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Airtable is a data management platform for teams and individuals. It makes it easy to create database-driven web apps, but with CRM functionality built-in. This article will walk you through the steps of adding Airtable as an app in your existing enterprise software or using it on its own without any third-party integrations.
Airtable is a popular data organization and team communication application that assists organizations in organizing data, managing operations, and keeping track of projects. Although Airtable is not a CRM, it does contain data organizing features that allow it to be utilized as one. Airtable may be a cost-effective alternative to CRM software by collecting sales data, establishing your sales process, and appropriately structuring your database.
Here are five simple steps to using Airtable as a customer relationship manager (CRM):
1. Take a look at Airtable’s ready-to-use templates.
Before you get started, keep in mind that Airtable has predefined templates for a variety of uses. There are data fields for sales phases, Name of the opportunities, and accounts in the Airtable sales CRM template, as well as page tabs to travel between opportunities, interactions, accounts, and contact information. Premade templates are ideal for firms with basic or generic sales processes since they expedite many of the procedures that follow.
You don’t need to utilize a predefined design to use Airtable as a CRM, however. In fact, if you have specific requirements for how you want your CRM set up, such as specific information about a lead or customer that needs to be stored, or a unique sales process that needs to be used when monitoring opportunities, we recommend starting from step three and creating your Airtable CRM process from scratch.
Pre-made CRM template for Airtable (Source: Airtable)
2. Collect data about sales
Prepare lists containing contact information for existing opportunities and accounts, such as leads, prospects, and customers, before trying to utilize Airtable software. Consider the sorts of sales-related data you want to save in Airtable for this stage. The following are some often-used data field categories:
- Name of the person to contact
- Position of contact
- Phone number to call
- Email address for contacting
- source of information
- Name of the account
- Industry of Accountancy
- Name of the opportunity
- The worth of the deal
- Probability of a deal
- Date of the most recent encounter
Gather your email lists, business cards, social media, websites, and other sources so they are ready for migration into Airtable whenever you know what customer and prospect data you want to capture. Although you don’t have to assemble this data into a spreadsheet, importing it to Airtable in step three will be much simpler than manually entering each entry.
3. Establish a Sales Process
The tools for managing sales opportunities in any CRM software platform include tracking where leads, prospects, and deals are in the sales process. The same is true for utilizing Airtable as a CRM, so before you get started, figure out how your company’s sales process works.
The phases of your sales pipeline may differ based on how your leads are collected, your industry, your corporate culture, and the operational flow of your organization from warm lead to a completed contract. Consider the following examples of phases in a sales process:
- New lead
- Introduction
- Nurturing the leader
- Meeting of Interests
- Presentation of products for sale
- Proposal
- Negotiation
- Closed-won
- Closed-lost
You may utilize a predefined Airtable CRM template with predetermined sales phases, as previously mentioned—however, the template’s sales stages are relatively general. If your company has a specific sales process that necessitates several phases, we suggest either altering the predefined templates or beginning from scratch.
Example of a sales transaction stage on Airtable (Photo courtesy of Airtable)
4. Create a CRM Workspace
It’s time to input your data into the system and set up Airtable as a CRM after you’ve developed your procedure and collected your data. Whether you’re using bulk data import or manual input to get CRM data into Airtable, you’ll need to first build a “workspace.”
An Airtable workspace is a set of databases that saves your data and allows you to access it from a single location. To get started, go to the site and choose “create a workspace.” Then you may name the workspace and choose how you want to construct databases, which are referred to as “bases” in Airtable.
The workspace portion of the Airtable webpage (Source: Airtable)
Bases hold all of the data necessary for a project, workflow, business process, or, in this example, CRM software. By clicking an icon on the workspace, you may access a base, which is where you can enter and see the information. If you pick “Start with templates,” the data field categories will already be included in the base. Otherwise, you’ll have to start from scratch or import a table from a CSV, Microsoft Excel, or Google Sheets file.
Icons for bases on the Airtable main page (Photo courtesy of Airtable)
Airtable alternatives for establishing a base (Image courtesy of Unito.io)
Creating a Base Manually
If you choose “Start from scratch,” you’ll be asked to name your base before being led to a blank spreadsheet-style page where you may build your data table (s). In step one, you identified which data field categories were required for sales information and added them to the data field type.
