Your CRM Is Calling - Three Reasons Every Designer Should Start One Before 2026

Instagram is exhausting. The emotional fallout many creatives feel from endlessly feeding the platform deserves its own diagnostic category. On the one hand, free access to a global marketing stage is a privilege. On the other, the algorithm can turn overnight, erasing momentum, derailing strategy, and leaving a designer bereft, wondering, "Where has everybody gone?!".

Which is why building your own marketing network - one you own, one you control - must sit at the heart of any serious business strategy. And yet, for most Tier Two designers I work with - and more than a few in Tier Three (read about Tiers here) - this is the area left untouched.

The biggest regret I hear from established designers?  That they didn’t develop the simple weekly habit of pausing and tending to their contacts.

Not Instagram followers, not passing likes, but actual human relationships: the quiet, consistent nurturing of a mailing list and CRM.

Welcome to the designer’s most underused business asset, a simple weekly discipline that, once established, delivers disproportionate value. There is a tipping point where the maintenance is minimal, the pipeline becomes dependable, and your studio feels anchored by a system so effective it becomes a source of genuine pride.

Part One: Why a CRM Is a Strategic Asset (Not Just Another Admin Chore)

CRM - Customer/Client Relationship Management - is simply a structured way of keeping track of the humans connected to your business: who they are, what they need, where they are in your process, and when you last spoke to them. It’s the system that holds your relationships, your pipeline, your follow-ups, and your future opportunities, so your head doesn’t have to.

Many of us treat our CRM, if we have one at all, as an address book. An untidy and dusty corner of the business. A chore.

But a CRM is not admin. It is infrastructure. It is future revenue. It is relationship continuity.

It is, quite literally, your commercial memory.

THREE REASONS WHY IT MATTERS: 

1. It protects your pipeline

Enquiries go cold not because clients change their minds, but because designers get busy and forget to follow up. A CRM prevents revenue leak. It makes your future business visible.

2. It elevates the client experience

When you can instantly see a client’s preferences, project history, or the last conversation you had, you’re not improvising the relationship, you’re stewarding it. This feels high-end, organised, and trustworthy.

3. It builds a business you can actually grow

A business that lives only in your head cannot scale: a business with systems can.

For Tier Two designers, a CRM marks the moment you cross from “busy creative” to “intentional business owner.”

For Tier Three, it’s the difference between running at full capacity and running strategically.

Part Two: How to Build a CRM in Under an Hour (Excel Is Enough)

Most designers imagine CRM systems are complicated, expensive, or only for large firms.

They’re not.

For now - honestly - an Excel spreadsheet is enough to transform your business. When you start to see the potential, the value, you might decide to port it to a custom platform.

Below is the simple structure. These are the only columns you need to run a meaningful, reliable relationship database. No coding. No formulas. No software subscriptions. Just clarity.

TIP: If you aren’t sure how to create dropdown menus or turn your sheet into a sortable table, ask your AI assistant, it will walk you through the clicks far faster than any written manual. It is very simple and worth establishing the best utility from the start.

TRACKING CLIENTS - The Core CRM Columns Every Interior Designer Needs

Contact & Project Basics

• Contact ID
• First Name
• Last Name
• Email
• Phone
• Address / Area
• How They Found You (Instagram, Referral, Google, Architect…)
• Contact Type (Lead / Current Client / Past Client)

Project Information

• Project Name / Reference
• Property Type (Flat, House, Listed…)
• Stage in the Journey
• New Enquiry
• Discovery Call Booked
• Proposal Sent
• Active Project
• On Hold
• Lost
• Completed
• Estimated Project Value (£)
• Service Type (Design Only, Full Service, FF&E, Kitchen etc.)

Communication & Follow-Up

• Date of First Contact
• Date of Last Contact
• Date of Next Follow-Up
• Communication Channel (Email, Phone, WhatsApp)
• Consent for Marketing? (Yes/No)

Notes & Human Touchpoints

• Client Preferences (style, pace, communication quirks)
• Project Notes / Red Flags / Decisions
• Referral Source Name
• Potential Phase 2? (Yes/No/Maybe)

That’s it. If you filled in only these fields consistently, your business would change.

