A lightweight CRM from a spreadsheet

The problem. A real CRM is more tool than a five-prospect-a-week sales motion needs, but tracking everything in your head means things fall through the cracks.

The play. Keep prospects in a plain spreadsheet — name, stage, last contact, next step — and have Claude do the parts a CRM would normally automate: flagging what’s stale, summarizing pipeline state, drafting the next follow-up.

Setup (10 min). Set up a simple spreadsheet with columns: name, company, stage, last contact date, next step, notes. Doesn’t need to be fancy — a handful of columns is enough.

The prompt:

Read this spreadsheet of prospects: [point Claude at the file].

1. Flag anyone with no contact in 10+ days who isn't marked "closed" or
   "dead" — these are going stale
2. Summarize pipeline by stage: how many prospects at each stage
3. For the 3 most overdue follow-ups, draft a one-line reason to reach out
   now, based on their notes column — not a generic "just checking in"

Don't invent activity that isn't in the notes column.

What you get. The pipeline hygiene and follow-up nudges a CRM would normally provide, without paying for or setting one up, as long as your spreadsheet stays reasonably up to date.

What to watch for.

• This only works if you actually update the spreadsheet after real conversations — it can’t flag what it doesn’t know happened.
• “Going stale” is a signal to check in, not always to blame yourself — some deals genuinely move slowly. Use judgment on which flags actually need action this week.

Make it repeatable. Run this weekly, same day, right alongside your weekly founder review — pipeline hygiene compounds the same way memory-file upkeep does.