Why does every B2B contact need to be in one place?
Without a single list, you will forget when to follow up, lose track of conversations, and miss the moment to convert a warm lead or re-engage an existing client. This is not a sales-skill problem; it is an organisation problem. Even a basic spreadsheet fixes it.
Keep this list for business-to-business contacts only. Residential or private homeowner clients belong somewhere separate, because you deal with them very differently and mixing them in will make things messy.
Which tool should you actually use?
There are three tiers, and you do not need to start at the top.
- Free spreadsheet or Google Sheet. The easiest and cheapest entry point. You get a template you can copy and customise straight away. Good for small businesses that want to move fast without extra software costs.
- Mid-tier project tool. Asana, Monday.com, ClickUp, or a similar program. More structured than a spreadsheet, and more affordable than a full CRM. You do need the paid version of these tools for the features that make the system work.
- Dedicated CRM. HubSpot, Salesforce, and Pipedrive are popular examples. These are expensive and powerful, but they are not for everyone. They make sense once you have multiple salespeople out selling for you. If you are still a smaller operation, do not run before you can walk.
What columns or fields does your CRM actually need?
At a minimum you need three things: the business name, the contact name, and the next follow-up date. Everything else is useful but optional when you are starting out. Common additions include:
- Phone number and email (keep phone as a text field, not a number field, to avoid issues with leading zeros)
- Suburb and area, so you can group visits geographically and make the most of travel time
- Industry, so you can focus on a specific sector when you want to push hard in one area
- Stage in the sales process (see below)
- Notes from each interaction
You can add columns later. Start lean and build as you go.
How do you label where each contact sits in the process?
Every contact should be tagged with a stage so you know exactly how to treat them.
- Cold lead (awareness). No real relationship yet. You might cold-call them, engage with them on social media, or drop in to introduce yourself.
- Warm lead (consideration). You have met them face to face or built some rapport. They are considering your business but are not yet convinced.
- Trial. They have given you a job or two, but the relationship is not solid. A competitor with a better price could still pull them away.
- Sale. A proper customer, more committed than the trial stage.
- Loyalty. The goal. They trust you, the relationship is solid, and you are actively nurturing them.
For the spreadsheet version, a simple label of cold lead, warm lead, or existing client needing nurture covers most situations.
Why is the next follow-up column the most important field you have?
This column removes the anxiety of trying to remember who needs a call and when. After every interaction, before you put your phone away or leave the meeting, update this field. If someone is on holiday for two weeks, set the follow-up for the week they return. If an existing client is solid, set it a couple of months out. When you sit down at your desk each week, you only look at the contacts due this week. Everything else can wait.
Memory is not a system. Relying on it means contacts fall through the cracks. Living by this column is, in Greg's words, just as important as any sales skill.
How should you write your notes after a call or meeting?
Write a note every time you have a meaningful interaction, whether that is a phone call, a meeting, or an important email. You do not need to write everything; a short snapshot is enough. Key things to capture:
- What was discussed or agreed
- Any objections raised
- What the next step is and why
- Anything personal that helps you build the relationship (for example, a contact's coffee order if you are going to drop in with one)
In a spreadsheet, a notes column works fine for quick snapshots. In Asana, you can use the comments section on each contact's detail view, which automatically date-stamps every entry so you have a clear timeline of every interaction. The more contacts you manage, the more valuable detailed notes become.
