We’re beginning the search for a new CRM since ours will be discontinued next year, and it’s raised a question I hadn’t really considered before.
Almost every CRM we’ve evaluated is built around a specific contact. That makes perfect sense if your business revolves around managing sales relationships.
But in the world of subcontracting, is that really how we think?
For us, the project is the relationship. A single project may involve multiple general contractors, subcontractors, manufacturers, vendors, consultants, and dozens of individual contacts across those organizations. The project is the constant; everyone else orbits around it.
The more we’ve looked, the more I’ve started wondering if this is bigger than just CRMs.
It seems like subcontractors are constantly adapting software that was designed for someone else’s business model. Whether it’s CRM, project management, estimating, scheduling, or something else, we often end up reshaping our processes to fit the software rather than finding software designed around how subcontractors actually work.
Maybe that’s just the reality of serving a niche industry, or maybe there are better solutions that I simply haven’t found yet.
I’m curious how other subcontractors handle this. Do you use your CRM to track pending projects? Have you found one that truly works from a project-first perspective, or have you simply adapted to a contact-first system?
More broadly, have you found this same challenge with other software your company uses? Are we trying to solve subcontractor problems with tools that were really built for someone else?
I’d genuinely appreciate hearing what has (or hasn’t) worked for you.