How do I set up a CRM correctly?

Keep it simple: use only a few lists based on relationship type, let pipelines track progress, use tags for one category only, and put everything else in custom fields. Then connect the CRM to your stack so it becomes your single source of truth. This structure works in any CRM and beats how most teams set theirs up.

How many lists should I have in my CRM?

Keep it to about four lists based on relationship type, such as Customers, Prospects, Partnerships and Network or Peers. Many people create twenty or more lists for every situation, which makes the CRM chaotic and eventually unused. Lists should describe who the contact is, not where they sit in a process.

What should I use CRM tags for?

Use tags for one category only, usually company type or company size. Do not use tags for process states like meeting booked or needs reply, because those belong in your pipeline stages. Mixing everything into tags leads to dozens of them and an unmanageable CRM.

What is the difference between CRM lists, pipelines and tags?

Lists group contacts by relationship type, pipelines track progress through a journey with stages, and tags label one attribute like company size. The common mistake is forcing lists or tags to do the pipeline's job. Let pipelines carry the heavy lifting and everything stays clean.

Why should my CRM integrate with my other tools?

Because a CRM only works as a single source of truth when data flows into it automatically. Without integrations you deal with missing data, manual copy and paste and disconnected tools, and people stop using the CRM. Connect your calendar, email, enrichment and an AI note taker so meetings and interactions sync on their own.

How to SETUP your CRM CORRECTLY (Works for ANY CRM)

TL;DR: how to set up your CRM correctly (works for any CRM)

✅ Keep lists minimal: about four based on relationship type (Customers, Prospects, Partnerships, Network), not the 20+ lists that turn a CRM into chaos and get it abandoned.
✅ Let pipelines do the heavy lifting: build a journey with stages per list (Prospects: call booked, conversation started, ghosted, follow-up, won/lost; Customers: onboarding, check-in, referral ask, case study) instead of describing progress with more lists.
✅ Use tags for one category only: company type (agency, startup, scale-up) or company size, never process states like meeting booked or needs reply, which belong in the pipeline.
✅ Put everything else in custom fields: industry, plan, subscription start date, lead source, all filterable, clean and scalable, so your CRM matches your business without chaos.
✅ Integrate your stack: connect calendar and meetings, email and enrichment, and an AI note taker (summary, transcript, recording link) so the CRM becomes your single source of truth. Do this and you already use your CRM better than 90% of teams.

Most people have a CRM… but they don’t actually know how to set it up.

How do I know? Because I’ve been running my sales CRM Breakcold for more than two years now, and I’ve come across hundreds of prospects using their CRM completely wrong.

So in this article, I’m going to teach you how to do a proper CRM setup, so you can finally leverage your CRM to its full potential.

And the best part is: this works for any CRM.

By the end, your CRM will finally work for you, not against you.

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The #1 CRM Setup Mistake: Too Many CRM Lists

Alright guys, the first big problem I see in CRM setup is this:

People create way too many CRM lists.

Basically, they try to make a list for everything.

a list for bad fit leads
a list for positive replies from their cold email tool
a list for follow-ups
a list for “maybe later”
a list for “warm leads but not really”
and the list goes on…

I’ve seen prospects (and even customers sometimes) with 20+ lists.

And honestly: it makes no sense.

It overcomplicates your CRM, makes it hard to find anything, and in the end… you stop using the CRM properly.

What you should do instead (in ANY CRM)

The goal of your CRM setup is to limit the number of lists, because there are much better ways to organize and differentiate leads inside your CRM.

No matter what business you have, there are always only four main categories of relationships:

Customers
Prospects
Partnerships
Network / Peers

That’s it.

These are the only lists you need.

Yes, you can tweak this a bit:

maybe you add one more list
maybe you remove one

But overall, this structure works for basically every business.

And there’s no real reason to have more lists… except in rare cases.

Use Pipelines to Build the Right Customer Journeys

Now here’s where it becomes powerful.

Instead of using lists to describe everything, you keep lists simple… and then you build a dedicated journey inside each list.

Customer pipeline example

Inside your Customers list, you could have a pipeline like:

Onboarding call
First check-in call
Referral ask
Case study request

This is a customer journey pipeline.

Prospect pipeline example

Inside your Prospects list, you’ll have a totally different pipeline. For example:

Call booked
Conversation started
Ghosted
Follow-up
Closed won / Closed lost

This is where you should manage progress.

So basically: pipelines** should do the heavy lifting**, not lists.

And once you set this up, you avoid the “too many lists” problem forever.

Tags: Use Them for ONE Thing Only

Now people ask me:

“Ok but how do I differentiate between startups, agencies, enterprise, company size, etc.?”

And this is where most people mess up their CRM setup.

They use tags for everything.

And that’s the worst.

What tags should be used for

Tags are great to differentiate between types of companies.

For example:

Agency
Startup
Scale-up

But tags should NOT be used for things like:

meeting booked
to follow up
needs reply
waiting response

Because those are not “tags”.

Those are pipeline stages.

If someone booked a meeting, it should be a pipeline stage like:

Meeting booked

Not a tag.

Your CRM tags rule

You want to use tags for one category only:

Either company type (agency/startup/etc.)
Or company size (1-10, 11-50, etc.)
Or one other major category that matters a lot to your business

But don’t mix everything.

Because once you do that, you end up with 50 tags, and your CRM becomes unmanageable again.

Less is more.

Custom Fields: The Secret Weapon of CRM Setup

If multiple things matter for your business (and usually they do), then you should not create more lists, and you should not spam tags either.

Instead, you should use custom fields (also called custom attributes depending on the CRM).

Why custom fields matter

If you open a lead in basically any CRM, you’ll see default fields like:

Name
Email
Company
etc.

But you can also add custom ones, and most importantly:

All these fields are filterable.

So you can filter leads super fast, without creating messy lists.

Example of a useful custom field

If you have a monthly recurring subscription business, you can create a field like:

Subscription start date

Type: date

And now you can filter and sort customers based on it.

How to set it up

In most CRMs, you go to:

Settings → Attributes / Custom Fields → Create Field

And then you choose:

text
date
number
dropdown

This part is what makes your CRM truly match your business.

So your CRM setup becomes personalized, without breaking your organization.

Integrations: CRM Must Be Your Single Source of Truth

The last key point for a correct CRM setup is integrations.

Your CRM should be your single source of truth.

But if it doesn’t integrate with your stack, you’ll constantly deal with missing data, manual copy/paste, disconnected tools… and again you’ll stop using the CRM properly.

What your CRM should integrate with

You want:

native integrations with your tools
strong data integrations (email + phone enrichment, LinkedIn & other socials)
meeting sync (calendar)

And ideally also an AI note-taker integration, so your meetings are auto-synced into the CRM with:

summary
transcript
recording link

This is the dream setup because your CRM becomes alive automatically.

CRM Setup Recap (Do This and You’ll Beat 90% of People)

To summarize, a proper crm setup looks like this:

Nail your list organization

Keep lists minimal (customers, prospects, partnerships, network)

Organize your pipelines

Pipelines define the journey, not lists

Use tags correctly

ONE category only (company type OR company size)

Use custom fields for everything else

Make your CRM match your business, without chaos

Think hard about integrations

Your CRM must connect to your full tech stack

If you do this, you’ll already be above 90% of people when it comes to using a CRM properly.

Because most people have no clue how they should be structuring their CRM.