Know where things stand
and what needs you next.

Who did you promise to call? Where’s the brief? Has someone picked up that task?

A customer relationship management system, or CRM, helps you keep track of people and the work around them. I build bespoke CRMs and connected team workspaces for small businesses and charities in South Yorkshire and beyond, making those everyday questions easier to answer.

Talk about your system

Contact records, a calendar and tasks fitting together

Keep the context close.

I went to Shaun at BYOP to help me build a better comms system in my business, and to design something to make managing tasks more efficient. He’s saved me so much time, I feel like I have an extra day a week to actually get in front of my customers and generate more business.

John SmithCreativesmith

Built around the people
using them.

I built Platform One for the client work in my own business, and sPHere for the work of the PHA UK team. They show how a connected system can serve different jobs.

Platform One

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Platform One: Pick up where you left off — Pick up where you left off
Enquiries and existing clients have their own place, with the next action beside each relationship. It’s easier to follow up a proposal or check on a client when you can see where things stand.
Fictional records

Platform One: Follow the invoice through to payment — Follow the invoice through to payment
Drafts, invoices awaiting payment and overdue balances sit in one view, with recent payments alongside. That gives you a clear list of what needs sending, checking or chasing.
Fictional records

Platform One: Let clients see how things are going — Let clients see how things are going
Clients get their own dashboard with project progress, billing and documents, plus somewhere to ask for help. They can check an update when it suits them, and you have a shared place to keep the conversation going.
Fictional records

Built to run my own business

I built Platform One around the way I run BYOP: enquiries, client records, projects, proposals, agreements and invoices. Everything about a client lives in one place, from the first enquiry to the last invoice, with the next action beside each relationship.

A window for my clients too

Clients get their own dashboard with project progress, billing and documents, plus somewhere to ask for help. They can check an update when it suits them, and I can see what needs sending, checking or chasing without piecing it together from an inbox.

sPHere

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sPHere: Find the work behind the question — Find the work behind the question
One search brings back matches from across the workspace, with their location shown beside them. You can find a publication or a project without remembering which section it lives in.
Fictional records

sPHere: See where the work needs a hand — See where the work needs a hand
Project owners, priorities and deadlines sit alongside progress. Work that’s blocked or overdue comes to the top, so the team can decide where to spend their time.
Fictional records

sPHere: Keep useful information up to date — Keep useful information up to date
The resource library keeps publications with their review dates, versions and stock levels. The team can see what needs updating or reordering before somebody asks for it.
Fictional records

sPHere: Start with who and what — Start with who and what
Choose the kind of project, give it a name and decide who’s carrying it. Research, content and magazine work each have their own starting point, so people aren’t faced with the same blank form for everything.
Fictional records

sPHere: Give the team a starting plan — Give the team a starting plan
Add dates, priority and a note on where things stand. A research project can start with tasks for ethics review, the survey, recruitment and analysis, already linked to the project.
Fictional records

One place for a whole team’s work

A team’s projects, tasks and knowledge need to join up. I built sPHere around the way the PHA UK team works, so people can see what needs attention, follow the work through and start a new project with a ready-made plan instead of a blank form.

Information people can rely on

The publications library sits in the same workspace, with review dates, versions and stock levels, so the team can see what needs updating or reordering before somebody asks. One search finds a publication or a project without anyone having to remember where it lives.

Enough context to
pick the work back up.

You shouldn’t have to remember the contents of every conversation to give someone a good service. The useful information needs to be easy to find, with an obvious next step.

Who are you helping?

Contact details, the enquiry and the relevant history.

What have you agreed?

The brief, related documents and the project it belongs to.

Who is doing what?

A task, an owner and a useful view of what needs attention.

Already using Notion?

I know it very well. That experience is useful whether you’re keeping it, connecting another tool to it or working out where you’ve reached its limits.

Plan B’s time and invoicing app works with its existing Notion records. Platform One and sPHere show the bespoke-workspace route. The choice comes down to what you need to do, who needs access and the costs of looking after it.

I’ll look at the information you need to keep before suggesting a move. Any migration needs a plan for checking the records and helping people settle into the new way of working.

See the Plan B example

A few things you might be wondering.

Does everything have to move into one system?

No. Some information may be better left in an existing tool. I’ll work out which connections are useful and practical, and what needs to stay separate.

Can different people see different things?

Access is part of the design. I’ll ask who needs to read, change or manage each part of the system, then agree and test those permissions within the build.

What will it cost, and how long will it take?

That depends on the work involved, including existing data and connections to other tools. I’ll agree the scope, price and likely timeline before the build starts.

Will I be able to take my information with me?

Ownership, export and handover should be clear from the start. I’ll explain what can be exported, how access is managed and what hosting, licences or ongoing support you’ll need.

Show me how
you keep track now.

You don’t need to tidy it up for me first. Seeing the awkward bits is rather the point.

Let’s talk it through Explore other apps & business systems

Know where things stand
and what needs you next.