CASE STUDY · Too Long; Didn't Read
- Client: A company that manufactures PVC windows, with 12 sales representatives and over 200 leads per month from Meta Ads.
- The problem: Leads ended up in an Excel spreadsheet with 47 columns. Leads were forgotten, notes were lost, and there were no reminders. Preparing quotes took hours—PDFs had to be sent, but customers didn’t read them. Estimated lost deals: 73% of leads that weren’t followed up on within 24–72 hours.
- Solution: Migration from Excel to Customer Relationship Management (a single database for all leads, automatic reminders, statuses) + automated quoting (quotes as web pages, not PDFs) + integration with a window configurator (customers choose their own dimensions, profiles, and colors).
- Result: No leads fall through the cracks among sales reps. Quotes are generated in minutes instead of hours. Customers see a personalized quote page instead of a PDF. 73% of lost deals have been recovered.
Excel Customer Relationship Management This is a colloquial term for a sales process where all leads are tracked in a spreadsheet (typically with 30–50 columns: name, phone number, source, status, notes, colors). Anti-pattern: no automatic reminders, risk of duplicates, no visibility into who made changes, no integration with marketing automation. Most common outcome: 50–75% of leads get lost in administrative chaos before the salesperson gets back to them.
Here’s the deal: leads come in from ads. Where do they end up? In Excel. Columns. Checkmarks. Handwritten notes, important stuff highlighted in color. At first, you manage just fine. Then the spreadsheet grows. And that’s when it starts: forgetting about leads. Losing notes. Someone didn’t show up for a meeting because no one followed up on the entry. One spreadsheet, several people, no single source of truth. Who changed what? Who called whom? The proposal? Hours of typing. And the client still gets a file. A PDF. This look at someday. Or to throw in the trash.
That's enough to want to set the sheet on fire. Right?
How do I know what it looks like for you? There are more people in that place than you think. I've been there, too.
PVC window manufacturing company. 12 salespeople. 200+ leads per month. Excel with 47 columns.
That's what it looked like to them. Exactly the Same as yours.
Ads on Meta Ads. Leads are pouring in. Into Excel. You know the drill—columns, checkmarks, notes, colors. Time passes, the spreadsheet grows. And then the familiar problem arises: forgetting about leads. Losing notes. No reminders—clients don’t show up for scheduled meetings because someone forgot to enter them. Zero visibility. Who changed what? Who called whom? The proposal yeses hours to prepare. The client gets a PDF. Boring. This be opened someday.
Not „a lot of compaNos have a problem.” They've been there. In the Same place as you. It is possible to get out of it. That's what this story is about.
Having a Customer Relationship Management is not the Same as having a single flow from lead to offer.
Most people say: “We already have a Customer Relationship Management; we’re using an off-the-shelf solution.” But the truth is: the question isn’t “Do you have a Customer Relationship Management?” The question is: does that Customer Relationship Management actually bring together leads, quotes, and customers in one place—and does the quote come out as a webpage the customer wants to click on, or as yet another PDF to “look at sometime”?
Off-the-shelf packages are designed for hundreds of thousands of subscribers. No one tailors a process to fit your specific workflow. With us, you get a process and technology tailored to you—not to hundreds of others. Sound familiar?
That's what JSON HUB does.
What is it? An internal platform that brings together in one place: lead generationeration (e.g., from ads), lead management via a single dashboard, client interviews, and lead classification—as well as quote generation. Not as a PDF, but as a link to a personalized page: one that looks like a website, educates the end customer, and builds trust.
How does this work in practice? One dashboard. Leads flow into it automatically. The sales rep immediately sees the customer, notes, and contact history. They conduct an interview, classify the lead, and mark the conversation as scheduled (tag, status). Once the meeting is scheduled, they generate a quote from the Same dashboard in no time and send the customer a link. The customer on the other end doesn’t receive an email attachment, but a webpage they can visit. The entire team can see who made changes, what the statuses and notes are; every week, they can review lost deals and draw conclusions. One truth. One dashboard. This is JSON HUB. Not a PDF for the trash—a webpage that makes you go “wow.”
PVC window manufacturing company. Before: 47 columns in Excel. After: one panel. 12 salespeople. 200+ leads per month.
