CRM for Consulting Business — Clients, Projects & Billing
A CRM for consulting business shaped around the real mix of retainers, project engagements and hourly casework. Custom-built by Saitami for management consultants, strategic freelancers and boutique legal or tax advisory firms that want owned data and accurate billing without the admin tax.
What the consulting CRM includes
Project-based CRM for professional services — client, project, hours and invoice in one system. No separate spreadsheet for billable hours; no guessing how much retainer is left on the 24th.
Clients and engagement history
Contacts, roles, legal entities and full history — past projects, signed documents, people who moved between companies.
Projects and hours per project
Every engagement: fixed scope, milestones, budget in hours and euros. Timer or manual entry, instantly reflected in project P&L.
Retainers with monthly caps
Monthly or quarterly retainers, automatic rollover of unused hours, early warning at 70% and 90% consumption.
Hybrid billing
Retainer + hourly + fixed-price on the same client. One monthly invoice combines subscription, overage and closed projects.
Documents and contracts
Templates for NDA, MSA, SOW and addenda, generated from the client record, versioned, with qualified e-signature.
Team sharing and capacity
Capacity planning per consultant — weekly and monthly view of load, utilisation, billable vs non-billable. Clear who is free.
NPS and satisfaction
Automatic NPS prompt at the end of each milestone or project, aggregated by client and consultant, alerts on negatives.
Who this consulting CRM is for
Consulting firm software for teams whose product is expertise and time, not SKUs. Generic sales CRMs see deals and products; we see engagements, retainers and capacity.
Management consultants
Strategic engagements of two to twelve months with multiple workstreams and a mixed team of partner, manager and analysts. You need project P&L, per-person utilisation and true margin — not an averaged spreadsheet.
IT and strategy freelancers
Solo consultants and small boutiques with 3–10 parallel retainer clients plus occasional fixed-price work. One screen shows next-month capacity, remaining retainer hours and unbilled time.
Boutique legal and tax advisory
Law and tax advisory practices mixing monthly retainers, hourly work outside the retainer and project engagements (audit, due diligence, restructuring). Different from a bookkeeping firm — no daily ledger work, just advice and expertise.
How we build the CRM — stack and integrations
No vendor lock-in, no per-seat fees. Code, database and hosting belong to you. The default stack is proven across professional services deployments in the EU.
Technology stack
Frontend: Next.js 15 — fast UI with keyboard shortcuts for partners and analysts.
Database: PostgreSQL with full-text search and audit log on every record.
Time tracking: in-browser and desktop timer, bulk corrections, double-billing protection.
Security: role-based access, per-client isolation, two-factor authentication.
Built-in integrations
Calendar: two-way Google Calendar and Microsoft 365 sync — meetings become billable hours automatically.
Communication: Slack and email — notifications for expiring retainer, pending invoice signature, new inbound lead.
Documents and signing: PDF contract and offer generation, qualified electronic signature (Borica, Evrotrust) — EU-valid.
Payments: Stripe and SEPA — pay link inside the invoice, automatic flagging of paid and overdue items.
Why Saitami for a consulting CRM
Three numbers from real deployments in consulting and legal teams over the last 18 months.
Billable utilisation per consultant
Accurate time tracking and capacity planning turn hidden hours into billed work — without extending the working day.
Time spent on admin
Invoices generated automatically from hours and retainers — no spreadsheets, no end-of-month reconciliation day.
Starting investment
Fixed-price MVP — clients, projects, time tracking, retainers and invoicing. EUR pricing, no per-seat subscription.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is this different from a regular sales CRM?
A regular sales CRM tracks deals and pipeline toward a one-off product sale. A consulting CRM is project-based — the engagement is the centre, not the deal: retainer, project or hourly casework. It tracks billable hours, utilisation and P&L per engagement. A sales pipeline for new clients is a module, not the heart of the system.
Does it support retainer, hourly and fixed-price at the same time?
Yes — that is the core use case. The same client can have a 20-hour monthly retainer, an active €8,000 fixed-price audit and occasional hourly consultations outside the retainer. The system routes logged hours to the correct engagement, tracks retainer consumption and produces one consolidated monthly invoice with clear line breakdown by type.
Is there time tracking for every consultant?
Yes — every consultant has a personal browser and desktop timer plus end-of-day or end-of-week bulk entry. Hours are attached to a project and activity (research, deliverable, meeting), marked billable or non-billable, and feed the partner utilisation report instantly. Protection against double-billing the same interval is automatic.
How much does a CRM for consulting business cost?
The starter package is from €3,600 one-off — clients, projects, time tracking, retainers and invoicing, live in four to six weeks. A full PSA build with capacity planning, NPS, qualified e-signature and Stripe runs €7,500–€14,000. Pricing is fixed after discovery, not hourly, and includes training plus three months of post-launch support. No per-seat fee.
Ready for a CRM that speaks the language of consultants?
A free 30-minute call — we review your current mix of retainer, hourly and fixed-price work, locate where billable hours leak and propose concrete scope and timeline. Related: Project management system, Gym software, CRM development and API integrations.
Book a demo →