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Ask HN: Which CRM for a solo-freelancer in 2014?

42 points by KhalPanda ↗ HN
There are <Dr Evil>one million</Dr Evil> choices when it comes to CRM's and from using Google and HN Search, I haven't found any decent threads on this for a while.

What CRM are all the freelancers out there using? I'm about to go solo and am not sure what to go for (Salesforce, Zoho, Highrise (though I'm put off a bit by 37 Signals' Basecamp direction) all seem 'up there'). Too many choices, could really use some HN advice.

I was planning on using Wave for accounts, and still undecided on project management, but I guess any integration possible would be desirable!

59 comments

[ 3.7 ms ] story [ 114 ms ] thread
gadders
I always recommend Capsule CRM: http://capsulecrm.com/

You get a reasonably generous free allowance if you try it with Google Apps for your Domain.

davidctuck
Yeah completely agree. We're a very early stage startup w only very basic CRM needs at this stage. Capsule CRM has been great. Free up to 250 contacts (each person or company counts as one contact).
digitalengineer
Good question, I'm looking for one as well. Preferably a pay-once and not a pay-monthly. Or something I can install on my own domain.
josephby
I've been using Pipedrive (http://bit.ly/1kpPlYZ - my referral link) for over a year now. Nice integration with Google Calendar and great mobile Apps.
wj
I asked the same question a month or so ago. I also was hesitant to get started with Highrise. Right now I'm testing Nimbly and Pipeline Deals. Nimbly seems to be more about generating leads through social media. Both have a nice interface.
Battochon
Make your own dude. That's a good way to show your skills! That's what I did for me at http://marques.io
Battochon
Took me about 3 weeks (working after work and week-ends) so anyone could (and should do it also).
stevoo
looks nice, i like the scrolling but there is a bug there ... if you highlight something that is more than a line it will scroll to the next article.
Battochon
Yeah! I already noticed it but never had time to correct it! Thanks for the highlight! Ps : it's for mobile/tablet compatibility but yeah, it should be disabled in desktop! Thanks for checking!
KhalPanda
I'm sure it's a great learning exercise, but I've built enough CRUD applications as 'toy' projects without adding another! I'm not stuck for portfolio content, so I need to focus my time on generating business.

Not reinventing the wheel this time, but thanks anyway! :-)

cmadan
Hey there, ClinchPad (https://www.clinchpad.com) has a large number of freelancers using it. It is a CRM targeted at small teams and focused on the process of moving prospects towards a deal (something that freelancers do often as they look for clients).

We're always improving the application and welcome any feedback on it. Feel free to reply to this comment or email me at cheenu@clinchpad.com.

Disclosure: I'm the Founder of ClinchPad.

soci
In our company we use plain TXT files with an agreed formatting between the team mates.

We have the plain TXT files stored in dropbox shared location.

Easy, slick, cost 0, and accessible by search through OSX Spotlight. Also, we don't depend on third parties (we can move disconnect from dropbox at any time)

EC1
Could you post a template? That's a neat way of doing it.
soci
Sure, here you have it, very simple.

EDIT:: The formatting got corrupted when I posted the comment. Feel free to contact me and I'll send you the format by mail. marc /at/ kitebit /dot/ com

* CUSTOMER2 NAME Contact details Where we did find about him * ---> who_contacted_the_customer DATE CONTACT_CHANEL (mail, phone...) Description of what we talked about

---> ---> who_contacted_the_customer DATE CONTACT_CHANEL (mail, phone...) Description of what we talked about

* CUSTOMER2 NAME Contact details Where we did find about him * ---> who_contacted_the_customer DATE CONTACT_CHANEL (mail, phone...) Description of what we talked about

---> ---> who_contacted_the_customer DATE CONTACT_CHANEL (mail, phone...) Description of what we talked about

dmoo
Try https://www.vtiger.com/open-source/

open source so you can install it on your own box or sign up to one of their plans.

mschuster91
Oh god no. Twenty steps to send out a newsletter and it STILL appears buggy on the clients (if it sends out at all).
rschmitty
Trello or Asana is pretty easy to use

https://asana.com/guide/explore/videos/crm

Plus you can use those for your projects/tickets/personal todos too.

