The Startup CRM Setup Checklist

Avoid the 7 Costly Mistakes That Kill Growth and Leads

Is your CRM helping you scale — or silently killing your growth?

If you're using HubSpot, Pipedrive, or even spreadsheets to manage leads — this checklist is for you.

Most startups and solo founders wait too long to fix their CRM. Leads fall through cracks, follow-ups get missed, and scaling becomes chaotic. Here's a fast way to see if your CRM is helping or holding you back.

Quick Self-Audit: Score Your CRM Setup

For each “yes” below, give yourself 1 point.

• 6–7: You’re dialed in – keep optimizing.

• 4–5: You’re functional but leaking leads.

• 0–3: You’re bleeding time and sales. Let’s fix it fast.

1. Are You Tracking the Right Data?

Do you capture:

• Name, email, company name?

• Lead source (where they came from)?

• Lifecycle stage (e.g. lead, qualified, customer)?

• Lead value or deal size?

Quick Win: Use hidden fields in forms to auto-tag source and intent.

2. Do You Have a Real Sales Pipeline?

Not just a contact list — but actual deal stages:

• Can you see where every lead is in your funnel?

• Are there clear next steps assigned?

Quick Win: Use HubSpot’s pipeline view and assign default tasks per stage.

3. Is Follow-Up Automated?

Be honest: Are you manually sending emails and reminders?

Quick Win: Trigger follow-ups using Make.com or HubSpot Workflows based on form submissions, deal stage changes, or inactivity.

4. Are Your Forms and Booking Tools Integrated?

Do new leads from your site or Calendly land in your CRM automatically?

If not, they’re slipping away silently.

Quick Win: Sync your forms and calendar using Make.com in under 10 minutes.

5. Are You Prioritizing High-Intent Leads?

• Do you have basic lead scoring?

• Can you tell who’s likely to convert?

Quick Win: Score leads based on visit frequency, replies, pageviews, or form type (e.g. pricing page = hotter than newsletter signup).

6. Does Your Team Know How to Use It?

Even if “team” = just you and a VA — are the steps clear?

Quick Win: Record a 5-minute Loom of how to move a deal or what to do when a new lead comes in.

7. Can You See What’s Working?

• Do you have dashboards for deals, source tracking, and pipeline value?

• Or are you making decisions blind?

Quick Win: Use HubSpot’s dashboard builder to visualize deal velocity and spot leaks in your funnel.

Final Score:

How did you score out of 7?

Most clients I work with are between 2–4 — and we unlock hours of time and thousands in missed revenue with just a few smart tweaks.

Bonus: Want a Free CRM Teardown?

I’m offering free CRM audits this week.

I’ll review your current setup and send you 2–3 custom automation or CRM improvement ideas — no fluff, just fast wins.

Book a Free CRM Teardown at charliebrownconsulting.com