the go, especially those attending offline events or trade conferences, a powerful mobile app is non-negotiable. The ability to scan a business card, add a contact, and enrich their profile on the spot is invaluable. This is why you need a best mobile CRM
- Easy Integration with tools you already use – email platforms, calendar applications, social media, and industry-specific software.
- Easy data import/ export: Moving contacts from your phone, LinkedIn, or old systems should be straightforward and secure.
How to select the Best CRM for Your Business
1. Define Your Core Goal
Are you primarily tracking sales leads, or are you focused on building and nurturing a network for referrals and long-term relationships? Your answer will dictate the feature set you prioritize.
If you’re looking for a CRM to manage your sales process & leads to conversion funnel, you absolutely need the following features:
- Centralized Contact Management: Easy to store, organize, and access all customer data in one place, supporting your sales team and customer service representatives.
- Sales Pipeline Management: Look for tools that help you visualize and manage your entire sales cycle
- Customer Service Processes: Support your customer service teams with features for managing support tickets, tracking customer interactions, and ensuring top notch customer service.
- Sales Force Automation: Automate repetitive tasks like follow-ups, reminders, and data entry to free up your sales reps
- Marketing Automation Integration: Tools that allow your marketing team to run targeted campaigns, measure campaign effectiveness, nurture leads, and track results across multiple channels.
If you are looking for a CRM to grow your customer relationships and expand your referrals network, you should look for:
- Easy contact import and management: Ability to add contacts from multiple different sources – scan business cards, add contacts from Gmail, Outlook, your contacts book, Linkedin etc
- AI contact enrichment: Easy research and context building on your contacts
- AI relationship intelligence and conversation starters: Personalized conversation triggers to deepen your relationship and take the mental load away from you
- Workflow automation: For automated follow-ups, reminders and easy reach outs
2. Prioritize Ease of Use
For small teams without dedicated IT support, an intuitive interface and minimal training curve are essential. If it's too complex, it won't be adopted.
3. Evaluate Mobile Functionality
you're frequently out at events or meeting new people, a robust, user-friendly mobile app is crucial for on-the-go contact management and enrichment. This is key for best CRM software.
4. Assess AI & Automation Capabilities
Look for features that genuinely save you time and provide actionable insights, such as automated contact enrichment and AI-driven conversation prompts.
5. Consider Scalability
Can the CRM grow with your network? Will it handle thousands of contacts as your business expands?
6. Team sharing capability
Do you need to solve for multiple team members? Make sure you have visibility into your team’s contact book and relationships
7. Review Integration Options
Ensure it plays nicely with your existing email, calendar, and communication tools.
8. Look for Excellent Support
When you inevitably have questions, responsive customer support can make all the difference.
Summary: What to Look for in a CRM
- Easy to use features
- Mobile-friendly design
- Transparent pricing
- AI-powered productivity features
- Customer support
Avoid common mistakes:
- Choosing one that’s too complex
- Overpaying for unused features
- Systems designed for large enterprises
The Best Customer Relationship Management Software Options in 2025 for small businesses and teams?
We’ve done the work for you to compare the top CRM solutions and tools for small businesses.
Each option is a CRM tool designed to meet different business needs, from managing customer relationships to improving sales processes. These tools also span the range from simple sales processes to complex operations – some CRM tools are particularly well-suited for business to business (B2B) environments.
For Growing Teams to Manage Their Pipeline/Sales: HubSpot CRM
Ideal for: Small businesses with 2-50 employees needing comprehensive features
Key Features:
- Free tier with robust functionality
- Email marketing integration
- Sales pipeline management
- Extensive third-party integrations
- Integrated marketing tools and customer insights that support marketing departments
Best Use Case:
Teams that need both sales tracking and marketing automation and solving for scalability.
For Simple Pipeline Management: Pipedrive
Ideal for: Small sales teams with straightforward processes
Key Features:
- Visual pipeline management
- Activity reminders and scheduling
- Email integration and tracking
- Mobile app with offline capabilities
Best Use Case:
Small businesses with clear sales processes and defined customer journeys.
Ideal for: Price-sensitive small businesses needing basic CRM functionality
Key Features:
- Affordable pricing tiers
- Workflow automation
- Social media integration
- Canvas design tool for custom layouts
Best Use Case:
Small businesses needing essential CRM features without premium pricing.
For Networking Professionals & B2B companies: Regards
Ideal for: Agencies, consultants, and professionals who need to grow and deepen their network and meet contacts at events and conferences
Key Features:
- Contact scanning and automatic LinkedIn enrichment
- AI-powered conversation starters based on recent news and mutual interests
- Focus on relationship deepening rather than traditional lead tracking
- Mobile-first design for professionals on the go
Best Use Case:
Solo professionals and small teams who generate business through networking and referrals.
We also have detailed comparisons of the top CRMs that you can go through here.
- Top 5 Free CRMs to start with
- Best Mobile CRMs for sales & leads tracking for small teams
- Top 5 CRMs to manage customer relationships or your network
- The best AI powered CRMs and contact management systems
- Detailed comparison of Top Sales CRMs: Hubspot vs Zoho CRM vs PipeDrive vs Monday
- Detailed comparison of Top Relationship CRMs: Regards vs Folk vs Clay
How to get started with a CRM: Implementation Tips
Any tool is as good as its usage – adopting and using a CRM is important to get the most out of it. Here are some tips on the best way to do this.
Start Simple
Don't try to implement every feature at once. Begin with core contact management and interaction logging.
