I have this theory. Most CRMs were born in corporate conference rooms. Someone said "let's build a customer management system." And they did. Except that system requires 3 months of onboarding, a dedicated admin, and a budget that could hire an actual person at a small company.
I know this because I spent years looking for a CRM for kaminski.link. And I tested. A lot.
Why most CRMs don't work for small businesses
Because they're built for corporations. It's like buying an off-the-rack suit designed for someone 8 inches taller. It kind of fits. But it doesn't sit right.
Salesforce? 150 fields per contact. Who in a 5-person company fills out 150 fields? Nobody. HubSpot? The free version looks great, but the moment you want anything useful — automation, reports, sequences — you're suddenly staring at a $200/month bill.
And there's another problem. These systems assume you have a separate salesperson, a separate marketer, and a separate project manager. In a small business, that's one person. You.
What to look for when choosing
Before you start testing, ask yourself 3 questions:
- How many contacts do I have? If under 500 — you don't need Enterprise
- Who will use it? If 2-3 people — simplicity beats features
- What do I need to integrate with? Email, calendar, invoicing — that's the minimum
One more thing. Onboarding time. If a CRM takes more than one day to figure out — it's too complicated. Your team won't spend a week learning a new system. They'll open it once, decide "too many clicks," and go back to spreadsheets.
What I tested and why it didn't fit
Pipedrive — great sales pipeline, nice visuals. But it's a sales CRM. Once you close a deal and need to run the project, you're jumping to another tool. That doesn't work in an agency.
Monday CRM — pretty interface, but slow. And irritatingly clicky. Every change is 3 clicks too many. At 50 contacts a day, that adds up.
Notion as CRM — sounds cool on Twitter. In practice? No automation, no reminders, no pipeline. It's a notebook with a relational database. Not a CRM.
Freshsales — solid, affordable, but the interface looks like 2018. And integrations with local tools? Forget it.
Why I built LetMeWork.ai
Because I needed one place. CRM + projects + invoices + meeting notes. Without jumping between 4 apps.
At kaminski.link we have this flow: lead comes in → contact in CRM → proposal → project → invoice → follow-up. That's one continuous chain. But no CRM on the market handles this in a single tool. So you build a Frankenstein from Pipedrive + Asana + invoicing software + Google Docs.
LetMeWork.ai started with a simple question: what if this entire flow lived in one system? No exports, no integrations, no duct-taping one tool to another. Though email automation is a separate topic worth exploring too.
The best CRM is one people actually use. Not the one with the longest feature list.
Practical tips to get started
If you're just starting out — don't buy a CRM. Seriously. Start with a Google Sheet with columns: company, contact, status, next step, date. That's your first CRM. Free, simple, works. I wrote more about this in my article on free CRMs for small businesses.
When you grow past 100+ contacts and feel the spreadsheet can't keep up — then test. But test with real data. Not "John Smith, Test Company." Import 20 real contacts and work for a week. You'll see if the system fits your workflow.
And don't fall for the "14-day trial." 14 days isn't enough. Look for tools with a free plan or 30-day trial. You need at least 3 weeks to see if a CRM actually becomes a habit.
Because a CRM you don't open every day is a dead CRM. And a dead CRM is wasted money.