Which CRM should I use?

Whichever fits how your business sells. I set up all of the popular ones and I am not paid by any of them. My own companies run on GoHighLevel and Zoho. The platform pages say what each tool is good at, where it is the wrong choice, and who should pick it.

What does a setup cost?

It is scoped in writing before work starts, and the scope is priced, not the hours. A missed-call text-back alone is a two-day build. A full setup with pipeline, calendars, follow-up and migration is two to four weeks. You get the number before you commit.

Who actually does the work?

I scope it and build the structure. My staff carry parts of the configuration and the documentation. Nothing ships without me reading it, and I am the one on the call.

No. I run a fractional operating practice. This is one service line of it. There is no retainer to sell you and no reason to make the CRM depend on me.

Do you work outside Southwest Florida?

The work is remote by design, so yes. The site is written for Lee, Collier and Charlotte counties because that is where I am and where I can sit in your office in the first week.

Your CRM was supposed to do this by now.

You bought a CRM, or you are running the business on a spreadsheet with ambitions. Leads still get answered when somebody remembers. Quotes still go quiet. The tool is fine. Nobody has decided how your business should use it.

I set up CRMs for Southwest Florida businesses the way I set them up for my own. Any of the popular platforms.

Send me the situation How it works

Answered personally, usually the same day. If a CRM is not what you need, I will say so.

Fort Myers, serving Lee, Collier and Charlotte counties
My own companies run on GoHighLevel and Zoho
Scoped in writing, priced before work starts
Your account, your data, documented as it is built

Twelve

companies operated, six of them his own

Two

CRM platforms run inside his own companies today, GoHighLevel and Zoho

3,984

inbound calls transcribed and graded to see what the CRM was missing

136,737

legacy contacts cleaned and loaded into working audiences

What gets set up

CRM setupYour CRM, on whichever platform fits, configured to how your business actually sells.Sales pipeline setupStages that match your real sales conversation, with a value and a date on every deal.Missed-call text-backA text within a minute of every missed call, with a way to book. Works from the truck.Appointment booking automationBooking links, reminders and rebooking that cut no-shows without a phone call.Review request automationThe ask goes out when the job is done. Unhappy customers reach you first.Lead follow-up automationA reply in a minute and a sequence that runs until they answer or say stop.CRM migrationFrom HubSpot, Zoho, Salesforce or a spreadsheet, without losing the history.Agency handoverYour number, your data and your automations back in an account you own.Call tracking setupA number per channel, every call in the CRM, and a report on what makes the phone ring.

How it works

Week one. The map.

A written description of how a lead becomes a customer in your business today. Every source, every handoff, every place it goes quiet. Most owners have never seen it on one page.

Week two. The build.

Pipeline, fields, tags, calendars, the missed-call text-back and the first follow-up sequence, configured to the map. Your account, your login.

Week three. Your team in it.

Staff using the system on real leads with me watching. This is where the setup gets corrected to how you actually work, and where the documentation gets finished.

After. It runs.

You own it. Support afterwards is by the hour, if you want it. Most clients need a few hours a quarter, usually to add something rather than fix something.

Built for the trades I have run

The fields, stages and follow-up rules a metals dealer needs are not the ones a contractor needs. These five are the sectors I have actually operated a CRM inside.

Precious metalsDealers, refiners, buyers and private vaults.Luxury retailJewelers, watch dealers, galleries and boutiques.ConstructionGeneral contractors, roofers, pool and seawall companies, remodelers and specialty trades.Legal servicesSolo and small firms, practice groups, and the referral networks that feed them.Real estateBrokerages, teams, apartment locators and property management groups.

Where I work

Each market here imposes one rule on how a CRM has to behave. The city pages say what it is.

Fort MyersTwo rhythms in one CRM: season, and the summer the follow-up has to carry.NaplesA residence status on every client and outreach before they fly back.Cape CoralMobile-first for the trades. The truck is the office.Bonita SpringsCounty on every lead, so two customers stop averaging into one.EsteroConsolidation. Five subscriptions into one system, process first.Punta GordaBuilt to be read by a buyer. Documented stages, named owners.

Any of these. The right one for you.

Ten platforms, each with what it is good at, where it is the wrong tool, and whether I have run my own business on it. I am not paid by any of them.

GoHighLevelCalling, texting, booking and follow-up in one flat-fee platform. Strong for local service businesses.HubSpotBest-in-class reporting and content marketing. Costs climb with contacts and tiers.Zoho CRMThe best value suite in small business software. Strongest when you already run Zoho Books or Inventory.SalesforceThe most capable CRM there is. Most owner-operated businesses are paying for scale they never use.PipedriveA clean, visual pipeline that salespeople actually use. Thin on marketing and phone automation.

monday CRMFlexible boards for teams already on monday.com. Less opinionated than a purpose-built CRM.KeapThe original small-business automation tool. Deep campaigns, an older interface, a loyal base.ActiveCampaignEmail automation first, CRM second. Excellent sequences, light on the phone.FreshsalesA clean mid-market CRM with built-in phone and a modern interface. Less known, worth a look.CloseBuilt for inside sales teams that live on the phone. Calling, texting and sequences native.

Straight answers

Which CRM should I use?: Whichever fits how your business sells. I set up all of the popular ones and I am not paid by any of them. My own companies run on GoHighLevel and Zoho. The platform pages say what each tool is good at, where it is the wrong choice, and who should pick it.
What does a setup cost?: It is scoped in writing before work starts, and the scope is priced, not the hours. A missed-call text-back alone is a two-day build. A full setup with pipeline, calendars, follow-up and migration is two to four weeks. You get the number before you commit.
Who actually does the work?: I scope it and build the structure. My staff carry parts of the configuration and the documentation. Nothing ships without me reading it, and I am the one on the call.
Are you an agency?: No. I run a fractional operating practice. This is one service line of it. There is no retainer to sell you and no reason to make the CRM depend on me.
Do you work outside Southwest Florida?: The work is remote by design, so yes. The site is written for Lee, Collier and Charlotte counties because that is where I am and where I can sit in your office in the first week.

Tell me what is in the way.

One form. Read by the person who would do the work. If a CRM is not the answer, you will hear that first.

Send me the situation Email instead