How to Use Excel as a CRM: Full Tutorial (+ Free Template)

Want to manage customer relationships without spending a fortune? Excel might be the answer you’re looking for. 

This guide will show you how to turn a simple spreadsheet into a powerful sales tool. We’ll also introduce you to a template that can supercharge your Excel CRM game.

What’s a CRM and Why Should You Care?

CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. In simple terms, it’s a system that helps you keep track of all your interactions with customers. Think of it as a super-organized address book that also remembers every conversation, deal, and follow-up.

Why is this important? Because happy customers mean more business.  

According to Salesforce, using a CRM can boost your sales by up to 29% and make your sales team up to 34% more productive. It can also help you predict your future sales more accurately.

Can You Use Excel like a CRM?

While there are plenty of specialized CRM tools out there, many businesses are turning to an old friend: Microsoft Excel.  It’s flexible, powerful, and chances are, you already know how to use it. 

This makes Excel a great CRM option, especially for smaller businesses or teams with a limited budget. 

Building a Basic Excel CRM: Quick Tutorial 

Step 1: Set Up Your Columns

Start with these key columns:

• Customer Info: Name, Company, Email, Phone
• Deal Info: Deal Value, Probability, Expected Close Date
• Interaction History: Date, Type (call, email, meeting), Notes
• Sales Stage: Prospect, Qualified Lead, Proposal, Negotiation, Closed Won/Lost

Use color coding to highlight important info, like deals about to close or overdue follow-ups.

Step 2: Add Dropdown Menus

Make your CRM easier to use:

• Create dropdown lists for fields like Sales Stage or Deal Probability
• Set up custom formats to display deal values as currency and standardize date formats

Step 3: Add Formulas 

Take advantage of Excel’s formulas:

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• VLOOKUP: Connect customer info across multiple sheets
• IF statements: Automatically update deal status based on probability or date
• SUMIF: Calculate total deal values by sales rep or stage
• Pivot Tables: Create easy-to-read summaries of your sales pipeline

Step 4: Customize to Your Liking 

Color Coding (Conditional Formatting)

Use colors to highlight important info:

1. Highlight overdue follow-ups in red
2. Color-code rows based on customer status
3. Use color scales to quickly spot high-value customers

When Basic Excel CRMs Fall Short: Understanding the Limitations

While Excel is a versatile tool for many business needs, it often falls short as a CRM solution for growing companies. Here are the key limitations:

• Limited scalability: As your customer base expands, Excel’s performance degrades. Large datasets can lead to slower processing times and increased risk of file corruption, potentially disrupting business operations.
• Collaboration challenges: Sharing and simultaneously editing Excel files across a team is problematic. Version control becomes difficult, leading to data inconsistencies and potential loss of critical customer information.
• Data management inefficiencies: Maintaining data accuracy and consistency across multiple worksheets is time-consuming. Real-time updates are 

Free Template: Turn Excel into a Live CRM Dashboard

Coefficient’s CRM dashboard connects directly to your data, giving you an up-to-minute snapshot of sales operations in a single view. 

• Track Progress Against Targets Instantly see how your team measures up to goals. Spot gaps and course-correct in real-time to hit your numbers.

• Identify Top Performers Recognize star players at a glance. Replicate winning strategies across your team to boost overall performance.
• Accelerate Deal Velocity: Gain insights into your sales process to forecast accurately, allocate resources effectively, and ultimately, shorten time from lead to close.

Metrics Tracked 

• Total Won and Expected Revenue
• Average Won Amount
• Average Sales Cycle
• Number of Won Opportunities
• Total Opportunities
• Closing % by Account Owner
• Expected and Won vs Target by Account Owner
• Target, Won, and Expected Revenue by Account Owner
• Count of Opportunities by Stage
• Top 20 Accounts by Won Revenue

Make It Your Own

The beauty of Coefficient’s template lies in its flexibility. You can easily customize it to fit your specific business needs:

• Add or remove metrics based on your specific KPIs
• Adjust the time frame for reporting (weekly, monthly, quarterly)
• Modify visualizations to focus on the most critical aspects of your business
• Integrate additional data sources to create a comprehensive business intelligence dashboard

Turn into Excel into Live CRM with Coefficient

By following these steps and leveraging Coefficient’s CRM dashboard for Excel, you can create a robust, cost-effective CRM solution that grows with your business. 

Don’t let complex, expensive CRM systems hold you back – start using Excel as your CRM today!

Ready to transform your Excel into a powerful CRM? Get started with Coefficient now!