A CRM for consultants
A CRM for consultants is one that knows a won deal becomes a project. A sales CRM ends at closed-won. A consultancy’s work, its hours, its costs and its margin all start there, and the tool that tracks the sale usually never sees any of them.
That gap is where the money goes. Firms with no connection between their CRM and their delivery system run lower project margins and lower revenue per consultant than firms with one, and the difference is not the software; it is the re-keying in between.
What a consultancy needs that a sales CRM does not have
Four things, and each is a place a generic CRM stops rather than a feature it lacks.
The deal has to become the project
A sales CRM ends at "closed won". A consultancy's work starts there. If the value, the client, the currency and the billing terms have to be re-keyed into a second tool, the first thing that drifts is the number you will later call margin.
Hours have to price two ways
The same hour costs the firm one rate and bills the client another. A CRM that holds a deal value but never sees an approved hour cannot tell you whether the engagement made money, only whether it was sold.
A retainer is not a deal amount
Hourly, fixed fee, retainer and milestone work each recognise revenue differently. A single "amount" field cannot express a retainer with included hours, so a deal-stage CRM stops forecasting anything useful once the work turns recurring.
The client needs one window
Clients ask where things stand. A CRM for a consultancy has to show each client their own engagement and nobody else's, without a seat, without a spreadsheet export every Friday.
A sales CRM against Onplana Services, on the things a consultancy evaluates
The left column is what a deal-stage CRM does by design; it is not a criticism of any product. The right column is what is built in Onplana Services today.
| Question | A sales CRM | Onplana Services |
|---|---|---|
| What happens at "won" | The record closes | A delivery project is created carrying the value, currency, client and billing terms |
| Quote | A PDF attached to the deal | Priced lines on the deal, sent on a private link, accepted by name, and the lines become the project's budget and terms |
| Billing model | A deal amount | Hourly, fixed fee, retainer or milestones, per deal and per project |
| Time | Not in scope | Hours on tasks, approved, priced at a cost rate and a billable rate |
| Margin | Pipeline value | Revenue against cost per client, project and person, with the drivers of the change |
| Client view | A portal scoped to the signed-in client's own rows | |
| Scope creep | Nowhere | Client asks linked to the client, grouped by whether they became work or were renegotiated |
| Price | Per seat, often with minimums | $24 per seat a month; occasional people log time as guests without a seat |
Not on the right: invoicing and ledger posting. Those still happen in your accounting system, and the connections to it are being built.
How the record travels
A client and a contact. A deal against the client, with a value in one currency and a billing model: hourly, fixed fee, retainer or milestones. A quote built from priced lines, emailed as a private link, accepted by the client typing their name. Winning the deal creates the delivery project carrying all of it. Hours land on the project’s tasks and get approved; each prices at the cost rate for the margin and the billable rate for the client, from a rate ladder that knows the project and the client. The margin report reads revenue against cost per client, per project and per person.
Client asks along the way are filed against the client, and a requests view groups the ones that quietly became work apart from the ones you renegotiated. That is where unbilled scope creep becomes something you can point at rather than something you discover at year end.
Questions consultancies ask
What makes a CRM right for consultants rather than for salespeople?
It has to know that a won deal becomes a project, that hours price at two rates, and that a retainer is not a deal amount. Onplana Services keeps the deal, the project, the time and the margin as one record, so the thing you sold and the thing you delivered cannot disagree.
Can I keep my existing sales CRM?
Yes. Onplana Services is the record from the deal onwards; many firms keep a prospecting tool in front of it. Deals, companies and contacts are reachable over the API and MCP, so an agent or an integration can create the deal when a prospect converts.
Does it invoice or post to my accounting system?
Not today. It works out what each engagement earned and cost, and expenses carry a rebillable flag, but the invoice and the ledger posting still happen in your accounting system. Accounting connections are being built and are not available yet.
How does a quote work?
You price the deal as lines: time at a rate, a fixed fee, a retainer per period, milestones or expenses. Onplana renders the quote, emails the client a private link, and after they confirm their email they can accept it by typing their name. The acceptance is recorded on the deal, and winning the deal turns the lines into the project's budget and billing terms.
What does it cost, and can I buy it today?
Onplana Services is $24 per seat a month, or $19 per seat a month billed annually. It is built and running but not yet on sale; the page ends in a waitlist and we come to you when it opens.
Is this the same as Onplana?
Onplana runs the delivery: schedules, timesheets, capacity, earned value, on every plan. Onplana Services adds the commercial layer around it, the clients, the pipeline, the quotes, the margin and the expenses, as a separate product with its own price.
Built, running, opening soon
Onplana Services is $24 per seat a month. Join the waitlist and we come to you when it opens; the delivery side, timesheets, rate cards and utilization, is Onplana itself and is available now.
Under thirty people? Read PSA for a small consultancy.