How to set up a simple CRM for a 20-person team in SharePoint

Short answer: one way to start is with two SharePoint lists. One list holds companies. The other holds contacts, and each contact points to a company through a Lookup column. Add a Choice column for the stage, a Person column for the owner, and one saved view per stage. You can build this in an afternoon, you need no code, and everyone on the team can see the same data.

This guide is for operations and sales leads who will click through it themselves. The exact menu names may differ in your version of Microsoft 365, so use the steps as a map and not as a script.

Why a simple CRM can start as two lists

A CRM answers three questions. Who are we talking to? Who on our team owns the relationship? What happens next? Many teams answer these in a spreadsheet, in email folders or in one person's head. When that person is out, the answers are gone.

Microsoft describes a list as "a collection of data that you can share with your team members and people who you've provided access to". That is the base of this build. A shared list with the right columns gives you a basic CRM without a new product to buy or learn.

Signs you need one place for customer data

Two people email the same customer without knowing it.
Nobody can say who owns a given account.
Notes live in personal files.
A lead goes quiet and no one notices.
Reports are built by hand each month from several sheets.

If you have a shared inbox problem on top of this, see "Requests lost in a shared inbox". If you are not sure a list beats a spreadsheet for your case, see "SharePoint list vs Excel".

Before you start

Decide three things on paper first. This takes a few minutes and saves rework.

What are your stages? Keep it to four or five, for example New, Talking, Proposal, Won, Lost. Use words your team already says.
Who is allowed to see the data? All 20 people, or only the sales group? See the permissions step below.
What must you know about a company before you call it a customer? Pick the few fields that matter. Add more later.

You also need a SharePoint site where you can make lists. Microsoft says you can create lists in SharePoint, the Lists app in Microsoft 365, or Microsoft Teams. A team site is a common place for this.

Step 1. Create the Companies list

Make this list first, because the Contacts list will point to it.

Open your SharePoint site or the Lists app.
Create a new list and choose the Blank list option. Microsoft describes it as a way to "start a list from scratch".
Name it Companies. Select Create.
The list opens with a Title column. Use Title for the company name. Type each company name one way only, because the Contacts list will use this column. Title is required by default. Rename it to Company, or turn off Require in the column settings.

Microsoft's own example for a SharePoint site uses New, then List, then "Create from blank" and the List option. Your screen may show different labels.

Step 2. Add a few simple columns to Companies

To add a column, select + Add column, pick the column type, give it a name and select Save. Microsoft lists these steps for the modern experience.

One way to start:

Website (a single line of text)
Industry (Choice)
Account owner (Person)

Microsoft describes the Person type as a column "that allows you to select a person's name" on the same page. In its own example, a Person column named Owner is added to a list with the Person column type.

Keep this list short. Four or five columns is enough at first.

Step 3. Create the Contacts list

Create a second blank list and name it Contacts.
Use Title for the contact's full name.
Add columns for Email and Phone as single lines of text, if you want to store them.

Do not put people's details here that you have no reason to keep. A smaller list is easier to keep correct.

Step 4. Link Contacts to Companies with a Lookup column

This is the step that makes it feel like a CRM. Microsoft describes a list relationship this way: "information from one list (the source list) is automatically shown in another list (the target list)".

In the Contacts list, which is the target:

Select + Add column and choose Lookup.
Under the source list option, choose Companies.
Under the column option, choose Title.
Name the new column Company. Select Save.

Now each contact has a drop-down of your companies. You type a company name once and pick it after that. That keeps names the same everywhere, so a filter finds every contact for a company.

Things to know, all from the same Microsoft page:

The source column must be one of these types: single line of text, number, date and time, or a single-value lookup. Choice, Person and several other types are not supported as a source. This is why Title, which is a text column, works well here.
Microsoft says lookup columns should be created and used within the same site. Put both lists on one site.
You can also choose to show extra columns from the source list. Each extra column you check creates a new column in the target list. Use this to show the Website beside each contact.
You can set an option so that deletions in the source list affect the target list. Read the options before you save, and think about what should happen if someone deletes a company.

Step 5. Add the stage as a Choice column

In Contacts, add a column named Stage and pick the Choice type. Microsoft describes a drop-down list of options as one column type. Enter your stages, one per line, in the order you decided before you started. Set a default, such as New, so that no row is empty.

Choose stage names that describe where the person is, not what you feel about them. "Waiting on proposal" is clearer than "Hot."

Step 6. Add an owner column

Add a column named Owner in Contacts, using the Person type. Every contact needs one owner, so that one person is the first to answer for it. If you want to make this required, open the column settings and look for a required option. The exact menu names may differ.

Add two more columns while you are here:

Next step (a single line of text, for example "Send quote")
Next step date (Date and Time)

Microsoft names Choice, Date and Time, and Lookup among the column types you can use in a list. A next step with a date is what stops a lead from going quiet.

