CRM App Starter · Industry version
Consulting CRM Template
A CRM where deals are proposals and won work becomes engagements — generated into code your consultancy owns.
Selling services isn't selling a product: the deal is a scoped proposal, the close is a signed engagement, and next year's best pipeline is this year's client list. This starter builds the CRM around that loop and hands your firm the code.
- 6 core entities
- Kanban pipeline
- Code you own
- Vibe + Governed modes
01 · The problem
Why a generic CRM falls short
In a services firm the deal is a proposal, and proposals have a life a generic deal record can't hold: three versions, a scope that grew and shrank, options priced separately, a validity date. Flatten that into one amount field and you lose the negotiation history — and with it, any honest read on which scopes win and which get haggled down.
Selling and delivering are one system. Winning work the team can't staff next month is a failure that looks like success in a conquest-style pipeline, and the engagement you just finished is the most likely source of the next one. A CRM that forgets a client the moment the deal closes hides both the capacity risk and the renewal.
Then there's inbound. Agencies drown in inquiries that were never going to fit — wrong budget, wrong service, wrong timeline — and every hour spent scoping them is unbillable. Without structured fit signals in the schema, triage lives in one person's head and leaves with them.
02 · Data model
The data model, adapted
Everything in the base CRM starter —
companiescontactsleadsdealspipelinesactivities— plus the entities this industry actually runs on:
| table | what it holds |
|---|---|
proposals | Scoped, priced documents with version history and validity dates — the services shape of a deal, linked to company and deal. |
engagements | Won work with type (project or retainer), team, and start and end dates — the bridge from sale to delivery, and the source of renewals. |
03 · Screens
Modules through the industry lens
Proposal pipeline
01Stages mirror how services actually sell — inquiry, discovery, scoping, proposal out, negotiation, signed — and cards show the current proposal version and its expiry. A proposal aging past its validity date is the follow-up nobody should have to remember.
Fit-first lead scoring
02Scoring triages inbound on budget signals, service match, and source quality before anyone books a scoping call. Poor fits get a fast, polite no; strong fits get the senior person — and the rules for both are readable code in your repo.
Win-rate and renewal reporting
03Reports answer the partner-meeting questions: win rate by service line and source, proposal-to-signature time, pipeline weighed against delivery capacity, and every engagement end date surfaced as a renewal opportunity with a countdown.
04 · In practice
Workflows it models
Scoping call to signed engagement
01Discovery notes shape proposal v1; revisions accrue as versions instead of overwriting each other. Signature converts the proposal into an engagement carrying the final scope — delivery starts from a record, not a re-explanation.
Retainer renewal, ninety days out
02Engagements approaching their end date populate a renewal pipeline automatically. The timeline shows the relationship's health — delivered work, escalations, expansion conversations — so the renewal call is prepared, not improvised.
Turning delivery into referrals
03Closed engagements with strong outcomes trigger a referral ask as a queued activity. Source tracking then shows which clients actually send work — so the thank-you dinners go to the right people.
Consulting & Agency CRM template — frequently asked questions
How do proposals here relate to invoices?
Proposals are the selling document — scope, price, versions. Once work starts, billing belongs in an invoicing system; the invoicing app starter covers that, and since both generate code you own, an engagement can hand its line items straight to your invoice builder.
Can it manage both retainers and project work?
Yes — engagements carry a type, and reporting treats them differently: retainers drive the renewal calendar and recurring-revenue views, projects drive one-off pipeline and utilization. Firms running both see them in one place.
Does this replace our project management tool?
No — it ends where delivery begins. The engagement record is the handoff: scope, team, dates. For running the work itself there's a dedicated project management starter, and owning both codebases means the handoff can be a shared table instead of copy-paste.
Is it worth it for a solo consultant?
The starter is smallest-viable by design: companies, contacts, proposals, engagements. A solo practice runs the same loop at lower volume — and because there's no per-seat pricing, the tool never has to justify a subscription against irregular income.
Related
Dual7 App Starters
Build your Consulting & Agency CRM on your terms
A CRM where deals are proposals and won work becomes engagements — generated into code your consultancy owns. Describe your version to start — the output is a project you own.