What a practice CRM should do that a sales CRM won't
Most CRMs are built to win new customers. An accounting practice mainly needs to serve the clients it already has. That changes what good looks like.
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Search for a CRM and almost everything you find is built for the same job: move a stranger down a pipeline until they buy. That is a real problem, but it is not the problem an accounting practice has most of the time.
In a practice, the sale is the easy part. The work begins the moment someone becomes a client, and then repeats every year, for every client, forever.
The pipeline ends in the wrong place#
A sales CRM is organised around stages that finish: lead, qualified, proposal, won. Once a record reaches "won", the tool has essentially done its job and stops being interesting.
For a practice, "won" is the starting line. What you need to see after that is a recurring cycle: what is due, for whom, what is still missing and what was filed last time. Those are not pipeline stages. They are a calendar crossed with a checklist, repeating per client.
This is why practices end up with a spreadsheet beside the CRM. The CRM holds who the client is; the spreadsheet holds what is actually happening.
What a practice version has to hold#
Four things, and most of the pain comes from the last two:
Client records. Not just a contact, but the entities: the company, its number, its year end, who signs, which deadlines apply.
Recurring deadlines. Generated from the client's circumstances rather than typed in by hand each year, because the hand-typed version is where the gaps appear.
Document requests. Who has been asked for what, when they were asked, what has arrived, and what is still outstanding. Most of the time lost in a small practice goes here, and almost none of it is tracked anywhere systematic.
History. What was filed, when, and by whom. This matters on the day a client asks a question about something from two years ago, and on the day a colleague is away.
The test for whether you need one#
Not client count. Ask instead: if the person who knows the most were off for a fortnight, could someone else tell a client exactly where their work stands?
If the answer is no, the process is living in a head rather than a system, and that is the risk a practice CRM is actually there to remove. Everything else it does is convenience.
Ask where the data lives#
Whatever you pick, you stay the data controller for your clients' personal data and the provider is your processor. Before you move records in, get clear answers on where data is hosted, who can access it, how long it is retained and whether the provider will sign data processing terms. A tool that cannot answer those plainly is not ready for client records.
What we are building#
Our CRM for accounting practices is built around this shape: clients, deadlines, document requests and history together, rather than a sales pipeline with accounting bolted on. It is in development, and early access is open now.
Frequently asked questions
Can an accounting practice just use a normal sales CRM?
It can, but the shape is wrong. A sales CRM is built around a deal that closes. In a practice, winning the client is the beginning: the real work is a repeating cycle of deadlines, records and filings for the same people every year.
What should a practice CRM track that a sales CRM does not?
Recurring statutory deadlines per client, which documents have been requested and which have arrived, who is waiting on whom, and the history of what was filed when. Those are the things that cause problems when they live in someone's memory.
Is a CRM worth it for a very small practice?
It depends less on client count than on how many places your information lives. Two people sharing one clear system is usually fine. One person with a spreadsheet, a calendar, an inbox and some sticky notes is already paying the cost of not having one.
What about client data and UK GDPR?
You remain the data controller for your clients' personal data, and your software provider is your processor. Check where data is hosted, who can access it, how long it is kept and whether the provider will sign data processing terms.