NextStep CRM: Sales Follow-Up System in Microsoft Access and SQL Server

A custom CRM for a small sales team, built in Microsoft Access with a SQL Server back end: a Today screen for follow-ups, a pipeline board, email templates, Excel import, a weighted forecast and 8 reports.

IndustrySmall Business & Sales Teams

Built WithMicrosoft Access, VBA, SQL Server, T-SQL views and stored procedures, ODBC (DSN-less linked tables), Access Reports, Ribbon XML

EngagementFull System Build

The challenge

Small sales teams rarely lose customers because they lack software. They lose them because a call that was promised for Thursday never happens. Customer details sat in a spreadsheet, the history lived in someone's inbox, and nobody could say which deals had gone quiet. Most CRM products answer this with more screens and more fields, and people stop filling them in.

The solution

We built NextStep CRM around one rule: every person and every open deal has a next step with a date. The Today screen opens with what is overdue, what is due today, new leads nobody has called yet and deals that have gone quiet. When a call is finished, the user records how it went and books the next step in the same small window, so the follow-up is never left to memory.

Deals move through stages the team can rename. The pipeline board shows a column per stage with its total, and a deal with no contact for a set number of days gets an amber edge, then a red one. Each stage carries a win chance, so the forecast by month needs no extra typing. Emails start from saved templates with the name and company filled in, open in Outlook to be sent, and are logged on the person's timeline.

Built for real use

The screens are a Microsoft Access front end and the data lives in Microsoft SQL Server, so several people can work at once and the 2 GB Access file limit does not apply. A first-run screen creates the database and links it; a second PC only needs the server name. It runs on SQL Server Express or a SQL Server on the office network. Everyone signs in with their own account: Admins manage settings, users and lists, staff work their own follow-ups and deals. The existing customer list was brought in from Excel with duplicates skipped. Eight reports cover the pipeline, the forecast, which lead sources turn into sales, why deals were lost, activity by user and quiet deals, each ready to print or save as PDF. The screenshots and the video show fictional data.

Today screen: overdue and due follow-ups, untouched leads and quiet deals
Finish an activity and book the next step in one window
Pipeline board with a column per stage, counts and totals
Quiet deals flagged amber, then red, after a set number of days
Quick add for a new person, company and deal, with a duplicate warning
Timeline of every call, email, meeting and note for each person, company and deal
Email templates with merge fields, opened in Outlook and logged automatically
Call, WhatsApp, website and map links on every person
Import people from Excel or CSV with automatic column matching
Search across people, companies and deals from one box
Weighted forecast by month from each stage's win chance
8 ready-made reports, each viewable on screen or saved as PDF
Tags, lead sources, lost reasons and three custom fields the team can name
Export any list to Excel
Sign-in with hashed passwords and Admin and User roles
SQL Server back end, created and linked by a first-run setup screen
Screens fill the window at any size
Built-in help for every area, written in plain language