You've Outgrown Spreadsheets (And That's a Good Thing)
There's no shame in starting with spreadsheets. Every glazing company we've worked with over the past 20 years started the same way. Excel for leads, a shared Google Sheet for the diary, maybe a whiteboard in the office for this week's appointments.
It works — until it doesn't. And the moment it stops working is usually when something important falls through the cracks.
Signs You've Outgrown Spreadsheets
- You've lost a lead because someone forgot to update the shared file
- Two reps have turned up to the same appointment
- Your Monday morning meeting takes an hour because someone has to compile last week's numbers
- You can't answer "how many leads did we get from promoters last month?" without half a day's work
- New starters take weeks to understand your filing system
Planning the Migration
Step 1: Audit What You Have
Before moving anything, map out every spreadsheet, document, and system you're currently using. Most glazing companies have more than they realise — the main leads spreadsheet, the branch-specific diary, the promoter tracking sheet, the commission calculator.
Step 2: Clean Your Data
Migration is the perfect time to clean house. Remove duplicate leads, standardise how names and addresses are formatted, and decide what historical data you actually need in the new system.
Step 3: Map Your Fields
Your spreadsheet columns need to map to fields in the new system. "Customer Name" becomes first name and surname. "Product" becomes a standardised product list. This is where a CRM built for glazing saves enormous time — the fields already exist, named the way you'd expect.
Step 4: Import in Stages
Don't try to import everything at once. Start with your active leads and upcoming appointments. Then bring in historical data in batches. This gives your team time to get comfortable with the new system before the full dataset arrives.
Step 5: Run in Parallel (Briefly)
For the first week or two, have your team use both systems. It's painful but it catches any gaps in the migration. Keep this period as short as possible — parallel running that drags on just creates confusion.
What to Expect in the First Month
The first week will feel slower. Your team will miss the familiarity of their spreadsheets. By week two, they'll start appreciating the search, the automatic diary updates, and the fact that they can see their schedule on their phone. By month's end, nobody will want to go back.
The Numbers That Improve
Companies that move from spreadsheets to a proper CRM typically see:
- 30-50% reduction in admin time for managers
- Lead response times cut from days to hours
- Zero double-bookings once the diary is centralised
- Reporting time drops from hours to seconds