CRM (customer relationship management)

A CRM system replaces the spreadsheet of leads and the private inbox as the place where sales happen. It typically holds four things, each linked to the others:

1. Contacts and companies: the people you talk to and the organizations they work for.
2. Opportunities in a pipeline: each possible deal, its value and the stage it has reached, such as qualified, proposal sent or won.
3. Activities and follow-ups: calls, meetings and the next step someone has promised.
4. Reports: how many deals are open, what they are worth and where they stall.

Many CRMs also connect to email and calendars so conversations are logged automatically. Whether a team needs that depends on how much of its selling happens in the inbox.

A CRM follows a client until the deal is won. A project or work management tool follows the work after that. For a service business the handover between the two is where details get lost: the scope agreed in the proposal, the budget and the contact who signs off.

Keeping both in one system means the won deal becomes a client and a project without copying anything. In PLYNTUM, won-deal handoff starts on Core and needs the right permission; see CRM in PLYNTUM and client management.

CRM core covers contacts, organizations, opportunities, a sales pipeline and manual follow-ups. Access depends on the plan, the person’s role and workspace permissions. The limits per plan are:

Internal proposal drafts and won-deal handoff start on Core; manual scoring and forecasts start on Scale. Inbox integration, sending proposals to clients by email and AI sales assistance are not available yet. A team that sells mainly through email sequences is better served today by a dedicated CRM; the small business CRM guide compares several.

See also CRM in PLYNTUM and all terms in the glossary.