I hate having <Dr Evil>one million</Dr Evil> webapps to do <Dr Evil>one million</Dr Evil> things. Even if they aren't best in class for _everything_ there is something to be said for _good enough_ in a single location

gexla
I remember seeing an article from the guy who built this where he mentions that you shouldn't bother with a CRM until you get to a certain number on sales.

http://spreadsheetcrm.com/

I couldn't find the article. Seems about right though. It's easy to spend a lot of time looking for something that we feel we need when a simple spreadsheet app probably works well enough for solo use.

keithwarren
You are doing it wrong.

I don't mean to be contrarian but if you want to be successful as a independent developer (I have been for almost 15 years now) and you are looking for a CRM you are off the rails.

CRM systems are for the most part, for companies or sales individuals who need help managing the number of contacts they have at any given time and ensuring they follow a structured interaction pattern.

I know about a dozen people like me, some of whom float in and out of full-time gigs and consulting and others who are years or decades into the independent consulting arrangement. Not a single one interacts with a high volume of customers. At any given time I have two or three I interact with and maybe one in the pipeline. If I make contact with new potential customers I create a contact record for them in Outlook/Gmail/Whatever and record any extraneous details in the notes section. That is all, if you need more than that I question the approach.

ps - Another tip. 'Freelancers' are cheap and not serious, 'consultants' or 'developers' or 'independent developers' take home the big checks. Just a perception thing.

Loic
For my experience (7 years now), this is effectively so, you do not need a CRM at all. Your inbox with a folder for each customer/contact/project is your best CRM feature.

The only thing I have at a "large number" level is a very stupid web application storing just 2 things: an email address and a corresponding full address like you print on the envelope. Then every year, I can send 125+ new year cards. I take the time to include a nice design for the card, people enjoy them and this is a nice way to keep in contact with a large number of people.

brudgers
I'll go further and say that researching CRM's only feels like work. It isn't. Cold calling and chasing contracts and closing them and completing the contracted work is all that counts as actually working. Choosing and installing and learning a CRM is easier. That's why it doesn't count.
marvin
Perfect observation of real, honest-to-God procrastination. You are usually better served taking the time researching the CRM and slacking off. Or at the very least admitting that the CRM research is part of your time off, not your job.
digitalengineer
Correct of course. I'm running it in my mailbox and Google Docs excel now for clients, time spend, leads, follow ups, etc. It's doable but not exactly manageable. I'd like a way to combine it all and stop spending time searching.
ulisesrmzroche
No. You're both missing the whole point. This is like researching a move to Node from Rails, or something similar. In fact, using the right tool for your sales has a direct effect on your bottom line, so I'm going to say it's far more important if you like stuff like money.
ulisesrmzroche
No, this is wrong. Researching counts as actual work, that's why people put R&D as an expense. It feels like work to you because you recognize it as such.
joshdance
Good advice, but don't assume he is 'doing it wrong' without knowing his use case etc. Maybe he really does need a CRM. Your advice is 'you don't need one' which could be exactly true, but it could not work for his needs.
keithwarren
Certainly true. But starting out with 'You are doing it wrong' is the opening sentence version of link-baiting :) You read it didn't you?
ulisesrmzroche
No thank you bud. The scientific method works both for code and sales. The better you have a grasp of your sales pipeline, the contacts you are making, how much money you are making and spending, THEN the better you will run your business, the more projects you will be able to take on, and the more money you will make. Your tools are too simple to make any real analysis, and that's probably a reason why ya'll don't get too many leads.

This is a good question, not something to dismiss just out of hand.

espeed
See http://close.io by Elastic (YCW11)
alexatkeplar
Ouch, that's 6x more expensive for the Basic than Pipedrive, which we use and is awesome.
joshdance
6x more expensive because it ties into telephony. That gets expensive. (No affiliation, just work with telephony solutions etc).
heeton
Trello? Asana? I'd tend towards a more flexible tool, and create your own simple workflow that works.
joshcrowder
We are building a tool that really scratches our own itch. We needed a tool that:

1. Manages projects - Like Jira but simpler

2. Allows us to create documents and share them with clients - Like email but with commets

3. Track time - Like the notepad that lives on my desk

4. Keep everyone on the project informed

Its called http://matterhorn.io and its coming along we've been using it for months. We are a small agency (6 of us) and its designed mainly for teams from 1 - 20 who work directly with clients.

