Ask HN: Thoughts on idea...

[parkern]

After spending some time looking at different CRM software options, I very much felt that individual freelancers, or even small web design teams, we're largely being left out of the current software offerings. They all, for the most part, seemed to appeal directly to very large businesses in which collaborating and talking to each other was not that easy or aimed specifically at (traveling) salesman who need to maintain a gazillion different contacts/relationships.

It got me thinking about a CRM created largely with the freelancer in mind. Users create a form of sorts to embed on their site, potential clients then fill it out and it's funneled and organized in the app. I think this could be a really great tool, especially for people who get a lot of requests.

I'm mainly wondering if:

1) Do you think this is a good idea or does email suffice in managing new and potential clients?

2) Can you think of any other features to go along with this idea that would also benefit freelancers (besides the obvious ones like invoicing and time tracking as those two spaces are very crowded)?

3) Would you pay for a tool like this?

And also, on that note, what about a workroom of sorts (similar to Elance) where you can pass back and forth all communications?

[iworkforthem]

1. to me crm != profitable. if email suffice, why not use gmail with labels & filter instead, isn't that enough? you setup filter for each customer/group, labels to things to do/follow-up, etc.. i am not really a fan to use crm as a tool to generate/convert new sale, there are too much other things we need to do just to convert a lead to a customer.

2) not really. this space is really crowded.

3) we know that the money lies with your existing customers and mailing lists, if you have a crm that can milk $$$ from these 2 sources, or perhaps an entire new channel/platform to generate $$$, probably i would pay for it. e.g. exchange, co broke, lease, etc.

[phreanix]

1. I think you'd have to take into account how the majority of freelancers actually do business and interact with their clients. If you're dealing with 2-5 clients a month a CRM would be nice but unnecessary, at least for the amount of communication you'd need.

2. That crowded space you speak of is most of the tools an average freelancer would need. Maybe it's the high volume freelancer then that you'd need to address?

3. Probably not, unless you have a very very compelling reason for me to.

[danmays]

1) email is enough

2) there's already a lot of people who focus on this space, and even in specific verticals like photographers

3) meh.