Having a custom CRM built: what you need to know
For years, custom software was something for companies with an IT department of their own. Reusable building blocks and a subscription model have changed that. This article is about when a CRM of your own makes sense, what it costs and where it goes wrong.
When a CRM of your own makes sense
Three signals come up in almost every conversation:
- Your process does not fit a pipeline of steps. A quote request to five parties at once, a fleet with expiring contracts, a file that an external party works in. In a package that becomes a row of loose fields and an Excel sheet on the side.
- External parties need to log in. Clients, dealers, subcontractors, call centres. With a package you pay per login, or they stay outside the system.
- You use a fraction of a package and work around it. Zapier links, manual exports, three tools side by side.
When it does not make sense: a standard sales process with many users, because then a package is cheaper. And an organisation where nobody wants to own the system, because custom software needs someone who says what has to change. The choice between the two routes is in CRM implementation: standard or custom.
What a custom CRM looks like
Not designs, but six screens from CRMs running at clients today: a webshop dashboard, budgets per employee, an order screen that updates the client, an email timeline, a quote request to five leasing companies and a client portal. Every screen is built on the same base; only the process on top differs.
The overview the day starts with
Open orders, returns and stock alerts sit on one screen, in the shop's own terms. Whoever logs in sees straight away where action is needed.
From the CRM of IT'S PAWSOME
A budget per employee, requests via the manager
Every employee has a clothing budget; anything beyond it goes to the manager as a request. Allocated, spent and remaining are on one screen per department, with no spreadsheet on the side.
From the CRM of RoPa Workwear
Updating the client from the order screen
An order shows what was ordered, what has shipped and what is still open. From that same screen a message goes to the client, with a text you adjust yourself first.
From the CRM of RoPa Workwear
All mail with the client, in order
What has been sent sits in a timeline with the client, including the text that went out. Nobody has to search a mailbox for who mailed what and when.
From the CRM of IT'S PAWSOME
The client's question in fixed steps
Requests come in through an intake with fixed fields, so a request is always complete. What the client fills in lands straight in the case file.
From the CRM of De Leasebaas
The client follows their own case file
Clients log in and see their own proposals, documents and status. They only see what has been shared with them.
From the CRM of De Leasebaas
Two ways: project or subscription
Having a CRM built can be done as a classic project, with a quote and a delivery, or as a subscription where build, hosting and ongoing development sit in a monthly amount.
| Project (classic custom build) | Subscription | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost up front | The build, usually tens of thousands of euros | None |
| Changes after go-live | Per quote, per hour | Within the monthly amount, in order of priority |
| Hosting and management | Arrange it yourself or a management contract | Included |
| Ownership of the code | Yours, once the build is paid for | With the builder; transfer by agreement |
| Risk | Scope and budget overrun | You are tied to a minimum term, usually 12 months |
| Fits | A defined build that then stands still | A process that keeps changing |
The difference is in what happens after delivery. In a project every change is a new conversation about money. In a subscription the change is the product.
What it costs
As a project. Hourly rates run from €75 to €125 for freelancers to €185 for agencies. A CRM with files, roles, email, documents and a portal is 300 to 800 hours of work, so €30,000 to €100,000. Then come hosting (€50 to €200 per month) and maintenance; count on 15 to 20 percent of the build sum per year.
As a subscription. Our own model as an example: €200 per month including the first user, €75 per additional user, portal users €20 per bundle of 20, no setup costs, 12-month term. A team of five pays €500 per month and that includes build, hosting, management and ongoing development. That works because every client starts on a base that is already running.
How that compares with Pipedrive, HubSpot and Salesforce, with worked examples over three years, is in What does a CRM system cost?
No setup costs. A working base within weeks. Minimum term of 12 months, then cancellable monthly with 1 month's notice. All amounts exclude VAT.
How a project runs
With us a project looks like this. With other builders the names differ, the steps do not.
- Intake. You explain how the work goes now: who works in it, what has to be in it, which integrations. With us that is a half-hour chat on the site; out of it come a requirements document and a price indication.
- The base is up within weeks. Login, roles, companies, contacts, files with a status line, email, documents and a portal. That is the same for every client and does not need rebuilding.
- Your process on top. In short rounds: first the part that costs the most time, then the rest. You see every week what is there.
- Go-live with your existing data. From Excel, from the old package, from the mailbox.
- Ongoing development. You submit requests from inside the system. They are built in order of priority.
What that looks like in practice is shown by De Leasebaas: fleet, quote requests to leasing companies and a client portal, live within weeks of the intake.
From practice
Custom CRM in practice
Custom CRMA custom CRM for De Leasebaas, including a customer login
One request goes out word for word identical to every leasing company. What comes back is read out and put side by side, so comparing is no longer a reading exercise.
Read the story
Custom CRMA CRM of its own for Next Win, used by external callers too
An internal CRM that external callers work in too, without seeing more than their own call list. That separation lives in the database, not in the screen.
Read the story
Custom CRM + webshopOne system for RoPa Workwear, with clothing management at its core
Clothing management for business customers sits at the core of the system: a budget per employee, sizes per person, and a request that goes past the manager.
Read the story
Custom CRM + webshopA custom CRM and webshop for IT'S PAWSOME
One paid order writes off stock, files the invoice in the bookkeeping and registers the shipment. A repeated message from the payment provider changes nothing.
Read the story
Custom CRM + webshop, under constructionOne environment for Hartog Outdoor Living, from webshop to customer portal
Webshop, configurator, customer portal and CRM are being built as one environment, with a single go live. This story describes a project in progress, not a result.
Read the storyWhere it goes wrong
The projects that fail usually have one of these six causes:
- Building without the process on paper. Then the developer builds what they think you mean.
- Wanting everything at once. Six months of building without anyone using it, and then step three turns out to need to be different.
- No owner on the client side. Someone has to make decisions, weekly.
- Exotic technology. A framework that three developers in the country know is a risk on the day the builder disappears.
- No agreements on data and continuity. Do you get an export? What happens if the builder stops?
- Changes that only happen after a quote. Then the system stays as it was at delivery, while the business moves on.
Seven questions for every builder
Ask these questions before you sign, including to us:
- Who owns the data, and how do I get it back if we stop?
- What happens if you cease to exist?
- What technology is it built on, and how many developers in the country know it?
- What does a change after go-live cost, and how quickly is it there?
- Are hosting, backups and security updates included?
- How long am I tied in, and what does cancelling cost?
- Can I see a running system of another client?
A vague answer to any of these questions is a warning. Our answers are on the product page, including the answer that we keep the source code ourselves and transfer it by agreement, and that you always receive your data in full on termination.
In short
Having a custom CRM built makes sense when your process does not fit a pipeline, when external parties need to look in, or when you use a fraction of a package. As a project it costs €30,000 to €100,000 plus maintenance; as a subscription a few hundred euros per month without setup costs. Put the process on paper, appoint an owner and ask the seven questions. Then custom software is no longer a gamble.
Wondering whether your process fits a custom CRM?
Tell us in half an hour how the work goes now. You get a straight answer, even if a standard package fits better.