Resources
Guides and free templates for small teams.
How to run support email, phone menus, call transfers and a CRM when the whole team is a handful of people. Each guide works in any tool; ContactRoll is mentioned where it fits.
Free templates
Print them, copy them, change them. No sign-up and no email needed.
Phone menu script builder: fill-in templates for your greeting, menu and voicemail
Fill-in-the-blank scripts for a phone greeting, menu, hold, closed hours and voicemail, with three worked versions and how long each line takes to say.
Open the templateSupport email templates: 15 replies for a small team
Fifteen free support email reply templates for a small team: bugs, refunds, billing, login help, feature requests, angry customers and more.
Open the templateThe small-team CRM buying checklist
A free, printable checklist of 36 questions for choosing a CRM for 10 to 25 people, with a simple scoring method and a worked example.
Open the templateGuides
8 minute read
Help desk vs shared inbox: which does a small team need?
What a shared inbox and a help desk each do, five signs a small team has outgrown its inbox, and how to switch in an afternoon.
Read the guide9 minute read
How to choose a CRM with a built-in phone for a small business
Three ways to join calls and customer records, the questions that decide it, and what calling with a phone menu costs five people at five vendors.
Read the guide9 minute read
How to choose help desk software for a small team
Choose a help desk from your own channels and volume: the questions that matter at 10 to 25 people, the real cost, a trial plan and a scoring table.
Read the guide9 minute read
How to set up sales pipeline stages for a small team
Name each stage after what the customer has done, give it an exit rule and a chance of winning, and review the pipeline in 15 minutes a week.
Read the guide9 minute read
How to write a knowledge base article, with a template
Four fill-in templates for knowledge base articles, the rules that keep them short and true, and how to choose your first ten from your inbox.
Read the guide9 minute read
HubSpot alternatives for small teams: how to choose
How to price HubSpot alternatives fairly for a small team: what five people would pay at Zoho, Freshworks, Pipedrive and Zendesk, and how to move.
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One-click unsubscribe: what Gmail and Yahoo ask of senders
What the List-Unsubscribe and List-Unsubscribe-Post headers do, what Gmail and Yahoo require of bulk senders, and how to test your own email.
Read the guide8 minute read
Should your CRM send your marketing email?
When a small business should send marketing email from its CRM, what two tools cost in time, the consent rules, and a checklist.
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Using your own Twilio account for business calls
What it means to bring your own Twilio account to a CRM or phone tool, what to set up first, and a month’s bill worked out line by line.
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What a CRM costs a team of ten
What ten users pay at HubSpot, Pipedrive, Freshsales and Zoho CRM, the costs a pricing page leaves out, and a year’s budget worked out line by line.
Read the guide6 minute read
Double opt-in email: what it is and how to set it up
Single vs double opt-in, what a confirmation email proves, what to keep as a record of consent, and what to do with sign-ups no one confirms.
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Handling calls after hours as a small business
Three ways to handle calls when you are closed — a closed message, voicemail, an on-call person — and how to make sure no message is lost by morning.
Read the guide7 minute read
How a small team should handle support email
A shared inbox fails in two ways: two people answer, or no one does. A simple method for owning each email, tracking who it waits on and how long.
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How fast should a small team reply to customer email?
Skip the industry averages. Set your own reply target in business hours, measure every case against it, and know when a Friday email is due.
Read the guide7 minute read
How to choose a CRM for a small team
Choose a CRM from your team’s real week, not a feature list: the questions that separate tools for 10 to 25 people, and a worked scoring example.
Read the guide6 minute read
How to route calls to the customer’s account owner
Ring the person who looks after a customer first, for a few seconds, then the usual group. How callers are recognized and why the wait stays short.
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How to set up a phone menu for a small business
A phone menu that gets callers to the right person in one choice: how many keys, what to name them, open and closed hours, and how to test it.
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Telling callers a call is recorded
Why announcing every recorded call is the simple habit, what to say, who should listen, and how long a small business should keep recordings.
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Warm transfer vs cold transfer: which to use
A cold transfer passes the caller on immediately. A warm transfer lets you brief a colleague first. When each fits, and what the caller hears.
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What is a ring group, and how should it ring?
A ring group is a set of people who share incoming calls. When to ring everyone at once or one at a time, and what to do when everyone is busy.
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