Free CRM course by CodingCafe

Sell Smarter with CRM

Learn CRM one short lesson at a time: from "what is a CRM?" to running your sales and customer relationships on one.

A plain-English series for business owners and teams. Each lesson answers one question about Customer Relationship Management, with examples you can apply straight away.

  • 5modules
  • 23lessons
  • 128min of reading
Start with Lesson 1 Latest: Module 5 · Lesson 4

Module 1

CRM Foundations

What a CRM is, what it changes, and how to tell whether your business needs one.

What Is A Crm? A Simple Guide L1 Read Lesson 1 · 4 min read What Is a CRM? A Simple Guide for Businesses A CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system keeps all your customer information in one place: contacts, enquiries, conversations, follow-ups and notes. Instead of searching spreadsheets, inboxes and… Crm Benefits For Business L2 Read Lesson 2 · 6 min read What Can a CRM Do for Your Business? A CRM does six jobs for a business: it captures every enquiry, remembers each customer's history, reminds the team to follow up, hands work over when… Spreadsheet Or Crm Outgrowing Excel L3 Read Lesson 3 · 5 min read Spreadsheet or CRM: 7 Signs You Have Outgrown Excel A business has outgrown spreadsheets for customers when there is more than one copy of the list, follow-ups have no owner, customer history lives in people's… How Much Does Crm Cost L4 Read Lesson 4 · 6 min read How Much Does a CRM Cost, and What Do You Really Pay For? A CRM is paid for in one of two ways: a subscription per user per month, or a one-time custom build with a smaller yearly support… Crm Myths Vs Reality Banner L5 Read Lesson 5 · 6 min read 5 CRM Myths That Stop Small Businesses The five beliefs that stop small businesses adopting a CRM are that it is only for big companies, that the team will not use it, that…

Module 2

Setting Up Your First CRM

Turning how your business already works into a CRM, before touching any software.

Map Your Sales Process L1 Read Lesson 1 · 6 min read Map Your Sales Process Before You Pick a CRM Before choosing a CRM, write down the stages a customer passes through in your business, from enquiry to repeat order. Find them by listing the steps… Crm Know About Each Customer L2 Read Lesson 2 · 6 min read What Should a CRM Know About Each Customer? A CRM should record only what someone will act on: who the customer is and where they came from, what they want, where the deal is… Capturing Enquiries L3 Read Lesson 3 · 6 min read Capturing Enquiries From Website, WhatsApp and Phone in One Place Enquiries reach a business through three kinds of door: website and portal forms, WhatsApp and social messages, and phone calls or walk-ins. Forms should create a… Follow Up Rules The Part Of A Crm That Makes Money L4 Read Lesson 4 · 5 min read Follow-Up Rules: The Part of a CRM That Makes Money Most sales are lost because nobody followed up a second time, not because of price. A follow-up rule has a trigger, a first touch, a second… Getting Your Team To Actually Use The Crm L5 Read Lesson 5 · 6 min read Getting Your Team to Actually Use the CRM Teams use a CRM when it gives them something on day one (leads already entered, a today list, message templates), asks for only five fields, explains…

Module 3

Running Sales and Marketing on a CRM

The weekly rhythm once the CRM is live: reviews, automation, campaigns, reports.

The 20 Minute Weekly Pipeline Review L1 Read Lesson 1 · 6 min read The 20-Minute Weekly Pipeline Review A weekly pipeline review is twenty minutes, same time every week, run from the CRM screen with five fixed questions: what came in and from where,… Crm Automation For Small Teams Reminders, Assignments And Alerts L2 Read Lesson 2 · 6 min read CRM Automation for Small Teams: Reminders, Assignments and Alerts Automate when and who, not what to say. For a small team the four rules that pay back first are auto-assigning new enquiries with a first-reply… Email And Whatsapp Campaigns From Your Crm L3 Read Lesson 3 · 5 min read Email and WhatsApp Campaigns From Your CRM A CRM campaign is a message to a segment, a group chosen by what the CRM knows about them, not a blast to everyone. Three campaigns… 5 Crm Reports Every Business Owner Should Read L4 Read Lesson 4 · 6 min read 5 CRM Reports Every Business Owner Should Read A business owner needs five CRM reports on one screen: new enquiries by source with conversions, conversion by stage to find where deals are lost, response… After The Sale Using A Crm For Customer Service And Repeat Business L5 Read Lesson 5 · 5 min read After the Sale: Using a CRM for Customer Service and Repeat Business The first sale is the expensive one; everything after it is cheaper and mostly lost because nothing records or reminds. Keep service requests, renewal and re-order…

Module 4

Advanced CRM

Integrations, roles and data safety, custom workflows, and measuring the return.

Connecting Your Crm To Accounts, Website And Ads L1 Read Lesson 1 · 6 min read Connecting Your CRM to Accounts, Website and Ads Connect the CRM to the systems your team retypes into most: website and ad lead forms first, so enquiries arrive in a minute with their source;… Roles, Permissions And Keeping Customer Data Safe L2 Read Lesson 2 · 6 min read Roles, Permissions and Keeping Customer Data Safe Give CRM access by role, not by person: owner, sales manager, salesperson and support usually cover it. Limit export and delete to the owner, mask sensitive… Custom Fields And Workflows Making The Crm Fit Your Business L3 Read Lesson 3 · 5 min read Custom Fields and Workflows: Making the CRM Fit Your Business Custom fields hold the parts of your process a CRM did not come with, like visa type, unit status or dealer tier; workflows act when those… Measuring Crm Roi Is It Paying Back L4 Read Lesson 4 · 5 min read Measuring CRM ROI: Is It Paying Back? CRM return comes from more sales and time saved. Extra profit a year is enquiries per month times the rise in conversion times average sale times…

Module 5

CRM in Your Industry

The whole series applied to immigration, real estate, manufacturing and sales teams.

Crm For Immigration Consultants From Enquiry To Visa To After Landing L1 Read Lesson 1 · 5 min read CRM for Immigration Consultants: From Enquiry to Visa to After-Landing An immigration consultancy needs a CRM built around cases, not deals: stages from enquiry and eligibility through documents, filing and decision to after-landing services. The case… Crm For Real Estate Agencies Leads, Site Visits And Closures L2 Read Lesson 2 · 6 min read CRM for Real Estate Agencies: Leads, Site Visits and Closures A real estate CRM is built around the site visit and the unit. Portal and ad leads arrive in a minute, assigned, with one record per… Crm For Manufacturers And Distributors Dealers, Quotes And Repeat Orders L3 Read Lesson 3 · 6 min read CRM for Manufacturers and Distributors: Dealers, Quotes and Repeat Orders A manufacturer or distributor needs two pipelines in its CRM: one for winning new accounts (enquiry, quote, sample, first order) and one for keeping existing dealers… Crm For Sales And Marketing Teams The Generic Setup That Fits Most Smes L4 Read Lesson 4 · 5 min read CRM for Sales and Marketing Teams: The Generic Setup That Fits Most SMEs Most small sales-led businesses can run on one starter CRM setup: a six or seven stage pipeline from new enquiry to onboarding, six required fields, website,…

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