A Note on ‘Contact Type’, and Why Your CRM Should Hold More Than Clients

One of the most valuable shifts a designer can make is to stop thinking of a CRM as a client list, and instead see it as a map of their entire commercial ecosystem.

Under Contact Type, don’t just record Client, Lead, or Past Client.

This is also the place to capture every other category of person who could influence the health, ease, or profitability of your studio.

You might include:

• Contractors / Builders
• Architects
• Surveyors
• Joiners & Cabinetmakers
• Decorators
• Suppliers
• Showroom Contacts
• PR Contacts
• Journalists
• Photographers
• Stylists
• Estate Agents
• Introducers / Referral Partners
• Accountants / Bookkeepers
• VA / Admin Support
• Industry Experts / Coaches

Your CRM should become the home for everyone who might contribute to or benefit from your work.

This is how a designer builds social capital with intention rather than accident. When set up this way, a CRM stops being a list and becomes a network. And once your network is visible, you can actually use it.

I'd like to come back to using your CRM in future, however, in the UHNW space (you can watch my webinars on selling to Ultra High Net Worth clients here), relationships are built through precision and personal attention. Your CRM becomes the tool that lets you track - and beautifully deliver - the small, meaningful gestures: a hand-written note at the right moment, a seasonal gift chosen with care, a thoughtful follow-up months after installation.

Tagging: The Design Studio’s Smallest but Most Powerful Habit

If there is one practice that will elevate your CRM from “nice idea” to “precision instrument”, it’s consistent naming and tagging.

Tagging is the practice of assigning consistent labels to each entry in your CRM so you can sort, filter, and group people with precision. The key is to decide your naming system in advance and stick to it rigorously; without consistency, your CRM fragments and becomes impossible to use meaningfully.

Your ability to filter, segment, and extract meaningful subsets depends entirely on consistent language.

Which columns should use tags?

At a minimum:

• Contact Type - example 'tags': Lead, Current Client, Past Client, Contractor, Supplier, Architect, Introducer
• Stage in Journey - e.g. New Enquiry, Proposal Sent, Active Project, On Hold, Lost, Completed
• How They Found You - e.g. Instagram, Google, Referral, Estate Agent, Architect
• Service Type - e.g. Design Only, Full Service, FF&E, Consultation
• Potential Phase 2? - Yes / No / Maybe
• Communication Channel - Email, Phone, WhatsApp
• Property Type - House, Flat, Listed, New Build

Why consistency matters

If you sometimes write “Builder”, sometimes “Contractor”, and sometimes “builder with Dan”, those entries will not sit together. Your CRM will fragment, and filtering will be pointless.

If you have ten different variations of “Instagram” - IG, Insta, instagram, Social Media, or you write the handle instead of the source - your metrics are compromised.

Great CRM hygiene is simple: pick the labels once - use them forever.

When you do, magical things become possible:

• Filter your entire list to show all leads worth over £25k
• Extract all past clients who might be ready for Phase 2
• Pull all your referral sources to send a thank-you note in December
• Identify which introducers bring the best projects
• Group all architects and builders for a professional update
• Segment all your HNW leads with projects in planning
• Select current clients who prefer WhatsApp for quicker communication
• Filter by property type to find similar projects for benchmarking

This is how you begin writing with intention, rather than broadcasting blindly into the ether.

A Short, Sensible Word on GDPR

GDPR can sound intimidating, but for a small design studio it’s really about two things:

respecting people’s data and only contacting people in ways they’ve agreed to.

Your CRM will hold everyone connected to your business. Your mailing list will hold only the people who have explicitly consented to marketing communications.

Your CRM is the big basket, it includes:

• clients
• past clients
• leads
• introducers
• suppliers
• contractors
• architects
• journalists
• showrooms
• anyone useful to your business ecosystem

You are allowed to store this information as long as:

• you have a legitimate business reason to keep it
• you store it securely
• you don’t use it in ways they wouldn’t expect

This is the “legitimate interest” category, appropriate for running your business.

Your mailing list is a subset. These are the people who have said “yes, please send me marketing emails/newsletters.” They must give you affirmative consent (a tick box, a sign-up form, a verbal yes you’ve recorded).

Who can you legally contact - and when?

