Switching

From Excel to a CRM: how to make the switch

Most switches start with vendor demos. That is the wrong order. This plan starts with how you sell and ends with a team that still uses the CRM after go-live.

Thovar · Updated 21 October 2026 · 4 min read

When Excel stops being enough

Excel isn't the problem. With five salespeople and a manageable number of customers, a good spreadsheet works fine. It goes wrong as the company grows. More salespeople join, more quotes are out, and everyone keeps their own version of the list.

You'll notice a few familiar signs:

• The sales manager has to ask everyone to find out what's coming in next quarter.
• There are files like sales_opportunities_FINAL_v3 (2).xlsx on the drive, and nobody knows which one is right.
• When a salesperson leaves, what they knew about their customers leaves too.
• Quotes aren't followed up, because nobody can see which ones have been open for three weeks.
• Inside and field sales don't know who last spoke to a customer.

Recognise two or more? Then a CRM is probably worth it. With fewer than ten people, a spreadsheet is often genuinely enough.

Start with how you sell, not with the software

Most switches start with vendor demos. That's the wrong order. A demo shows what a system can do, not what you need. So first write down how a deal moves through your business, from first enquiry to order.

Ask yourself three questions:

1. Which steps does a salesperson actually take? For example: enquiry in, visit planned, quote sent, quote discussed, order. Each step should be something you can verify, not a feeling like "warm" or "promising".
2. How many different sales processes are there? A six-month project runs differently from a repeat order. That's often two pipelines.
3. Which questions does management want answered? Pick three to five, such as "what's coming in next quarter", "which quotes have been open for more than two weeks" and "how many new customers have we won this year". Everything you record in the CRM should help answer one of them.

Only then choose the system

With that on paper, you can compare systems. Have every vendor walk through the same situations: your own deal stages, a quote that needs following up, a salesperson entering a visit report on the road. Then you compare systems, not salespeople.

For most B2B companies with field sales, HubSpot, Pipedrive, Salesforce or Dynamics 365 come into view. In Which CRM fits a B2B company with a field sales team? we set out the differences.

Clean the data before you move it

This is where most switches go wrong. Import the Excel lists in one go and on day one you have a CRM full of duplicate companies and contacts who left years ago. Salespeople notice straight away, and trust is gone before they've started.

Do this first:

• One row per company. Merge duplicates. "Jansen BV", "Jansen B.V." and "Jansen Techniek" are often the same company.
• Contacts separately. In Excel, contacts often sit on the same row as the company. In a CRM they're separate records, linked to the company.
• Fixed values. Turn free text into picklists. "NL", "Netherlands" and "Holland" become one value.
• Don't move everything. Active customers, open deals and the last two or three years of history are usually enough. Archive the rest.
• Keep the original. An import that goes wrong can't always be undone.

Keep the CRM small at first

It's tempting to turn every Excel column into a field, and add a few wishes on top. Don't. Every field is something a salesperson has to fill in. Start with the fields that serve the three to five management questions, and only add more when someone genuinely asks for it.

Also make sure the CRM gives salespeople something back. Connect email and calendar so conversations are logged automatically. Have the system create a task when a quote has been open for a week. Then the CRM isn't admin, it's a tool.

Connect what prevents double entry

If quotes and orders live in the ERP, you want to see them in the CRM. Otherwise the pipeline value never matches reality, and salespeople enter everything twice. Decide up front which system leads for which data: customers, products, prices, quotes and invoices. Without that agreement, every integration will chafe.

Go-live: how to keep the team on board

1. Train in their own deals. Training with sample data doesn't stick. Have salespeople find and update their own customers and quotes.
2. Make Excel read-only. Pick a date. From then on the CRM is the only place deals live. Nobody keeps two systems going side by side.
3. Run the sales meeting from the CRM. Go through the pipeline on screen in the weekly meeting. If it isn't in there, it doesn't exist. That works better than any instruction.
4. Review after 30 and 90 days. Which fields aren't filled in, which stages do people skip? Adjust the system to how people actually work.

How long does it take?

For a B2B company with 20 to 150 employees, the switch usually takes two to three months: a few weeks to set down the process and requirements, a month to configure and migrate data, and a few weeks of go-live and adjustment. Choosing the system can be done in two weeks, if you know what you're looking for.

Then the real work starts: making sure the CRM is still right a year from now. Read more in Why salespeople don't use the CRM, and what does work.