Checklist: spreadsheet vs CRM for tracking the outreach pipeline

Checklist: spreadsheet vs CRM for tracking the outreach pipeline

Tracking prospects through stages — pick by team size and volume.

1. Solo operator, under 200 active prospects → a spreadsheet with status column (found → verified → sent → replied → won). Zero cost, full control.
2. Multiple senders or 200+ active → a CRM/Pitchbox. Prevents two people pitching the same domain.
3. Decision rule: the moment a duplicate pitch happens, you've outgrown the sheet. Migrate.
4. QA gate: dedup by root domain on every import, regardless of tool — same domain pitched twice burns trust.

Automation: import script writes the status column; CRM auto-logs reply state.

Definition of done: every prospect has a single owner, a current status, and one entry per root domain.