As prospect volume grows, details can get stranded between sales, delivery, and account teams. Build a clearer path from first conversation to ongoing service.
01 / Explore the workflow mapA prospect record can hold useful information and still leave the next team guessing. Who confirmed the scope? What was promised? Who is responsible for the next conversation?
For a growing IT service provider, the CRM selection conversation should include those transitions, not just a list of fields. Map the decisions people need to make before deciding what the software needs to support.
Use this illustrative path to test a CRM against the way your teams actually work. The right checks depend on your service model and existing processes.
When enquiries arrive through different people, agree on where they are recorded and who is accountable for the next step. Capture the prospect’s service need and any agreed follow-up.
Sales and technical colleagues may assess the same opportunity from different angles. Record the needs discussed, open questions, and assumptions that still need confirmation.
Before delivery begins, identify the incoming owner and share the agreed scope, relevant contacts, and unresolved items. Make the handoff visible rather than assuming it happened.
As teams spread across locations or specialisms, more people may need context without becoming the person responsible for the relationship. Define both before evaluating permissions.
Name the owner. Decide who moves the record forward and who takes over when a prospect becomes a client.
Separate viewing from editing. List which roles need to read or change commercial details, technical notes, and contact information.
Plan for exceptions. Agree how ownership changes during leave, regional transfers, or a stalled handoff. Then check how clearly a CRM can represent those changes.
Use a representative scenario from your own process. Ask the people who sell, scope, and deliver the service to walk through it together, including the awkward exceptions.
Follow an enquiry through qualification and into delivery. Note where information is entered, revisited, or passed on, and where a second entry would be required.
Discuss which teams need access at each stage. Evaluate whether available permission options fit those responsibilities and how changes are managed.
Ask how an unassigned follow-up, an ownership change, or an incomplete scope would be surfaced. Decide who checks for those gaps and when.