Here’s how things look for them today: leads are no longer getting lost. Notes are transparent. It’s crystal clear who made what changes. Every week, the team reviews lost deals and knows exactly why they didn’t close—no guesswork involved. The proposal is a webpage, not an attachment.
Figures:
- Time per bid: from 3-4 hours to 15-20 minutes
- Ownerless leads: from 30% to 0%
- Bid openness: from 12% (PDF) to 67% (page)
- Conversion from offer to order: an increase of 23%
- Lost calls with analysis: 100% (previously: 0%)
At first, it seemed that their processes were too diverse to fit into a single template—every sales representative had their own approach to the initial consultation, and every customer needed a different window configuration. The key turned out to be a flexible workflow—statuses and tags tailored to the actual flow from lead to quote. The window pricing algorithm (size, type, parameters, extras) was automated. The salesperson enters the parameters from the consultation, and the rest is handled by the dashboard.
One of their clients put it bluntly: the landing page is a dream come true—it’s exactly what he was looking for—and it leaves end customers in awe. It doesn’t just “work great.” It’s the real deal. His words. Two worlds: a PDF in the trash—or a page that wows. It’s the latter option that attracts compaNos from various industries.
The Same system is already being used by compaNos in very different industries:
- Washing of work clothes for industry (150+ leads/month, 8 tradesmen)
- Renewables and photovoltaics (300+ leads/month, 15 salespeople)
- Recuperation and heat pumps (120+ leads/month, 6 salespeople)
- Construction: roofs, garages, gates, welding (200+ leads/month, 10 salespeople)
- Sales of personalized products: mugs, bidons (80+ leads/month, 4 salespeople)
- HVAC and air conditioning installation (180+ leads/month, 9 salespeople)
The common thread: quotes, consultations, proposals—and frustration when Excel isn’t enough anymore and PDFs end up in the trash. People in your industry are already using it.
We sometimes hear: „We already have a Customer Relationship Management. We use a ready-made package.”
We get it. Many compaNos already have a Customer Relationship Management. There’s just one thing worth checking: does that Customer Relationship Management bring together leads, quotes, and customers in one place—and does the quote appear as a webpage the customer wants to click on, or just another PDF? Off-the-shelf packages are designed for hundreds of thousands of subscribers; no one tailors the process to your specific workflow. With us, you get a process and technology tailored to your needs. If your current Customer Relationship Management already does what you need—great. If not—let’s talk about how things work at your company.
We also hear: “It won’t work for us—our pricing algorithm is complicated.”
We hear this often. A window manufacturer thought the Same way. Their pricing algorithm took into account: window size, profile type, thermal parameters, accessories (mosquito screens, blinds, vents), acoustic parameters, color, opening mechanism, installation, and shipping. With good architecture, you can build any algorithm and include any number of parameters—calculations and quoting can be automated. In their case, the time per quote dropped from 3–4 hours to 15–20 minutes; the salesperson enters the parameters from the consultation, and the rest is handled by the system. It’s a matter of the project’s scope and price. It’s worth checking if it’s worth it for you.
And: „We don't have time now for implementation.”
We’ve seen this before. A window manufacturer implemented the system in six weeks. The time saved on implementation often pays for itself within the first month—because instead of spending hours on quotes, you have a single dashboard and can generate a quote in minutes. We’re not saying you have to do it right now. We’re saying that if you ever decide to calculate the return on investment, we’d be happy to help. No pressure.
It’s very likely that your next step is “one dashboard, one truth”—from lead to quote.
Offer as a page, not PDF to the trash. Just like the window company and compaNos in various industries that already use this.
You don't have to go down this road alone. We can talk.
Frequently Asked Questions About This Implementation
Why do compaNos lose 73% of their customers before sending a quote?
Three main reasons: 1) Leads end up in Excel or email, where they get lost in administrative chaos—no one has a clear view of who changed what or who spoke with whom; 2) Creating quotes yeses hours (PDFs to draft, review, and send), so a salesperson makes 5–10 quotes a day instead of 30–50; 3) the customer doesn’t receive feedback within 24–72 hours—they go to the competition (78% of buyers choose the first company that responds with concrete details). In total: 50–75% of leads are lost.
