We’ve all heard the phrase “the customer is always right,” and whether you live by it or not, there’s no denying that customers, at the very least, are super important for the success of your business.
And the secret to happy customers? Maintaining healthy relationships with everyone who supports your product. This is the first step in growing your list of life-long customers who will ultimately bring new meaning to your product, fulfillment to your job, and hopefully, become advocates of your business. 📈
Happy customers are the ultimate source of genuine and free organic advertising, which is one of the many reasons why Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is so important for every business.
Proper CRM ensures that no customer falls through the cracks and shows that you value the people buying your product (and keeping your company afloat). This is why flexible and user-friendly CRM templates are such a valuable tool.
CRM usage has boomed across industries year over year. In fact, GetBase reported over 90% of companies with more than 12 employees—and even 50% of companies with fewer than 10 employees—invest in a CRM system.
Forging and maintaining healthy relationships is serious business, and finding the perfect CRM template is crucial to make sure you’re checking every box for customer success. Follow along as we break down the benefits of using CRM templates alongside project management software, including free CRM templates for , Google Sheets, and Excel.
What are the benefits of using CRM templates?
You can use CRM for virtually anything.
Planning to move? There’s a CRM template for that. Need a better way to contact your real estate clients? There’s a CRM template for that too!
CRM is a more organized way of making sure you’re following up with and nurturing your customers or leads. Living off of sticky notes or daily reminders is not the way to foster long-term client relationships, and CRM software is an excellent way to ensure everyone in your contact list is getting the attention they need when they need it.
All companies have slightly different beliefs on how to maximize productivity using CRM. As a result, there are countless pre-made CRM templates available online to fill every niche.
Pre-built and customizable templates are a great starting point for people who could use a few pointers on their first CRM software experience, or seasoned experts who simply want to get the ball rolling faster. ⏰
They can also help you organize your leads in ways that you simply hadn’t thought of before!
Rather than training wheels, look at templates as your personal assistant. These are tools to enhance your quality of work, regardless of skill level.
But here’s the thing, templates are built to be customized by you! Invest your time in a flexible template tailored to your process.
12 CRM templates in Excel, Google Sheets, &
While a CRM is useful for practically every business, not all CRM templates are built the same.
Luckily, we’ve already done the work to bring you 10 of our favorite free CRM templates—equipped with the features, must-haves, and resources to support all of your CRM needs, no matter what industry you’re in.
Ready, steady, let’s go! 🚦
1. CRM Template
When you think CRM, you probably also think of sales, and this template really gets that.
This beginner-friendly CRM template by is perfect for those looking to start managing their customer relationships faster. With seven statuses to bring transparency into your task progress and five functional ways to visualize your work, this folder will help you organize your accounts in a way that makes sense.
Find your client information organized in a Calendar view, Doc, or List view with drag-and-drop functionality. With this template, your account details and closed deals will appear in separate lists to take any confusion about where your customers are in the pipeline. It also adds a Sales Playbook Doc to help you stay on top of and accountable for sales goals, account modules, time management, outreach, and more.
Think of this template as a guide to ensure no detail is left behind. Your go-to CRM system is there to maximize your potential sales.
2. Simple CRM Template
While the previous Folder organized your account information, this Simple CRM Template by digs deeper into contact management. Customize your contact statuses and add additional fields for more information at a glance.
This is a beginner-friendly template, but it offers additional statuses, views, and custom fields to maximize your lead organization.
The drop-down fields in List and Table view will show you the priority level, stage, estimated value, phone numbers, and more for each client—all on a single screen. This will help you instantly understand and prioritize your most promising leads, and save the time you would have spent opening tasks or new tabs to get the same information.
3. Commission Tracking CRM Template
CRM, sales, and commission go together like peanut butter, jelly, and you—and this template makes tracking your commission easier than ever.
The Commission Tracking Template is a great way to take your account management in to the next level. It is slightly more advanced than the previous CRM templates, but comes with all of the resources you need to make the most of it, including a detailed Help Doc! The main goal of this template is to help you save time keeping track of your commission by automatically calculating it for you.
