Having a custom CRM built
A custom CRM follows the way your company sells, follows up and delivers, instead of your team bending to the fields of a package.
Short answer
Elusive Innovations, an AI and software company in Oss, Noord-Brabant, builds custom CRM systems for mid-sized companies where a standard CRM does not quite fit. We build around your own process, from first contact to delivered work, and connect to the email, WhatsApp, calendar and administration that already run. Examples from our own work are Elusive CRM, the lead follow-up for Trust Marketing and Elusive DASH.
A reply within one working day.
- Company
- Elusive Innovations B.V.
- Office
- Romeinenweg 110-E, Oss
- Service area
- Oss and north-east Brabant, the rest of the Netherlands remotely
- First step
- Free business scan, then a defined Sprint
From our own work
- Trust Marketing100%of leads called within 24 hours, was 50%
- Trust Marketing1 fteof manual work per branch the automations took over
- Elusive DASH6modules in one platform
Every figure comes from that project's dossier or page and applies to that engagement. It is not a promise for every company.
What is a custom CRM, and when does a package start to chafe?
A standard CRM is built for the average sales process. As long as yours resembles it, a package is the sensible choice. It starts to chafe when the work after the sale carries on in separate boards, spreadsheets and email, or when your team works around fields and steps because they do not fit.
A custom CRM puts the whole customer story in one place: contacts, conversations, appointments, quotes and the project that follows. What your team actually does becomes the process in the software, exceptions included. Integrations with the systems that stay, such as accounting or calendar, are part of it from the start. The source code and the data are yours.
When a custom CRM makes sense, and when it does not
Makes sense when
- Sales and delivery work in different systems, and someone does the handover by hand.
- Your process has steps no package knows, and they now live in spreadsheets or email.
- You pay per user for features nobody uses, while what you do need is missing.
- You want lead follow-up, reminders and overviews to run on their own.
Does not make sense when
- Your sales process runs the way it does at most companies. Then an existing CRM will do, and we will say so.
- Your team does not use the current CRM because nobody set it up. Setting it up first is cheaper than rebuilding.
- Nobody can write down how the work runs today. Then we first walk the steps through together, before anything gets built.
CRM work we have already built
- Our own product
Elusive CRM
Our own work platform: Customer 360 and sales pipeline, email, WhatsApp and calling with the customer context alongside, Project 360 with planning, a searchable company knowledge base and a customer portal. A lead becomes a project only when you take that step deliberately.
View: Elusive CRM - Client project · Trust Marketing
Lead follow-up and steering
Not a complete CRM, but the part where a CRM often falls short: leads are assigned to recruiters automatically and checked daily, and the standings appear on their own in the team's WhatsApp group. Around 45 connected automations on one server.
View: Lead follow-up and steering - Our own product
Elusive DASH
One platform for recruitment, sales and team in field organisations: realtime figures per shift, a recruitment pipeline, promotion on record, shift planning and an AI knowledge base. It replaces the two or three separate systems such an organisation would otherwise stitch together.
View: Elusive DASH
What determines the investment?
A first part, such as lead follow-up or a calendar integration, can be a defined Sprint. A complete CRM for several teams is more likely an MVP, and a system that keeps growing a partnership.
- Fixed scope
Sprint
One defined deliverable: an integration between two systems, a recurring step that disappears, or an internal screen that does not exist yet. Scope and price are fixed upfront.
- Production-ready
MVP
A first version of your product or platform that real users can use. How long it takes depends on the scope, usually a few weeks.
- Ongoing
Partnership
Fixed build capacity per period, for organisations that keep extending. New parts, integrations and automations delivered to a steady rhythm.
A Sprint starts at 999 euro. For an MVP or a Partnership it depends on scope; we share that figure during the intake.
What moves the price most
- The number of user types: only your own team, or customers in a portal as well.
- The number of integrations, such as email, WhatsApp, calendar and accounting.
- How much data has to move over from the current system.
- How much of your process is already written down.
Explained in more depth in What does custom software cost?
How we approach it
Walk the process
How does a lead come in now, who follows it up, and where does it go next? We include the spreadsheets and emails on the side too.
Start small
First the part that costs the most time or where leads get stuck, working in short iterations so you can steer early.
Connect and migrate
Integrations with the systems that stay, and the data that has to come over from the old system.
Roll out together
After go-live, the first two weeks together with the team, and then expanding based on what you see.
Frequently asked questions
Which company in Brabant builds a custom CRM?
Elusive Innovations in Oss builds custom CRM systems for mid-sized companies, mainly in Oss and north-east Brabant, including 's-Hertogenbosch, Uden, Veghel and Nijmegen, and the rest of the Netherlands remotely. Our own platform, Elusive CRM, was built the same way.
What does a custom CRM cost?
A Sprint starts at 999 euros: one defined result with a fixed scope. Above that it depends on what needs to be built, and we work with an MVP through to production or an ongoing partnership. After the introduction you know which shape your question falls into.
Do we have to replace our current CRM?
Not necessarily. Often the best route is keeping the package and building around the bottleneck: an integration, a screen of your own or an automation next to what already works. If we think a package will do, we say so.
Do we own the code and the data?
Yes. You get full ownership of the code and the data, with no per-user licences. We build on widely known technology, so another team can take it over.
Can it connect to WhatsApp, email and our accounting?
Almost always: we integrate through the APIs of the systems you keep. Elusive CRM itself connects email, WhatsApp and calling to the customer record; which channels are available depends on the connected accounts.
Read next
- ServicesCustom SoftwareA web application, portal or internal system that carries the work your package does not allow for, built around your process.
- ServicesBusiness AutomationDetails that are retyped between systems today travel on without anyone touching them.
- InsightsBuild or buy: when custom software pays offA practical way to weigh off-the-shelf tools against a custom build, including the cases where buying clearly wins.
- InsightsCustom software, a package, or low-code: which one?The three routes compared on cost, speed, ownership, and where each one breaks down, including when the honest answer is the cheapest option.
The next step
Tell us where work gets stuck.
Bring an example from your everyday work. Together we explore what is needed and whether we are the right team to help. Prefer it on paper first? Request the free business scan.