They wrongly assume they can handle things on Excel instead, or that it is something you only need if you have an established business. The truth is, even if your company consists of just two people, it's worth using a CRM from day one.

Many small business owners believe that CRMs are too expensive and too complicated to set up on the fly. They either decide to skip it altogether or wait until their business grows big enough before considering its merits (and real dollar value). The problem with this approach is when your company reaches five employees or more, the benefits a CRM can provide outweigh the cost and get even greater at scale.

Here are three reasons why you need a CRM no matter where you are in your business lifecycle:

1. You won't be able to manage everything by hand anymore

Small businesses are typically run by one or two people. As your business grows, you'll be able to hire more employees. As soon as their number increases, the problem of managing all the tasks and information stored in your CRM will become truly unmanageable. At first, it will seem like a time-consuming chore which will prevent you from taking care of other things. But later on, it will start to feel like an unnecessary drain on your precious time and energy.

Don't put off the need for a CRM. It will make your life easier in the long run.

2. You won't have enough time to browse all the data you've collected

Even if you're a super organised person, or can easily handle all your tasks by hand, sooner or later you'll start forgetting about a few things. And those are such important things, like unusual customer feedback, industry trends and even personal developments that might affect your growing business in one way or another! Not having real-time access to relevant information meant you won't be able to react to these issues fast enough.

3. Grows with your business (and employee count)

If things are going well, chances are that you'll have new employees as you grow. And this is where the real pain starts: it becomes much harder to manage all these people when you're not entirely sure about their tasks and responsibilities. A CRM can be helpful as a tool to solve this very problem.

Use a CRM from day one, no matter how many people work in your company! It will help you grow by making sure your team always has the right information, on time, at their fingertips whenever they need it.