How to set up a CRM system is a wider question than how to set up the records inside it. A system includes every route by which a lead or client reaches you: your website forms, your phone lines, your email, your booking links and your chat. This article answers how to connect those routes so that every enquiry lands in the CRM, reaches an owner and gets a reply, without anyone copying details from one place to another. If you have not yet built your pipeline and fields, start with the one-day CRM setup and come back here.
Records versus a system
A CRM with good records but no connections still depends on people typing. A salesperson takes a call, writes the number on a pad, and adds it later, or does not. A web form emails a shared inbox, someone forwards it, and the lead waits. Each manual hand-off is a place where an enquiry can stop.
A CRM system closes those gaps. Every inbound channel creates or updates a contact automatically, every conversation sits on that contact's record, and a rule decides who owns it and what happens next. The CRM stops being a place you report to and becomes the place work arrives.
Before you start
- A working CRM with your pipeline, core fields and current contacts already in place.
- Access to your domain's DNS settings, so you can authenticate the domain you send email from.
- A list of every phone number, email address, form and booking link that prospects or clients use today.
- A decision on who owns new enquiries: one person, a rota, or an owner by service or region.
- Admin access to the platform and to your website.
How to set it up
Connect channels in the order below. Email and phone come first because everything else sends replies through them.
- Go to Settings, then Email Services, and open Dedicated Domain and IP.
- Click Add Domain and enter the sub-domain you will send from.
- Add the DNS records shown at your DNS provider, then verify.
- Go to Settings, then My Profile, then Email (2-way sync).
- Choose Gmail or Outlook, then click Connect.
- Go to Settings, select Phone System and open Phone numbers.
- Click + Add Number, select Add Phone Number, then Proceed to Buy.
- Go to Sites, then Forms, and click + Create New Form.
- Go to Calendars, then Calendar Settings, and click + New Calendar.
- Go to Sites, then Chat Widget, click New, select Live Chat and Save.
- Submit a test enquiry through each channel and check the contact.
Suppose enquiries arrive through a website form that emails a shared inbox, two phone lines, a booking tool and a general email address, and first response to web enquiries averages around a day. If all five routes are connected to the platform with one assignment rule, every enquiry would create a contact and notify an owner within a minute. The first reply would still depend on a person, but the hours lost to forwarding and re-typing would be gone.
What a connected system is for
For a company whose revenue has flattened, the connected system is about two things: speed and attribution. Speed, because the first business to reply usually wins the conversation. Attribution, because once every lead carries its source, you can see which channels produce clients and which only produce enquiries.
It also replaces a layer of admin. The shared inbox that nobody owns, the call log on paper, the booking tool that does not talk to the CRM and the person whose job is partly to forward things all disappear. For how each contact should then be owned and kept clean, see managing contacts day to day.
The time it takes
Connecting email, phone, forms and calendars takes one to three days for one person, depending on how many routes you have and how quickly domain settings can be changed. Once running, the system needs about an hour a week: checking that no enquiries sit unassigned, and testing each channel after any website change.
The mistake most people make
Connecting channels without deciding who owns what arrives. The system works perfectly, every enquiry lands in the CRM, and nobody picks it up because everyone assumes someone else will. Decide the ownership rule before you connect the first channel, write it down and make the workflow enforce it.
The second mistake is leaving old routes open. If the old web form still emails the shared inbox, half your team will keep working from it. Switch off every old route on the day its replacement is tested.
When not to connect everything at once
If you are in the middle of a move from another CRM, connect channels as part of the cutover rather than before it, or enquiries will land in two systems. The migration strategy explains why inbound routing should be among the first things you switch on during that move.
Hold back on AI answering chats or calls until a person has handled enough real enquiries to know what good answers look like. An AI agent trained on guesses gives confident wrong answers.
Troubleshooting
Emails from the platform go to spam. The sending domain is not fully authenticated. Check the DNS records the platform asks for, wait for them to take effect and send a test to a few different inbox providers.
Form submissions create duplicate contacts. The form is not collecting email or phone in a consistent format, so the platform cannot match the person. Make email required and validate phone numbers.
Calls are not appearing on contact records. The caller's number is not saved on the contact in the same format. Store numbers in full international format, with the country code.
Enquiries are not being assigned. The workflow's trigger does not cover every channel. Check that each form, calendar and chat feeds the same trigger, then resubmit a test.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a CRM and a CRM system?
A CRM is the database of contacts and deals. A CRM system is that database connected to every channel through which people reach you, with rules for ownership and reply. Most companies have the first and assume they have the second.
Do we have to move our phone numbers?
Not necessarily. You can add new numbers for tracking and keep existing ones, or move existing numbers so calls log automatically. Moving gives you the full history on each contact, so it is usually worth doing once the rest is working.
Should every channel have its own workflow?
Start with one workflow that every channel feeds, so ownership and acknowledgement work the same way regardless of source. Split into separate workflows only when a channel genuinely needs different handling, such as booked calls skipping the acknowledgement.
How do we know the system is working after launch?
Run a test enquiry through every channel once a week for the first month and after every website change. Check the report of unassigned contacts daily for the first fortnight. Both checks catch broken routes before a real lead falls through.