TASK TAMERS

Close CRM Journal · June 5, 2026 · 9 min read

How to Set Up Close CRM the Right Way: A Complete New-Account Checklist

Most Close accounts aren't broken by missing features — they're broken by decisions skipped on day one. This is the sequence I follow on every new account I set up, in the order that actually works.

TL;DR

Set up Close in this order: 1) map your sales process on paper, 2) lead statuses, 3) opportunity pipeline and stages, 4) custom fields (as few as possible), 5) email and calling setup, 6) email templates, 7) follow-up Workflows, 8) Smart Views, 9) data import, 10) reporting baseline. Import your data last — structure first, records second.

Why the order matters

The most common new-account mistake is importing a spreadsheet of leads into a blank Close account "to get started," then bolting on structure afterwards. Now every future decision — statuses, fields, pipelines — becomes a migration instead of a setting. Do the thinking first and the import takes an afternoon; do it last-minute and you'll be cleaning up for months (if that's where you already are, read the account clean-up guide instead).

Step 1 — Map your sales process before touching settings

Close is opinionated: leads (companies) contain contacts, opportunities move through stages, and communication is logged automatically. Before configuring anything, write down how a deal actually happens for you:

One page is enough. Everything below is just this page translated into settings.

Step 2 — Lead statuses: few, sharp, with entry rules

Lead statuses answer "what is our relationship with this company?" Keep them to six or seven, and write a one-line entry rule for each so two reps never disagree about what a status means. A set that works for most teams:

Resist inventing statuses for edge cases. Every extra status is a question your reps have to answer a hundred times a week.

Step 3 — Opportunity pipeline: stages you can verify

Stages describe where a deal is, and each one should be tied to something that verifiably happened. "Interested" is a feeling; "Demo held" is a fact. A solid default:

  1. Discovery — qualifying call booked or held
  2. Demo — demo/needs analysis completed
  3. Proposal — priced proposal delivered
  4. Negotiation — verbal intent, terms being agreed
  5. Won / Lost — with a lost reason, always

Make deal value and expected close date non-negotiable on every opportunity. A pipeline where half the deals have no value or date can't forecast anything — and forecasting is the whole point. Start with one pipeline; add a second only when a genuinely different process exists (e.g. new business vs. renewals).

Step 4 — Custom fields: only what you'll filter or report on

The test for every custom field: will someone filter a Smart View or a report by this? If not, it's a note, not a field. Typical keepers:

Use dropdowns instead of free text wherever possible — free-text fields rot into seventeen spellings of the same answer.

Step 5 — Connect email and calling early

Close's superpower is that email, calls and SMS live inside the CRM and log themselves. Connect every rep's mailbox, set up calling numbers (and SMS if your market uses it), and configure a shared company signature. Do this before templates and Workflows — both depend on it. If your team books meetings, wire up your scheduling link here too.

Step 6 — Email templates: five to start

Don't build a library; build the five emails your team sends every day and make them excellent:

  1. First outreach (cold or inbound response)
  2. Follow-up #1 — short nudge with added context
  3. Follow-up #2 — different angle: case study, question, resource
  4. Proposal delivery
  5. Break-up — the polite "closing your file" email that reliably revives dead threads

Use Close's template tags (like the lead's or contact's name) so personalisation is automatic, and keep every template under 120 words. You can measure open and reply rates per template later and improve the losers.

Step 7 — One follow-up Workflow, not ten

Workflows are Close's multi-step sequences: email, call and SMS steps with waits in between, pausing automatically when someone replies. New accounts need exactly one to start: the standard follow-up cadence for new leads — typically six touches over two to three weeks, mixing email and call steps. Get the team using it, learn from the reply data, then expand. The full cadence design is its own post: Follow-Up Workflows That Win Deals.

Step 8 — Smart Views: the team's daily to-do list

Smart Views are saved, live-updating filters — and they're how your team should experience Close every morning. Build these five before anyone starts working leads: new and untouched, follow-up due today, went quiet after contact, hot opportunities closing this month, and nurture to reheat. I've written up the exact filters in the Smart Views guide.

Step 9 — Now import your data

With the structure standing, importing is mapping, not archaeology:

Step 10 — Set the reporting baseline

Before the first full week of use, note your starting numbers: leads by status, pipeline value by stage, activity volume. In a month you'll want to know whether the machine is working, and you can't measure improvement without a "before." Which numbers matter — and which don't — is covered in the reporting guide.

The mistakes that undo all of this

Keep reading