1. Existing or current clients

You may contact them about their project, service updates, invoices, scheduling, decisions, design matters, and anything operational.

This does not automatically give permission to send newsletters or marketing. You’ll need consent for that.

2. Past clients

You may contact them about:

• aftercare
• snagging
• guarantees
• previously supplied items
• project-related matters

For marketing or newsletters, you need consent.

3. Leads / enquiries

You may contact them in direct relation to the enquiry they made — e.g.:

• answering questions
• following up
• sending a proposal
• checking availability

This is “legitimate interest.”

But for newsletters or ongoing marketing, you need their explicit opt-in.

4. Introducers / suppliers / contractors

You may contact them about business matters, collaboration, and shared work.

This is legitimate interest.

They do not belong on your marketing list unless they opt in.

The simplest way to think about it:

Your CRM is the full universe of people you talk to: your mailing list is your permission-based inner circle.

If you respect the distinction - operational vs marketing - you remain firmly within GDPR.

NOW: IS IT SINISTER TO RECORD PERSONAL DETAILS ABOUT A CONTACT?

Interior design is a relationship-based service. Clients choose designers they trust, people who remember their preferences, energy levels, lifestyles, and practical needs. Noting personal details helps you design more intelligently and serve more thoughtfully.

The key is this:

👉 You record the details because they help you deliver a better service, not because you want to manipulate or flatter. And that is entirely within both GDPR and good ethics.

Why personal details matter (professionally)

Think of these categories:

• Pets - for finishes, safety, allergies, wear-and-tear considerations
• Children’s ages - for storage, safety, room planning, zoning
• Mobility considerations - for layouts, lighting, accessibility
• Lifestyle patterns - entertaining, working from home, seasons spent abroad
• Allergies / sensitivities - materials, candles, paints, fabrics

All of these have direct design implications and recording them is responsible practice, not prying.

Where it becomes unethical is if you write:

• gossip
• judgments
• information irrelevant to the project
• things you would never feel comfortable someone reading - NEVER, EVER, !ANYWHERE! WRITE ANYTHING YOU’D FEEL UNCOMFORTABLE IF YOUR CLIENT READ IT.

A CRM is not a diary.

It’s a professional memory tool.

Part Three: Your Q4 Action - Make CRM Part of Your 2026 Identity

So, a CRM isn’t something you “set up” and walk away from. It’s a habit: a five-minute weekly practice that will quietly transform your revenue, your confidence, and your professionalism.

As we slide into December, start now, establish a habit for 2026. I want to encourage you to try this ritual:

1. Log every client, past and present

If you’ve ever spoken to them, sent them a proposal, or visited their home, they belong in your CRM.

2. Tag every person by their stage and relationship type

This allows future-you to instantly see who needs attention.

3. Add a next follow-up date for every lead

This one thing will contribute to stabilising your pipeline.

4. Add notes that your future self will thank you for

You might think you’ll remember, you won’t - not reliably. So, “Prefers WhatsApp”; “Hates feeling rushed”; “Loves bold colour”; “Phase 2 likely in autumn”.

5. Review your list once a week

A warm, elegant message to a past client.

A follow-up to a dormant lead.

A check-in with someone who’s been thinking about starting a project.

This is how relationships stay alive.

6. Commit to 2026 as the year you take CRM seriously

This does not have to be perfect - it only needs to be consistent. You just need to start.

Your CRM is the difference between a reactive studio and an intentional one. Between hustle and calm. Between feeling on the back foot and feeling professionally held by your own systems.

I’ve reached the stage in my own business where my head is no longer enough to hold the volume of human communication required. There are too many clients, too many conversations, too many moving parts to track by instinct alone.

If your business is newish and you aren’t in that position, here’s a gift. This is the perfect moment to build the system that will support you when you do reach it. While you still have the space.

While the volume is still manageable.

Ideally a CRM is the infrastructure you put in place before you need it, so that when your work expands, your relationships don’t fray, your pipeline doesn’t wobble, your future self will thank you.

FINAL NOTE - if you'd like to see how a professional CRM system works (for less high-touch sales) take a look at this video on YouTube by Pipedrive, explaining the functionality of their system. Not a recommendation, just for context. Enjoy!