Import Your Existing Contacts
Make sure your current contacts (from spreadsheets, phone, LinkedIn, Gmail etc) can be easily and securely imported. Consider how to migrate your contacts to a new CRM without losing data.
Define Your Processes
Document how you currently manage relationships and what you want to improve. This helps you configure your new CRM effectively.
Train Your Team
Even for solo professional CRM users, understanding all the functionalities will maximize its benefits. For teams, ensure everyone is on board and knows how to use it consistently.
Integrate into Your Workflow
Make using the CRM a natural part of your daily routine – after every meeting, before every call.
Be Consistent
The more diligently you use the CRM, the more valuable it becomes.
Review and Refine
Periodically assess how the CRM is working for you. Are you getting the most out of it? Are there features you could leverage more effectively?
Guides:
Customer Data Migration Best Practices: Avoid These Common Mistakes:
- Migrating dirty data without cleaning it first
- Not mapping fields correctly between systems
- Failing to test the migration with a small dataset
- Not having a rollback plan
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between contact management and CRM software?
Contact management software primarily focuses on storing and organizing contact details. CRM software, while including contact management, goes much further by tracking interactions, managing communication history, automating follow-ups, analyzing data, and often integrating with sales and marketing tools to manage the entire customer relationship lifecycle. For networking-focused professionals, the enrichment and AI-driven insights of a CRM are key differentiators.
Do small businesses really need a CRM?
Yes! While many small businesses start with spreadsheets or basic contact lists, a dedicated CRM becomes essential as your network grows. It helps you organize contacts, remember important details, personalize communications, and ultimately drive more referrals and repeat business, which are crucial for small business growth.
How can an AI-powered CRM help with networking and referrals?
A5: An AI-powered CRM like Regards automates tedious tasks like contact enrichment (pulling data from LinkedIn, news). More importantly, its AI can analyze this updated information to suggest relevant, personalized conversation starters, helping you stay top of mind and nurture relationships effectively, leading to more organic referrals.
Do I need a CRM if I only have 50 contacts?
It depends on your business model. If those 50 contacts are high-value relationships requiring regular nurturing and follow-up, a CRM can significantly improve your relationship management. For simple contact storage, a contact management app might suffice.
Can I use a free CRM effectively?
Yes, several CRMs offer robust free tiers suitable for small businesses. HubSpot CRM, Zoho CRM, and others provide essential features at no cost. However, advanced features that use AI like enrichment and automation and integrations typically require paid plans.
How long does CRM implementation take?
For small businesses, basic CRM setup can take 1-2 weeks. This includes data migration, basic configuration, and team training. Full optimization and advanced feature adoption may take 1-3 months.
What's the ROI of implementing a CRM?
Small businesses typically see 3-5x ROI from CRM implementation through improved follow-up rates, better relationship management, and increased referral generation. However, ROI depends heavily on consistent usage and proper implementation.
Should I choose an industry-specific CRM?
If your industry has unique requirements (like real estate property matching or insurance policy tracking), an industry-specific CRM often provides better value. For general relationship management, horizontal CRMs offer more flexibility and integration options.
How important is mobile access for a CRM?
Extremely important for networking professionals and small business owners who are frequently away from their desks. Mobile access allows you to update contact information immediately after meetings and stay on top of follow-ups while traveling.
Can a CRM help with referral marketing?
Absolutely. Modern CRMs can track referral sources, remind you to ask for referrals at appropriate times, and help you maintain relationships with referral partners. Some CRMs even include referral program management features.
What's the biggest mistake small businesses make with CRMs?
The most common mistake is treating a CRM as just a database rather than a relationship-building tool. Success requires consistent data entry, regular interaction logging, and proactive follow-up on CRM suggestions and reminders.
How do I measure CRM success?
Key metrics include:
- Follow-up completion rates
- Relationship maintenance frequency
- New opportunities generated
- Referral tracking and conversion
- Time saved on administrative tasks
- Revenue attributed to CRM-managed relationships
What is the best CRM for a small business?
Depends on your needs. For relationship-focused work, lightweight CRMs like Regards or Bigin are great. If you need marketing automation, look at Zoho or HubSpot.
Do freelancers need a CRM?
Absolutely. If you have clients, leads, or rely on referrals, a CRM can save hours and help you grow.
Can I use Excel as a CRM?
Yes — For very early stages and extremely limited contacts. But you’ll soon hit limitations: no reminders, poor search, no mobile syncing, no ability to track interactions. A dedicated CRM offers automation, integration, and intelligence that spreadsheets simply cannot.
Conclusion: Choosing Your Ideal CRM
The best CRM for your small business depends on your specific needs, industry, and growth goals. Traditional sales-focused CRMs work well for transactional businesses, while relationship-focused solutions like Regards excel for networking professionals who rely on long-term relationship building.
Key Takeaways:
- Assess your current relationship management challenges before selecting a CRM
- Consider your industry’s specific requirements
- Prioritize mobile accessibility if you’re frequently networking
- Start with core features and expand functionality over time
- Invest in proper training and consistent usage
Remember, the most sophisticated CRM won’t help if your team doesn’t use it consistently. Choose a solution that fits your workflow and commit to making relationship management a systematic part of your business development strategy.
Ready to transform your relationship management? Consider starting with a CRM that matches your primary business development approach – whether that’s traditional sales pipeline management or networking-focused relationship building.
This guide is regularly updated to reflect the latest CRM trends and options. For the most current information on specific CRM platforms, we recommend visiting their official websites and requesting demos before making your final decision.
