Excel has been a reliable tool for storing and organizing data for years. But as your business grows, spreadsheets can quickly become limiting. If you’re starting to lose track of customers, follow-ups, or performance, a CRM might be the step forward your team needs. This guide will help you understand when to switch to a CRM and how to make the transition smoothly.
- 5 Red Flags Your Excel Sheet is Holding Your Sales Back
- Benefits of CRM
- How to Make the Switch Smoothly
- Introducing Teamsale CRM: a Smart Choice For Your Team
- How to Start Using the Teamsale CRM
- Bottom line
- FAQs
Microsoft Excel was first introduced in 1985. Over time, it became an inseparable part of almost every business. For many years, it remained an indispensable tool for organizing data - familiar, reliable, and comfortable.
But technology has evolved, and new solutions can now support businesses much more effectively. This isn't about leaving your Excel comfort zone, but rather going beyond it.
Perhaps the time has come to consider CRM adoption. This article will help you decide.
5 Red Flags Your Excel Sheet is Holding Your Sales Back
Businesses grow, expand, and evolve, and that requires more advanced tools to support such growth. What worked in the early days, like Excel spreadsheets, can quickly start feeling limited. Outdated tools can lead to chaos, data loss, and poor collaboration. It can slow your team down instead of helping. When things start slipping, it might be time to switch to a CRM.
Here are five signs Excel is holding your sales back:
- You can’t track follow-ups or conversations easily.
- Multiple people work on the same sheet. Data gets overwritten, lost, or confused.
- It’s difficult to get insights or reports. Numbers are scattered, and analyzing them takes too much time.
- Potential customers get lost or forgotten. Opportunities vanish simply because there’s no system to track them.
- You spend too much time organizing and managing customer data.
Benefits of CRM
CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. It’s a system that lets you store all customer-related data in a single platform.
At first glance, it might seem similar to Excel, but the differences between Excel and CRM are significant. Excel spreadsheets just hold data. CRM does not only include customer database management. It also helps to simplify workflows, improve team collaboration, manage and analyze customer data, and much more.
In short, Customer Relationship Management doesn’t just store data. It turns information into action, helping your team save time, stay organized, and close more deals. Using Excel as a CRM can slow your business down.
How to Make the Switch Smoothly
Making the switch from something you’re used to into something completely new can feel overwhelming. Here are some practical tips on how to make the switch without unnecessary stress.
Update and review your Excel data: remove duplicates, clean and organize your spreadsheets, and delete old contacts that are no longer your customers or leads.
Choose the right CRM: compare the available options based on your team size, budget, and the tools you need to work. Use the free trial, if it's available.
Migrate your data: most CRMs allow data migration from Excel spreadsheets. Test the process with a sample file before doing a full import.
Train your team: explain how the CRM works, show them how to use it, and set clear expectations for their role.
Integrate with your daily tools: email, Google Calendar, Facebook Messenger, etc.
Introducing Teamsale CRM: a Smart Choice For Your Team
Teamsale is a cloud based CRM. The system was designed with customers in mind, focusing on what they truly need.
Many CRMs on the market are too complicated, expensive, and packed with unnecessary features that can be confusing and overwhelming. They also require significant time and effort to train your team. On the other hand, some CRMs are too basic, lacking tools and providing only a limited service.
Teamsale CRM achieves the perfect balance, offering a user-friendly, efficient solution that meets real business needs. Furthermore, it’s completely free.
Integrated with the VoIP phone system Zadarma, Teamsale CRM lets you pay only for phone numbers, calls, or your chosen plan. The two tools work perfectly together, allowing you to set up a complete business phone and CRM system in just a few clicks. The phone system itself is free and comes with powerful features, including:
- Free trial
- Number porting
- Extensions
- Call recording with cloud storage
- Voicemail to email
- Visual voicemail (add-on or with a plan)
- Speech recognition and analytics (add-on or with a plan)
- Free calls between users
- Call transfer, monitoring, and barge
- Advanced call flows and multilevel IVR (Interactive Voice Response)
- Working hours setup and hold music
- Android, iOS, Windows and macOS apps
- And more
On the CRM side, Teamsale offers a wide range of CRM tools to simplify your workflow, improve team efficiency, and keep your sales process organized, including:
- Free trial
- Contact and lead management software
- Customer base management
- Deal tracking and sales funnel visualization
- Task and activity management
- Email, Google Calendar and Facebook Messenger integration
- Bulk SMS and email campaigns
- Reporting and analytics dashboards
- Auto dialer
- Individual access for each team member
- Admin portal
- Integrated webphone (WebRTC)
- Collaboration tools for team communication
- Detailed call log
- And more CRM features
How to Start Using the Teamsale CRM
In this section, we’ll walk you through a step-by-step guide on how to get started with the CRM.
