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.
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.
He explains that IT companies are service businesses and follow the same funnel as any other service business: lead generation, sales (discovery/scoping call), conversion (proposal/agreement/invoice), onboarding (kickoff call), fulfillment (building IT systems), and retention (ongoing management/managed service). Because the funnel is universal, you can adapt systems from other niches—cold‑email, speed‑to‑lead (PPC), content (SEO), automated referral/follow‑up/reactivation, proposal generator, asset generator, CRM, sales admin, webhook‑triggered kickoff calls, AI‑generated project briefs, and a template library for one‑click implementation. The key is to take a bird’s‑eye view, draw inspiration from adjacent niches, and teach the client to fish rather than give them a fish.
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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.
Sure. First, don’t over‑invest in the blog unless the startup is a low‑ticket SaaS where SEO and content can drive a lot of volume. For larger or agency‑type businesses, the blog isn’t a priority. Keep the CRM extremely simple – they probably have no money and no existing leads, so a lightweight system is enough. Don’t build a massive, custom CRM that can handle half‑a‑million clients before you actually have that many; you’ll waste time and resources. Focus on outbound email and cold‑email outreach; that’s the most effective channel for high‑ticket sales, while low‑ticket SaaS will rely more on volume and SEO. Use AI tools to help generate content chunks, but never let the content be 100 % AI‑generated. Keep the tech stack lean and iterate as the startup grows.