Setting Up Your CRM for Success in Retail 📈

Once your wholesale business grows past about 20 retail accounts, spreadsheets won’t be enough to manage the business. You will need a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system to track your pipeline, manage communication, and help your team sell more efficiently.

A well-set-up CRM is the backbone of any successful independent retail sales operation. But simply having one isn’t enough. To get real value, you need to structure it properly for how retail purchasing works.

Let’s walk through how to set up your CRM for success in retail—from the foundational components to the integrations and optimizations that save your time and help you earn more business.

Why You Need a CRM for Retail Sales

A CRM helps you:

• Track every retailer relationship in one place; with total team access to information

• See where each account stands in the sales and repeat purchase funnels

• Record buying patterns and communication preferences by tracking activities

• Avoid single point of failure issues by allowing for hand offs on follow-ups and next steps

• Analyze which lead sources bring the best ROI

The best CRMs for small to mid-sized CPG brands include HubSpot, Pipedrive, and Close. They’re easy to customize, integrate with your email and marketing tools, and scale as your business grows.

But the real key is how you set it up.

The Core Components of a Retail-Focused CRM

Every CRM should have these essential building blocks:

1. Contacts – The buyers and store contacts you communicate with. AKA people.

2. Accounts – The retailers or store groups you sell to. The businesses.

3. Funnel – The sales stages that show where each account is in your pipeline.

4. Integrations – The tools that connect your CRM to your broader sales and order management ecosystem.

5. Captured Data – The information you collect to qualify and nurture accounts.

Let’s break each one down.

1. Contacts: The Buyers and Their Teams

In independent retail, most buying is controlled by a single individual. Often that’s the owner or an empowered manager. Your relationship with this buyer is the key to maintaining the business. You will want to capture everything you can about what each buyer likes or does not like in terms of communication style, products, buying timing etc. This will let you personalize outreach and anticipate buying opportunities.

At the Contact level, include these fields:

• Title and Role – Identify if they’re a buyer, manager, or owner. Are they empowered to make purchases? Capture that.

• Phone and Email – Multiple contact methods are ideal.

• Preferred Communication Method – Some buyers prefer calls, others text or email.

• Preferred Contact Times – Note their annual buying patterns (e.g., Q1 for spring orders) and times of day they tend to respond best.

💡 Pro tip: Add a “Notes” field where you log small personal details—like a buyer’s pet peeve or favorite product. It goes a long way in relationship-based sales.

2. Accounts: Organize Retailers the Smart Way

Each Account in your CRM represents a retailer or store group. It’s easy for the one-offs, but for stores with multiple locations it can get a bit tricky. Here’s how to structure it for clarity and efficiency:

• Link buyers to their respective Accounts so communication history stays unified. If they buy for multiple locations, include that information in their Contact record.

• Track how many doors each Account operates. For multi-door retailers, cluster locations under a parent account. Wherever purchasing originates from is the center of nexus, but be sure to have all the location addresses documented, even if you ship to a centralized location.

• Separate accounts by ordering entity—If stores have the same ownership but buy separately, these should be separate Accounts in the system. Just be sure to create a field (if not included by default) to relate them to the parent entity.

This setup ensures clean reporting and prevents confusion when managing orders or follow-ups across multiple doors.

3. Funnel: Define Your Sales Stages

Your sales funnel should mirror your wholesale sales process. Clear, consistent stages help you forecast revenue and see where deals stall. Purchasing at the Independent Retail level is still very phone-heavy, so these stages are created with that in mind. Adjust accordingly to the average email or SMS preferences of your market.

Here’s a good starting point for a New Business funnel:

1. Open Lead – A store you have not contacted but have their information and intent to pursue.

2. Contacted - Email – You have sent the buyer an email but nothing further.

3. Contacted - Phone – You have called this business but have not spoken with them (including leaving a voicemail). If you have also emailed them, use this stage.

4. Responded – They emailed or called you back, but you did not speak with them on the phone, or did so only briefly to schedule a better time to talk.

5. Meeting – You spoke with this account directly on the phone. If followup is required, stay in this stage until you have done the task.

6. Followup Complete – The lead required some kind of follow up (marketing materials, a suggested order, whatever.) You have sent this follow and/or had the followup conversation.

7. Commitment Made – The lead has, verbally or in writing, committed to making an order, but has not yet done so.

8. Received PO – You got the purchase order from the lead, on the phone or via email, but you are still missing some key information to process it, such as payment, address, etc.

9. Closed Won – You can convert to Closed Won from any stage. Closed Won is when the buyer has placed an order and you have all necessary information to process it.

10. Closed Lost – You can convert to Closed Lost from any stage. Provide a lost reason to decide if this lead is worth revisiting one day. Closed Lost often simply means “not right now.” You can still revisit this lead in the future.

💡 Tip: Review your funnel quarterly. Over time, you may need to adjust stages based on the patterns of your category.

4. Integrations: Make Your CRM the Hub

A CRM becomes exponentially more powerful when it’s connected to your other tools.

Start with these core integrations, usually in this order:

• Email – Sync your Gmail or Outlook for automatic logging.

• Dialer / SMS – Tools like Aircall or JustCall streamline outreach.

• Lead Capture Form – Have inbound wholesale leads flow directly into your CRM. Some CRMs have a native tool for this, otherwise there are numerous options.

• Slack – Trigger notifications for new leads or status updates. Speed to lead is important, so have Slack automatically ping your sales team when you get a new inbound inquiry.

• Voicemail Drop (Vmail) – Automate personalized follow-ups when you can’t reach someone.

• Order Writing Software – Later on, integrate platforms like Handshake or NuORDER for seamless order flow.
  

5. What to Capture: Track What Matters

You will determine over time what the key metrics are for you to track with every Account. You will want to avoid having too many so that data capture does not become tedious for your team (and they stop doing it.) Some easy core fields to track to measure your wholesale performance include:

• Lead Source – Where did they come from? (Trade show, website, referral, etc.) This one is paramount for tracking marketing ROI.

• Product Interest – What starter kit or opening order bundle did they select?

• Store type – What kind of business are they? Sometimes you will be surprised by your success in a channel you never planned for. If you can detect a trend in your data, you can adjust your marketing efforts accordingly.

• Merchandising – Where in the store did they put your items? Did you give them a merchandiser display, and, if so, which one?
  

And make sure your lead capture form’s source data flows into your CRM automatically—so you never lose visibility on what’s working.

Final Thoughts

Your CRM isn’t just a digital Rolodex—it’s your sales command center for independent retail growth. When properly configured, it helps you:

✅ Build stronger buyer relationships
✅ Stay on top of your wholesale pipeline
✅ Measure ROI across marketing channels
✅ Increase conversions and retention

If your CRM feels like a mess—or you’re not sure if it’s set up right—I help brands audit and optimize their retail systems for better visibility and sales performance.

Here’s our Contact Form

Or reach out to me directly at Michael@CrossStratinc.com