If you're interested drop me a line I'd love to get your thoughts on it. josh[at]seriousfox.co.uk

ukoki
Streak is a dead simple way for managing "things with workflows/pipelines". It lives in gmail so the overhead pretty low.

http://www.streak.com/

danvoell
+1. This is what I use as well. It is dead simple to use and free.
chadkruse
I also use Streak for a very lightweight CRM. Works great for identifying prospects and moving them through the close process.

I'm also keeping an eye on FullContact. A few slight tweaks to their tagging feature and they'll be a great lightweight CRM for solo folks.

http://www.fullcontact.com/

andreash
Google Spreadsheets

Why? - Free - Collaborative - Supported by Google. Aka. will not close down in 6 months. - Customisable

Moru
You really sure about that 6 months term? Google does have a reputation of just shutting down stuff now and then, don't they? :-)
ZanyProgrammer
I think using a CRM is massive overkill for being an independent developer. My own company is going through a CRM migration, and given how much of a pain that's been, you're being needlessly complex. Of course, this being HN, people want to show off their own companies/personal projects, but that's needlessly complicated. Keep it simple.
zeroDivisible
At one time in my life, when I was still in love with Emacs, I was using org-mode to do that kind of things as it wasn't breaking my workflow.

The thing is that you're a single developer, so don't you waste time managing customers and choose the simplest tool which gets the job done.

I know that others are saying Asana or Trello - and those are good tools, but with a bit of customisation and 20$ you might get yourself Jira + Confluence - those will work like a charm and you will be able to not only manage customers, but also projects and all that crap, everything in one place. One often overlooked fact is that customers like to ignore all those sexy markdown files with requirements and they don't care about code versioning - you will be receiving PowerPoint presentations and Word documents and Excel spreadsheets - all of which can be easily managed / kept in Confluence.

Remember - CRMs are for business people and whatever you choose, the time spent using it should be as minimal as possible as it is not directly bringing you any revenue.

egeozcan
Create folders for your customers. Save important stuff like contact details, mails, contracts and whatever else you wish in those folders and organize them in sub-folders when necessary. Also use the SCM of your choice with those files. You're welcome.
xerophyte
http://www.orocrm.com/ OroCRM is an easy-to-use, open source CRM with built-in marketing tools for your ecommerce business. It's the CRM both marketing and sales can agree on!
girvo
Okay, so this is going to be a bit of a random one, but hear me out.

I personally use Pancake[0]. It's a self-hosted, one-time-payment (but comes with updates) web application that will handle invoicing, CRM, time-tracking, and do it all with a really nice interface.

Also, if you know PHP at all, it's quite fun to hack on, but of course a lot of people dislike PHP. Even if you don't do that, it's a brilliant web app that was a life-saver[1] for myself when I was freelancing. Give the demo a try, see what you think.

---

[0] https://pancakeapp.com/

[1] I just took a full-time job, so I won't be freelancing anymore, but I am going to continue to use it for my time-tracking and project management for personal stuff :)

matttah
Pretty cool app, never seen it before!
ommunist
Thank you for the link. This is a decent system for a simple small office.
j21
Agree with everyone saying to use something like Trello, Asana, Google Docs, etc.

Unless you need a "special" CRM feature, I think you can get by on using a generic tool that fits your workflow, and is simpler to get going with.

I'm building Notedock[0], it's really a general tool underneath all messaging on the homepage. I actually use it as a CRM, with a page for each contact (you can put all relevant details here, discussions, contact info, etc.)

If anyone's interested, send me an email and I can show how I get by with this "CRM".

[0] https://notedock.com

girvo
Oh wow. I've been looking for something exactly like this: basically similar to the new Basecamp but more focused. I really dig it, only I can't decide what to call my Notedock :P
stigi
We've been using Highrise a while ago, but moved away from it quickly.

These days we use Trello with a card for each lead, where we keep track of the current status. The card moves between different states as we engage with the client (kanban style).

If you keep your mails in Gmail you already have a powerful tool to handle them and don't need CRM support for that.

alphydan
As explained by some posters above we did the procrastination thing and spent time researching CRMs :). Our situation however was 3 people selling lots of leads, managing mentors and investors and keeping track of a few hundred customers. I wrote a review of our findings, http://renooble.tumblr.com/post/79551891411/crms-for-small-s...
joshdance
Honestly it is easy to say researching CRMs is procrastination, but if you really need a CRM, you need one and it is going to take time to find the one you like.