A simple customer database for your business
Right now your customer 'database' is a spreadsheet, a pile of emails, and whatever's in your head. It works until the person who remembers everything is off sick, or leaves.
Where it hurts
A spreadsheet is a fine start. It stops being fine when two people edit different copies, when a phone number lives in one place and the job history lives in another, and when you can't answer 'have we worked for this address before?' without asking around.
The honest question is spreadsheet or CRM. If you've got a few hundred customers, one person, and simple needs, a well-built spreadsheet might genuinely be enough. Once several people need the same up-to-date view, or you want job history, notes and access details all sitting against one customer, a proper database earns its keep. I'll give you a straight answer rather than sell you the bigger thing.
The real fear is losing history in the move. Years of notes, quirks about each site, who to ask for at that address. Done carelessly, a migration turns that into a blank slate.
What I'd build
I'd start by working out what you actually need against each customer: contact details, job history, site notes, gate codes, who last dealt with them. Then either a simple CRM (HubSpot's free tier, or something lightweight that fits your trade) or, if a spreadsheet genuinely is enough for now, one structured properly so it can't drift. The migration is where I'd use an AI step: it reads your old spreadsheets, emails and free-text notes, works out which customer each scrap belongs to, and files the useful details (that gate code, that 'ask for Maureen') into the right fields, flagging anything it's unsure of for you to check. We review a sample together before committing, so years of history arrive intact instead of becoming a blank slate.
What changes
- One customer record with contact details, job history and site notes together
- An honest spreadsheet-versus-CRM decision based on your size, not a sales pitch
- Years of scraps in emails and notes filed against the right customer
- Anything the AI wasn't sure of flagged and checked before go-live
Related fixes
Sound like your week? The free half-hour review is where we work out whether this is your first fix or your fifth.