Custom statuses like New Lead, Price Negotiation, Purchase Agreement Sent, and Paid help you understand your account’s progress at a glance, but the real value in this template is in its Custom Fields.
Use the drop-down Custom Fields to determine the commission percentage per account with an Actual Value field, Commission Percentage field, and an automatically calculated field called Commission Earned.
Plus, Custom Fields for linking websites, invoices, and checklists keep all of your systems connected and organized.
This template takes a little more work to get used to, but will save you a significant amount of time per week that can be re-dedicated to your team!
4. Sales Pipeline CRM Template
The Sales Pipeline Template by shows just how far you can take CRM. From potential leads to renewed clients, this template creates a hub for anyone and everything related to your pipeline.
This is key if you’re starting to juggle more accounts or need to know exactly where and when customers travel down the funnel. This flexible template neatly organizes every resource into an easily navigated epicenter.
Apply this free CRM template to your Workspace and within seconds access one Custom Field, four Views, seven ClickApps, and over 30 detailed task statuses including up for renewal, demo, onboarding, churned, and more. Plus, Automations! See the power of in action with Automations that change task assignees and Lists as statuses change.
Think of this template as an introduction to how CRM software can take you further in sales through features and views designed to propel your deals forward.
5. Agency CRM & Client Health Tracker by Zenpilot
As any agency knows, managing client relationships can be a complex and ongoing process. That’s where the Agency Client Health Tracker from Zenpilot Template comes in. This customizable template works alongside a CRM tool like to help businesses stay on top of their client health and deliver better service.
By using the Agency Client Health Tracker alongside ’s CRM functionalities, agencies can track a range of important data points, including client satisfaction levels, touchpoints, and feedback.
📮 Insight: Just 8% of workers use project management tools to track action items.
According to research by , about 92% of workers are at risk of losing important decisions due to scattered information pockets across multiple disconnected platforms. To prevent unnecessary platform hopping and context switching, try , the everything app for work.
This information is critical for maintaining strong customer relationships and ensuring that your clients are happy with the services you provide. With all this data stored in one place, it’s easy to keep up with important information and ensure that nothing falls through the cracks.
6. Real Estate CRM Template
If you’ve attempted to buy a house in the last few years or simply enjoy a daily Zillow-crawl (guilty) then you know how wild the real estate industry can be.
In real estate, there is so much to juggle even within a single deal, that CRM is absolutely necessary to make sure every potential client is comfortable and confident with the stage of the sales process you’re in. Plus, having a solid real estate CRM tool with automation capability is a must-have for agents who are always on the go.
The Real Estate CRM Template by is a valuable resource for agents and agencies who need to make informed decisions quickly, stay in touch with high-value customers, and organize their in-progress deals.
Know who you’ve contacted, who’s interested, negotiating, and sold with 15 real estate-specific task statuses, and keep every resource on hand at all times with six view types. Add showings to your calendar, keep a running list of properties and so much more—whether you’re a buyer or a seller, this template will help you keep your homes in order.
7. Job Search CRM Template
Remember when we said a CRM could be used for practically anything? Here’s an example of that!
Searching for a job is a job in and of itself. The Job Search Template by will help you feel grounded during the whirlwind of career hunting so you can focus on the offers that are best for you!
Keep track of applications you’ve sent out, potential opportunities, company research, ratings, perks, and interview resources in an organized list that’s sortable or categorized by tags, views, or statuses! Plus, when the recruiter asks about your attention to detail, the effort you dedicated to this Job Search Template will absolutely blow them away.
8. Google Sheets CRM Template
If you’re currently leading a team of sales reps or in charge of seeking out new sales opportunities, this SalesTable CRM Spreadsheet Template by Close will help you gain visibility into critical sales stats like the number of open, closed, and won opportunities.
This template is easy to edit directly in Google Sheets and provides a visual dashboard to show progress toward your main sales goals. Not only see the leads you have in progress, but assign, track, and determine the value of new opportunities in your pipeline.
9. Excel CRM Template
There’s no way we could make it through an entire post about CRM without linking to an Excel template!