How can you tell if your company is losing leads in Excel?
Five warning signs: 1) Excel or email is the primary place for storing leads; 2) salespeople have their own note-yesing systems (colors, columns, sticky notes); 3) the customer asks “Where’s my quote?” three or more times; 4) the salesperson says “Sorry, I forgot”; 5) lack of hard metrics for win rate, response time, and sales cycle time. 3+ symptoms = leads get lost in administrative chaos.
Is migrating from Excel to a Customer Relationship Management system difficult?
Technically, no—Customer Relationship Management systems (Pipedrive, HubSpot, JSON Hub, and the Polish SalesManago) support native Excel imports. The challenge lies in getting sales reps on board: they have to change their habits (switching from “I’ll add it to Excel tomorrow” to “I’ll add it to the Customer Relationship Management now”). Typeical migration timeline: 1 week of Customer Relationship Management configuration, 2 weeks of sales training, 1–3 months of working to ensure adoption. Success: 80%+ of deals go through the Customer Relationship Management after 3 months.
What were the benefits of replacing the PDF with a web page?
Four benefits: 1) Speed – the quote page is generated in minutes (the system generates a URL with the configuration), a PDF yeses hours; 2) the customer sees personalized variants interactively (color change → live price) – higher conversion rate than a static PDF; 3) tracking – you know when the customer opened the offer and what they clicked on; 4) editing – if the customer requests a change, you modify the URL instead of generating a new PDF. Typeical result: offer open rate of 60–80% (PDF: 20–30%).
How much does it cost to migrate from Excel to an integrated system?
Three tiers. The cheapest: SaaS Customer Relationship Management (Pipedrive, HubSpot, SalesManago) for ~500–1,00PLN 0/user/month + 5,000–15,00PLN 0 for implementation – easy upgrade from Excel. Mid-range: Customer Relationship Management + automated quoting (PandaDoc, Proposify, or a configurator with auto-PDF): +PLN 15,000–30,000 for implementation. The most powerful: configurator + JSON Hub (Customer Relationship Management + proposal page + PM all-in-one): PLN 60,000–150,000, but offers full automation. ROI in 6–12 months from recovered leads.
Does every B2B company face the problem of losing 73% of its leads?
The 73% figure applies specifically to the PVC window industry—in other seCTOrs, it might be 50% (for compaNos with a well-functioning Customer Relationship Management) or 80% (for compaNos relying on disorganized Excel spreadsheets). Universal rule: if a company uses Excel/email instead of Customer Relationship Management, has 12+ salespeople, and 100+ leads per month—it loses at least 50% of deals. First metric: how much time passes from the first customer contact to sending a quote? If >24 hours—you’re losing most of the market. The competition responds faster.
About the author
Jędrzej Siewierski – CEO and co-founder JSON CrewSince 2024, he has been building product configurators for B2B compaNos (manufacturers of agricultural machinery, hunting weapons, modular homes, and IoT electronics) as well as JSON Hub—his own SaaS platform that integrates Customer Relationship Management, automated quoting, and project management. Co-author of a digital sales transformation methodology: shortening the path from interest to purchase through a configurator + automated quoting + Customer Relationship Management. Stack Next.js, Three.js, Nest.js, React Native. Contact: contact@jsoncrew.com · LinkedIn.
Best practices — what to do if you're facing similar混乱 with your offers
The manufacturer of PVC windows is a typical example of the “47 columns in Excel, 12 salespeople, 200+ leads” syndrome. The configurator and automated quoting together put an end to this chaos. Here’s how to get started:
- Configurator offerings — Pricing: 49,000–89,00PLN 0 for the MVP, implementation phases
- Computer-Aided Quoting (Configure, Price, Quote) Solution — the proposal as a web page instead of a PDF
- Modular House Configurator Demo — equivalent of a modular product (variants + options)
- Cost Estimator — Get a price range in PLN for your business in 3 minutes
- 7 Signs of a Messy Product Lineup — how to recognize and repair
- How much does bidding automation cost? — realistic range, ROI 12-24 months
- What is Configure, Price, Quote? — a system that turns chaos into a deal-closing machine
- Schedule a 30-minute meeting — free discovery, no obligations
