30% of leads get lost in spreadsheets. Real case: how CRM reduced losses from 30% to 5% and increased sales by 40%.
"We have everything in Excel, works fine."
That's what Dmytro said, owner of construction company. 15 employees, 200+ requests per month. Everything in Google Sheet.
I ask: "How many requests convert to deals?"
"About 20-25%"
"How many requests do you lose?"
"What do you mean lose?"
We looked at the sheet. Found:
- 15 requests without any comments (manager forgot to process)
- 12 requests with last contact month ago (client didn't respond, forgot to call back)
- 8 requests recorded twice (duplicates)
- 5 requests handled by wrong manager (confusion)
Total: 40 lost requests out of 200. That's 20%. Plus another 10% lost in other holes.
Lost requests = lost money. If average check $2000, that's $80000/month.
After 2 months of CRM implementation:
- Conversion: 35% (was 25%)
- Lost requests: 5% (was 30%)
- Revenue: +40%
**Why Excel Doesn't Work for Sales**
Excel — great tool. For finance, analytics, calculations. But not for working with clients.
**Problem #1: Everything Manual**
Request came from site. Manager:
1. Copies data to sheet
2. Calls client
3. Records call result in sheet
4. Sets reminder on phone "Call back in 2 days"
5. In 2 days looks at reminder, searches for client in sheet again
5 steps instead of one. Each time risk of forgetting.
**Problem #2: No Control**
Manager doesn't see:
- How many requests each manager handles
- At what stage clients get stuck
- Who works well, who sabotages
- Why clients refuse
No data. Can't manage.
**What CRM Changes**
**1. Automation**
Request from site → automatically goes to CRM → automatically assigned to manager → automatic reminder "Call back in 2 hours".
Manager just calls. Everything else — automatic.
**2. Sales Funnel**
CRM shows stages:
- New lead → 50 requests
- First call → 35 requests
- Sent commercial proposal → 20 requests
- Negotiating contract → 10 requests
- Deal closed → 7 deals
See where clients get stuck? "Sent proposal → Negotiation" — 50% loss. Means problem with proposal or long negotiation.
**Real Case: Construction Company**
**Before (Excel):**
- 200 requests/month
- Conversion to deal: 25% (50 deals)
- Average check: $2000
- Revenue: $100000/month
- Lost requests: 30% (60 requests)
**After (CRM):**
- 200 requests/month (same)
- Conversion: 35% (70 deals)
- Average check: $2000
- Revenue: $140000/month
- Lost requests: 5%
**Increase:** +$40000/month. CRM cost: $50/month. ROI: 800%.
**Conclusion**
Excel — is a tool of the past. For small team (2-3 people) — still tolerable. For 5+ people — it's chaos.
30% lost leads — standard for Excel companies. CRM reduces this to 5-10%.
Dmytro now says: "How did we even work before?"
Wasted time on manual work, lost clients, didn't understand what was happening. CRM fixed all this.
Want to check how many leads you're losing? Write — we'll conduct free audit of your sales system.