Activate your free trial
Sign up on the Zadarma website and activate your free trial by confirming your contact phone number. Then, on the main page, click Set Up PBX in the Virtual Phone System section. You’ll be guided through a simple setup process. In the first step, make sure to tick Create free Teamsale CRM.
For more advanced PBX configuration, follow the detailed guide or contact our 24/7 support team.
Create your Teamsale CRM
After completing the previous step, you will be redirected to the Teamsale CRM setup page. Enter a domain name, for example your company’s name, to create a direct link for your CRM.
Next, add the administrator’s details who will manage the CRM. You can add more administrators later, if needed. Enter the data for any other CRM users, for example, your team members.
Once you click Create CRM, each added user will receive an email with an invitation link, where they can set their password. Each user will have separate access to their CRM subaccounts.
After this, the system will open the main CRM dashboard, which only administrators can access. You can access the CRM platform either via the direct link created earlier or through Zadarma - Services - CRM section, in your Zadarma account.
Import your Customers or Leads
Once you have organized your Excel spreadsheet and removed all unnecessary and duplicate data, you can import it into the CRM.
- Before importing, separate customers from leads (potential clients) into different Microsoft Excel spreadsheets.
Also, make sure that:
- All phone numbers are in international format with the “+” sign.
- Phone number cells are formatted as Text.
In the CRM Customers or Leads section, click the ••• menu, choose Import, and upload your file.
During import, simply match each column from your file (e.g., Customer Name, Phone Number) with the correct fields in the CRM.
If you aren’t sure how to prepare your Excel sheet, you can add a few contacts into the CRM manually and then export them. Use the exported spreadsheet as a template.
If a customer has multiple phone numbers, place them in the same cell separated by commas.
You can undo the import anytime by clicking ••• and then selecting Cancel Import.
You can also add customers and leads manually by clicking the + sign in the top-right corner of the corresponding CRM sections.
For each customer, the customer card will be created. In the card, you will see the customer’s information, call logs, recorded calls, SMS and email communications, and notes added by the team members.
Assign responsible managers
The responsible manager is the team member assigned to manage and support a particular customer or lead. You can route all calls from a specific customer or lead directly to the assigned manager.
You can assign the responsible manager in the following ways:
- During the import process if the same person is responsible for the entire list.
- From the Customers or Leads section, select the contacts by ticking the checkboxes, click the •••, and choose Change Responsible User.
To enable call routing to the assigned manager:
- Go to your Zadarma account, Settings - Integrations and API, select Teamsale CRM, and activate the Call routing to the appropriate manager.
A responsible manager increases customer retention. Working with the same specialist builds trust, long-term relationships, and ensures a more personalized approach. They can resolve issues faster and better understand customer needs.
Add the team members
The Team section displays a list of all Teamsale users, including their contact information, PBX extension, working hours, and the group they belong to. To call a colleague, click the phone icon next to their name. A green dot on a user’s avatar shows they are currently online.
Administrators can add new CRM users and edit existing accounts. To add users, click the + sign in the top-right corner.
After that, enter their name, email, assign a PBX extension, and click Add User. The user will receive an invitation email containing a link to set their own password and access their subaccount.
- Share Invite: invite multiple users by entering their email addresses.
- Generate Link: create an invitation link to share via messengers or social media.
To edit your own profile, go to the Settings - Profile section of your CRM.
Manage user access
In the Settings - Groups section, you can grant or restrict access to specific areas of Teamsale CRM for selected groups. You can change the group a user belongs to in their profile, under the Team section.
Start making and receiving calls
Each user can choose between two options for making and receiving calls:
- Webphone - a built-in dialer located in the lower right corner of the CRM.
