What are the most common CRM platforms that small business clients use?

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What are the most common CRM platforms that small business clients use?

Small business clients can be anything from local service businesses—retail stores, flower shops, HVAC companies, digital marketing agencies—to other verticals. The best CRM depends on the specific niche, but the tools I see most often are ClickUp, Trello, Asana, and Basecamp for smaller organizations, while larger enterprises tend to use Salesforce or HubSpot. For specialized trades you can look for plumber‑specific or real‑estate‑specific CRMs. A good way to find options is to type the business vertical plus “CRM” into Google and review the top three results.

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What are the most common CRM platforms used by small businesses?

GoHighLevel has grown a lot in popularity and many small businesses are using it, especially in the agency space. Beyond that, general‑purpose CRMs like ClickUp are huge among digital agencies, and Trello remains a popular Kanban‑style board. Notion is also gaining traction, but if I had to pick one, ClickUp is probably the most widely adopted for a broad range of small businesses. Specific industries have niche CRMs—real‑estate, plumbing, etc.—but for a catch‑all solution, ClickUp tops the list.

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How selective should I be about the platforms I integrate for clients, especially regarding Salesforce?

It really depends on where you are in your career. Early on, I’d take Salesforce projects even if I wasn’t fully confident—they’re painful but great for skill acquisition. Once you’re running a high‑quality agency pulling in $20k+ a month, I’d steer clear of work outside my core expertise. My current approach is to look at a platform and see if it fits into a category I’m already comfortable with—most CRMs fall into either status‑based or sub‑task‑based models. If it’s status‑based, tools like Monday.com or ClickUp will feel familiar, so I usually pick a platform that aligns with what I already know.

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Should I offer CRM management as a freelancer, leveraging my existing experience, or pivot to automation consulting, and which is better long‑term?

The creator says you don't have to choose one or the other; you can combine CRM management with automation add‑ons. By keeping CRM as your core service you retain your social proof, while offering automation features (call logging, one‑click form fills, proposal drafting, automatic follow‑ups, invoice collection, onboarding) as enhancements. This lets you productize the CRM service and niche down. He notes that CRM (or project management) is the hub of a company's sales side, and the same ideas apply there. He personally does both and advises not to feel limited to a single offering.

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What do you suggest for a client-facing CRM, what is your take on establishing a brand from the beginning via white labeling, and how do you know which node to use in NADN to customize business processes?

Regarding a CRM, remember that a CRM is inherently client‑facing; if you build it in NADN you’re actually creating the back‑end automation, not the front‑end CRM itself. Prioritize consistency and clear communication—before posting, ask yourself what you’re trying to say and how to say it concisely. White‑labeling can be useful; you can white‑label many things for credibility, but you don’t need to dive deep—high‑level use (e.g., with GoHighLevel) is sufficient to make money. As for choosing NADN nodes, Maker School doesn’t prescribe which node to use; instead, go through the NADN Accelerator program, which teaches you the full NADN stack and how to build real workflows for clients.

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