From a 1,700-row spreadsheet to a CRM that follows up for you
How a wholesale window-coverings supplier and installer got every bid, every plan link and every follow-up into one place, without losing a thing.
A spreadsheet doing a CRM's job
The business bids on window-covering packages for construction projects. Every bid lived in one big spreadsheet: around 1,700 rows, built up over years.
The spreadsheet carried a lot of meaning that wasn't written down anywhere. A row's fill color showed which stage the bid was in. Hyperlinks pointed to where the project plans could be downloaded. Follow-up dates sat in a column that someone had to remember to check.
As the team grew, the cracks showed:
- Follow-ups depended on someone scrolling the sheet and remembering to send an email.
- There was no quick way to see what was overdue, due today or coming up this week.
- Several people editing one file meant overwritten rows and no clear owner per bid.
- Off-the-shelf CRMs would have meant retyping years of history and losing the color-coded stages.
A CRM shaped around how they already bid
Instead of asking the team to learn a new way of working, we built software that understood the old one.
Smart Excel import
The importer read the spreadsheet directly, translating each row's stage color into a real status and keeping every plan-download hyperlink.
Lead list with action-date views
Filters for stage and owner, plus one-click views for Overdue, Today and Next 7 days, so everyone starts the day knowing who to contact.
Inline status editing
Change a bid's status or next action date right in the list, the way they used to in the spreadsheet, minus the risk.
Automated follow-up emails
On each project's action date, the CRM sends the right follow-up, using a template for that follow-up type, from the assigned person's own mailbox.
Team logins & roles
Everyone gets their own login, and roles control who can do what.
Hosted on the web
No files to pass around. The whole team works from the same live system, in the office or on site.
Less remembering, more winning
We're not going to make up percentages. Here's what changed, in plain terms.
- Nothing lost in the move. Years of bid history came across, stages and plan links included, without retyping.
- Follow-ups go out on time. Emails send themselves on each action date, so follow-up no longer depends on memory.
- Everyone sees the same picture. Estimators and managers share one live list, filtered to what needs attention.
- Clear ownership. Every bid has an assigned person, and follow-ups come from their mailbox, so customers hear from someone they know.
- Familiar from day one. Because the CRM mirrored their stages and habits, the team didn't have to relearn how they work.
Running your business from a spreadsheet?
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