- Other softphone - an external application, such as Zadarma, available for iOS, Android, macOS, or Windows.
The desired option can be selected by each user in the Settings - Telephony section.
Create leads automatically
You can enable or disable automatic lead creation in the Settings - Telephony section.
Use automatic dialing
Using the integrated web phone, you and your team can automatically call a list of selected numbers. The system starts dialing from the first number and moves to the next one after five seconds if the call is unanswered or disconnected. You can pause the dialing at any time and resume later.
Call lists can be created:
- In the Leads or Customers sections. Select the contacts by ticking the box next to them. Then, click the ••• followed by Add to the auto dialer list.
- Or directly through the Auto Dialer in the CRM webphone. If you call unknown numbers, new leads will be created automatically after a successful conversation.
Analyze your calls and listen to the call recordings
Access your call statistics in the Calls section. Use a filter to locate a necessary call. In the same section, you can listen and download your call recordings.
You can enable the call recording feature for each extension in your Zadarma account, My PBX - Extensions section. The cloud storage volume depends on the selected price plan.
This section stores all calls. However, each call and its recording is also automatically linked to the corresponding customer profile. You can access it from the Customers section.
Create and monitor tasks
You can create and manage tasks in the Tasks section. Use the filter panel by selecting a list view of the tasks to quickly locate specific tasks.
Assigned employees will receive an email notification reminding them about the task.
Task types:
- Task - a standard task where you can add customers or the responsible team members
- Call - schedule an important call with a customer at a specific time
- Video conference - set up an online meeting with customers or colleagues
- SMS - schedule a delayed SMS message, for example: “Your package is ready for pickup at our office”.
Improve your marketing with SMS and email campaigns
With Teamsale CRM, you can easily send bulk SMS and email campaigns to customers or leads. Keep them informed about updates, send reminders, share news, or send holiday greetings.
SMS campaign: Open the Customers or Leads section and select the contacts using the checkboxes.
Then, click the ••• and select Send SMS. You can add up to 20 contacts per one SMS campaign.
Email campaign: Open the Customers or Leads section and select the contacts using the checkboxes.
Then, click the ••• and select Emailing. You may add up to 100 contacts in the mailing list.
Integrate with your email, Facebook Messenger and Google Calendar
You can integrate the following tools with Teamsale CRM:
- Email: In Settings - Mail, click Add email, enter the required details, and then click Add. After that, you will be able to send and receive emails directly from customer cards.
- Facebook Messenger: The integration is available via Zapier.
- Google Calendar: In Setting - Calendar section, click Connect with Google Calendar.
To set up additional CRM features, follow the guide.
Bottom Line
Excel is great for organizing data and managing simple tasks. It is ideal for startups and small projects. However, as your business grows, its limitations become apparent. Excel can't track customer interactions, automate processes, or provide real-time analytics.
A CRM system solves these problems by centralizing customer information, optimizing interactions, and providing analytics to effectively scale your business.
Excel helps you get started. CRM helps you grow.
FAQs
Which is the best CRM for small businesses?
Teamsale CRM supports businesses of all sizes. With its user-friendly interface and clear setup guide, it can be a perfect choice for small businesses. Furthermore, it’s free, which helps reduce costs.
How can I import customer data into the CRM system?
In Teamsale CRM, customer data can be imported in just a few clicks. Go to the “Customers” section, click the ••• icon, and select “Import customers”. Choose the responsible user if needed, and press “Import”. Then match each column from your file with the correct fields in the CRM.
To create a spreadsheet template, add a few contacts manually and then export them. You can use the exported sheet as your template.
CRM vs Excel: which should I use for managing my customers?
You can use Microsoft Excel for storing and organizing basic customer data. However, if you need advanced features such as team collaboration, lead tracking, customer profiles, and improved workflow organization, CRM software is the better choice.
Which data should I clean before migrating to a CRM?
Before switching to a CRM system, it's important to clean and organize your data:
- Remove duplicates: ensure each customer or lead appears only once.
- Fix errors: correct typos, misspelled names, or incorrect contact details.
- Update outdated information: verify phone numbers, emails, and addresses.
- Standardize formats: make sure dates, phone numbers, and other fields follow a consistent format.
- Fill in missing data: complete key fields such as customer name or phone number.
