Are you hacking a makeshift CRM together in a spreadsheet? Are you funneling insights from the sales meetings back to the product team?
Set up a sales CRM in Notion to better manage your budding list of contacts and to make sure the entire team benefits from your sales meetings. It'll help the entire team learn and to start getting the benefits of a CRM without having to invest an arm and a leg to get started.
Give our template a try when creating a new page or learn how to make one from scratch below!
Step 1: Create a database to get started
First thing's first - let's create a database that'll store all of your customers. Add one in by clicking the [+] button on a new line in the editor and selecting 'Table.'
If you have an existing spreadsheet with all your contacts somewhere, import it into the database as a .csv file by clicking on the '...' button above the table and select 'Import CSV.'
Step 2: Add custom properties to track contact details
Next up - we'll be adding in some properties you want to track for each user.
Much like how Salesforce allows you to keep track of customer info beyond plain text and numbers, properties in Notion allow you to do the same.
For example:
- Use a 'Select' property type to indicate what stage the contact is in (e.g. lead, contacted, proposed, closed)
- Use the 'Number' property type to note down the estimated value of the deal
- Use the 'Date' property to highlight your last date of contact
Notion currently supports 15+ property types!
Step 3: Add your contacts and include notes on each
Once you've had the chance to add some of your contacts, let's make the most of this new database.
Often times you want to keep longer notes around each of these contacts (e.g. meeting notes, background info), but a standard table or spreadsheet isn't accommodating.
Since we've set things up as a database - every contact has it's own unique page. Click on the little [⤢] button next to a contact's name to open one up.
Here are some popular use cases for these customer pages:
- To-do's keeping track of follow up actions
- Bullet-list of takeaways from prior conversations
- Links to helpful prep material and corresponding notes
Just click the [+] button on any new line in the editor to pull up a list of all the possibilities!
Step 4: Discuss notes and strategies with others
Game plan or recap with your colleagues directly in the context of a contact's unique page. This is especially helpful to bring engineers and designers up to speed on what the sales team has picked up on from users.
Create a discussion thread on the page or make comments inline. For quicker feedback, you can @ mention someone to trigger a push or in-app notification on their end.
Just share the page via the 'Share' dropdown in the top-right to get started if your colleagues aren't in your workspace just yet.
Step 5: Stay up to date with page updates
Follow along with what's happening across all your contacts or with one you want to keep close contact with.
Any page in Notion can be subscribed to - meaning 'All Updates' in the left sidebar will be bolded whenever a change has been made to that particular page.
To subscribe, just open up 'Updates' on any page and toggle that you'd like to follow updates. This is where you'll also be able to scan a thread of all recent edits on the page as well.
Step 6: Use a Kanban to visualize contacts by status
Databases come in two visual varieties - a table view and a board view. They're just different ways to visualize the same set of information living inside of your database.
Tables are good for condensing your entire contact list in one digestible view, but boards are ideal for viewing things in a linear way (e.g. by engagement stage) or by grouping the contacts by specific groups (e.g. industry, role).
Let's add a board view that groups contacts based on the stage of the dialogue to get a clearer idea of how things are progressing:
- Click '+ Add a View,' name the board 'Board by Status,' and hit 'Create.'
- Re-order the statuses to fit the right order (e.g. lead, contacted, proposed) with a simple drag-and-drop.
- Clean up which properties are visible on the cards by clicking 'Properties' and toggling which properties you'd like to have visible.
Step 7: Keep customer details up to date
Part of what makes a CRM special is that it's more than a static piece of information. Update a contact's status as they move from one stage of the engagement process to the next.
New statuses can always be added as your process is refined or as contacts reach new stages. Rest assured that changes made to one view will be synced across others!
Something we didn't cover?
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? at the bottom right on desktop (or in your sidebar on mobile). Or email us at team@makenotion.com ✌️