Find your CRM route in 8 minutes.
CRM is an operating-model decision, not a software decision. Answer a short diagnostic about how you sell, service, report and scale, and get a preliminary route: optimise, augment, replace, or define the model first. A senior consultant reads every answer.
Where are you starting from?
How many people work in the business?
Which best describes your sector?
What runs your customer record today?
What's prompting this review?
What's the main goal?
How the diagnostic scores CRM fit
We score nine weighted areas rather than comparing feature lists. Sales pipeline fit at 15 percent. Workflow automation at 15 percent. Marketing capability, service and support capability, AI capability, reporting and dashboards, integrations and data architecture, ease of use and adoption, and total cost of ownership, at 10 percent each.
Each platform scores 1 to 5 per area, weighted to a figure out of 100. For a typical operationally complex SME that gives indicative scores of HubSpot 86, Salesforce 82, Zoho 78, Microsoft Dynamics 72, Pipedrive 70 and Katalyst 64. Those numbers are the start of a conversation, not a verdict: the weights should move with your operating model, and that is the whole point of the diagnostic.
The four routes
- Optimise. The platform is right, the configuration is not. Usually the cheapest and fastest answer.
- Augment. Keep the core and add the missing layer, typically reporting, service or marketing automation.
- Replace. The platform genuinely cannot model how you operate, or the cost has drifted past the value.
- Define the model first. The process is not settled enough for any CRM decision to be safe yet.
Common questions
- How do I know if I need a new CRM or just a better one?
- Optimise what you have if the platform can do what you need but nobody configured it that way, if adoption is patchy because the stages do not match how the team sells, or if it is simply not connected to finance and the inbox where work arrives. Replace it only if the platform genuinely cannot model your sales or service motion, if the data model blocks the reporting you need, or if integration is economically absurd.
- Which CRM scores best for an operational SME?
- On our nine-area weighting, for a typical operationally complex SME: HubSpot 86 out of 100, Salesforce 82, Zoho 78, Microsoft Dynamics 72, Pipedrive 70 and Katalyst 64. Those are indicative. The weights should change with your operating model, which is what this diagnostic works out.
- What does the diagnostic actually give me?
- One of four routes: optimise what you run, augment it, replace it, or define the operating model first. You also get a supporting category read and the key risks. A senior consultant reads every submission, so it is a preliminary route rather than an automated verdict.
- Is it free, and will I get a sales call?
- It is free, and no. We reply within two working days with the read. If we do not think we are the right firm to help, we say so.
Want the reasoning rather than the tool? Read the CRM advisory page, or work through the full CRM selection briefing.