The Sales Funnel Template by Salesflare comes with four sheets to get started:
- Checklist
- Sales Funnel
- Settings & Instructions
- Insights
Once you input your customer data, you can customize your spreadsheet in the Settings & Instructions sheet, and set custom stages—similar to ’s custom statuses—to show the sales stages in your pipeline. In your Sales Funnel sheet, you can store company and contact names, email information, sales stages, overall value, probability, progress to won, expected revenue, and more. Even set follow-up reminders for the team to help move deals down the funnel and watch your Insights page update automatically.
10. Apartment Search CRM Template
Real estate may be a beast of a process, but apartment hunting is no joke either!
Use this Apartment Search CRM Template in to organize your potential new apartments, see the locations displayed on a map, schedule your tours on a calendar, and record your questions.
The contracts required for securing an apartment may not be as lengthy as the process for buying a house, but this is still the place you’ll be living for the next year—at least. Make sure you land the (rented) home of your dreams with five highly visual ways to structure your apartment information and six statuses to organize the hits on your search with this detailed Folder in .
11. Customer Service Management CRM Template
SaaS companies use CRM to forge relationships, and having top-tier customer service is a major step in making that happen! But excellent customer service also requires excellent organization, and this customer service management template by was designed to conquer every ticket, chat, and issue you could throw at it!
The value of a powerful and thorough CRM system is packed neatly into a folder that can be applied to your workspace in seconds. Access six helpful task statuses, five custom fields, seven views, and automations to monitor your deals all the way through the pipeline.
Bonus: CRM Construction Software
Organize clients and feedback as a List to display every ticket in your CRM workflow, or drag and drop them across a Kanban board to move them into different statuses. Use ’s Form view to send out a pre-built Customer Service Request survey that instantly becomes a task, then add important details to your ticket task with Custom Fields.
Customer service is no easy feat, but this template minimizes the clutter so you can focus on your current and potential customers.
Check out these CRM software for service businesses!
12. CRM Whiteboard Template
This CRM Whiteboard Template by allows your team to collaborate on managing your sales pipeline, tracking of leads, deals, accounts, and contacts. Having a CRM in whiteboard view is a great way to make sure the entire team is aware of leads, team wins, and potential new customers.
Use this CRM Whiteboard Template to improve collaboration and visibility on your sales team.
Related:
CRM Template FAQs
How do I customize a CRM template to fit my business needs?
Customizing a CRM system to fit your business needs is a straightforward process. You’ll need to decide what features you need from the template and determine the data fields that will be required. Once you have identified the essential elements of your template, you can customize it by adjusting colors, fonts, images and more.
What are the limitations of using an Excel CRM Template?
Excel is a powerful tool, but it has its limitations when used as a CRM. Excel CRM templates can only store limited amounts of data and lacks the enterprise-level features that are commonly found in dedicated CRM software like . Using Excel as a CRM is also often less time efficient because Excel doesn’t provide any automation tools or integrations with other systems, meaning you would have to manually import and export data between different systems if needed.
Can I use a CRM template instead of a dedicated CRM Software?
Yes! CRM templates are a great way to get all the features of a full CRM without having to invest in a full-scale system. With CRM templates, you can quickly and easily create a tailored version of the CRM that meets your specific needs. You can also use a template as a starting point and customize it further with additional features or integrations as needed. Ultimately, using a template is an efficient and cost-effective way to access the benefits of an enterprise-level CRM solution without the hassle associated with custom development.
And once you’re ready to use a CRM software has you covered!
If you love CRM spreadsheet templates, let me hear you sCRM!
CRM should be your go-to for better overall customer data management, cross-departmental alignment, and improving your deliverables. And using dynamic CRM software saves you a ton of time getting started. 💨
CRM templates can be used for almost anything. So it’s important that your template is customizable to fit endless use cases! All 10 of these templates bring a ton of value to your CRM process, but it all comes down to your personal preference and company process.
is designed to be used by teams of any size and across industries. It’s packed with functional tools to build your CRM from scratch or simply choose one from our template library. But the best part? It’s free! 💸
Access tons of CRM templates plus 100MB of storage, unlimited tasks and members, over 1,000 integrations, collaborative Docs, and so much more for free, forever in ! 🦄
Everything you need to stay organized and get work done.