Step 7. Make one view per stage

Microsoft says you can "create list views to organize, sort, and filter data in different and specific ways," and that views use columns "to sort, group, filter, and display the data". A view is a saved filter. It does not change your data.

To build one view in the modern experience, as Microsoft describes it:

Select the Stage column heading, then choose Filter by.
In the filter pane, pick one stage, for example Talking, and select Apply.
Open the view menu at the top right and choose Save view as.
Type a name, such as Talking, and select Save.

Repeat for each stage. You will have a view named New, one named Talking, and so on. Add a view called My contacts that filters Owner to the current user. Microsoft notes that filtering from the column heading does not support the [Today] and [Me] keywords, and says to use the classic view editor for those. Look for an option to edit the current view, then the Filters section. The exact menu names may differ.

Step 8. Add one sample row and test it

Before you invite anyone, add one fake row so you can see if the design works.

Company: Example Supply Co (add this to Companies first)
Contact: Test Contact One
Stage: New
Owner: you
Next step: Send intro note
Next step date: a date next week

Check four things. Does the company appear in the Lookup drop-down? Does the row show in the New view? Change the Stage to Talking: does the row move to the Talking view? Does the My contacts view show it? If all four work, delete the sample row and start entering real data. Delete Example Supply Co from Companies too.

Step 9. Set who can see and change it

Microsoft says that with lists you can "specify whether participants for your list can read and edit only the items they created or all items in the list," and that you can set permission levels on a single item.

By default, a list uses the permissions of its site. Most teams can leave it that way. If you must limit the CRM to a smaller group, Microsoft describes a path: open List settings, then Permissions for this list, then Stop Inheriting Permissions. The exact menu names may differ.

Microsoft also says it does not recommend this for most cases. It says it highly recommends using the built-in SharePoint groups, and that unique permissions are supported within reasonable use. Restoring inheritance later removes the custom permissions you set. One way to start: give everyone on the site access, and change that only if you have a real reason.

Step 10. Teach the habit

The tool only works if people use it. Agree on three rules and say them out loud.

Every contact has an owner and a next step date.
Change the Stage the same day it changes.
Start the weekly sales meeting by looking at the stage views, not at email.

Ten minutes of this each week does more than any column you add.

When this stops being enough

These come from my experience, not from Microsoft.

A SharePoint list is a good fit for a small team with a simple process. A dedicated CRM does several things better. Check each point against the tools you are looking at:

Email sync. A dedicated CRM can often log emails and meetings for you. With a list, people type updates or you build a flow.
A full history of each person. A list holds the current state. A CRM is built to show a timeline of every touch.
Pipeline reports. A dedicated tool usually gives you charts and forecasts at once. With a list you build views, or you connect a reporting tool.
Mobile use. A dedicated CRM app is often easier to use between visits.
Many-to-many links. One contact working at two companies is awkward with a lookup column.

If your team needs those every day, a dedicated CRM is likely worth the cost. For a team that mostly needs shared names, owners and stages, the list is often enough. To compare tools, see "Monday vs SharePoint for a 50-person team".

What to avoid

Too many columns. Every extra field is one more thing people skip. Start with the ones you use.
Free-text company names. Use the Lookup column so each company is spelled one way.
Too many stages. More than five or six and people stop choosing the right one.
No owner. A row with no owner is a row nobody works.
Putting everything in one list. Two linked lists are easier to keep clean than one list with repeated company details on every row.
Storing data you do not need. Keep personal details to what you have a reason to hold.

When to get help

You can build all of this yourself in Microsoft 365. If you would rather have it built and tested for your team, I do that. A tracker like this is a fixed price: $5,000 for one, built in 2 weeks. See "What a SharePoint tracker costs". Bring one example of the problem to a free call.

Tell me what's still manual

I am Al Davies. I run 250 High Street LLC and build SharePoint trackers and Power Automate flows for operations teams. I work remotely. The first call is free, and I will not try to sell you anything.

See trackers I built: Tools I built

FAQ

Is this a real CRM?

It covers the basics: who the contacts are, which company they belong to, who owns them and what stage they are in. It does not have the extras of a dedicated CRM, such as email sync. See the section on when this stops being enough.

Do I need Power Automate?

No. Everything above works with lists and views only. You can add a flow later, for example to remind owners of a next step that is due.

Can I use the Lists app or Teams instead of a SharePoint site?

Yes. Microsoft says you can create lists in SharePoint, the Lists app or Microsoft Teams. Keep both lists in the same place, because lookup columns should be used within the same site.

Can I show the stage of a company in the Companies list?

Not through a Lookup. Microsoft says a Choice column is not supported as a source for a lookup. One way to start is to keep the stage on the contact and filter the Contacts list by company.

Should I add a Deals list?

Only if one company can have several open sales at once. If so, build it the same way as Contacts, with a Company lookup, a Stage choice and an Owner person column.