Page of the Airtable data table (Source: Airtable)
Add a field type to Airtable. (Image courtesy of Unite.io)
Adding records to the airtable (Source: Airtable)
After you’ve established your data field categories, you can start manually entering lead, opportunity, account, deal, and customer records into the appropriate data fields. Select the sales stage they are in when you add data, based on how your sales process was identified in step two. You may choose to perform a drop-down option with your predefined opportunity stages when generating field types, which we encourage.
Example of drop-down choices in Airtable (Source: Airtable)
After you’ve added your data fields and records to the database, you may look at the data in several ways. We prefer the Kanban, gallery, or table views when using Airtable as a CRM since they make it simpler to check sales statuses of opportunities compared to other views like a Gantt chart or calendar views, which are better for task monitoring.
View of the Airtable gallery (Photo courtesy of Airtable)
Importing Sales Information
You must have all of your sales data available in a spreadsheet document if you wish to import it into Airtable in bulk. Keep in mind that the spreadsheet is the basis, the rows are the records, and the columns are the fields while converting spreadsheets into Airtable terms.
Select “Import data” from the workspace’s “Add a base” section. Once you’ve chosen a data source, you’ll be invited to choose from Excel, Google Sheets, CSV, and a few additional possibilities including Microsoft Access, Trello, and Apple Numbers.
Importing data from Airtable to Base (Photo courtesy of Airtable)
Airtable imports the file in the same record and field order as it appears on your spreadsheet after you pick it from the data source. This means it’s vital to have all of your sales data structured and in the order you want it. You may now adjust the various views of the base after it’s been imported, and you’ll have a data-ready Airtable CRM system.
To compare, use an Airtable spreadsheet. (Photo courtesy of Airtable)
Businesses may provide important performance measures and provide an overview of their sales operation by importing and using CRM data.
5. Make the Most of Your Airtable CRM
Now that your CRM is set up, begin tracking sales activities such as Introductions, follow-ups with prospects, and Nurturing the leader activities. You can also update your Airtable base with notes and stage changes as a way to track engagements and prospect interactions.
You may also provide quantitative information like prospective deal size or total closed business income in its own independent data cell as a sum of a field as you accomplish sales chores. This is another approach to keeping track of your team’s sales success.
Calculation of the total of airtable records (Source: Airtable)
How to Expand Airtable’s CRM Functionality
You may be persuaded to enhance Airtable’s capabilities as you get more comfortable with it as a CRM. This may be accomplished by integrating third-party programs to automate various sales procedures. A few instances of Airtable connectors and how they enhance its CRM features are shown below:
- A Mailchimp connection may automatically create a record in Airtable for each new subscriber to an email.
- The Stripe connection may add an invoice to a record in Airtable automatically.
- A Facebook connection may upload a new lead to Airtable as a record automatically.
Integration of Mailchimp’s email scheduler with Airtable (Source: Medium.com)
Auto-update of Stripe invoices in Airtable (Source: Airtable)
The landing page for the Facebook Airdrop (Source: Airtable)
Pros & Cons of Using Airtable as a CRM
Because Airtable is more of a database tool than a full-service CRM, it’s vital to think about the consequences of utilizing the platform for sales. Consider the advantages and disadvantages before making any judgments.
Most Commonly Asked Questions (FAQs)
On the free plan, how many CRM entries may be saved in an Airtable database?
The free Airtable plan provides an infinite number of bases and allows for up to 1,200 records per base. It also offers drop-downs, attachments, and checkboxes, among other rich field kinds.
Is automation included in the free Airtable plan?
Yes, customers may execute up to 100 process automation each month on the free plan. Integrations with third-party programs are also possible with the free version.
Are there any restrictions to Airtable’s system customization?
Yes. Custom brand forms and formatting of bases and tables are not accessible on the free or Plus plans, however, Airtable provides more color possibilities. At a monthly fee of $20 per user, the Pro plan allows for extensive customization.
Conclusion
Because of its low cost and simplicity of use, Airtable as a CRM is a potential alternative to more costly CRM software. It also connects with major third-party apps like Calendly, QuickBooks, Slack, Facebook, and Zoom, much like other CRMs. The absence of sophisticated features like artificial intelligence or a built-in phone system, which several small firms discover they don’t require, accounts for the majority of the product’s limitations as a CRM.
