# Marketing & Creative Agencies > CRM for marketing, design, digital and PR agencies - new business, proposals, retainers and client relationships in one place. **URL:** https://cubecrm.co.uk/industries/agencies-marketing Agencies are brilliant at running other people’s pipelines and often terrible at running their own. Agency new business tends to arrive in bursts: a flurry of pitches, a win, a period of delivery with no prospecting at all, and then a quiet month. Retainers renew without a review, pitch documents are rebuilt from scratch, and the account director’s inbox holds the only record of what the client said they wanted. CubeCRM gives the agency a steady view of new business alongside existing clients - enquiries, pitches, proposals, retainers and renewal dates - so prospecting continues while the studio is busy and existing clients get reviewed before they drift. ## Figures - **Forward** Pipeline visible against capacity - **Reviewed** Every retainer, on a schedule - **Measured** Pitch win rate by sector ## Common problems in this sector - **Feast and famine new business:** Prospecting stops when the studio is busy, and the pipeline is empty by the time the big project ends. Nobody notices until the quiet month arrives. - **Pitches rebuilt every time:** Credentials, case studies and pricing are pulled together from old decks for each pitch, with inconsistent results and a lot of late nights. - **Retainers on autopilot:** Monthly retainers renew without a conversation until the client gives notice. The review that might have saved it never took place. - **Scope promised in email:** What was agreed with the client lives in an account manager’s email thread. When the work is disputed, finding the agreement is an archaeology project. - **No idea which work pays:** The agency knows its biggest clients but not which types of client or project are worth pitching for, because pitch history and outcomes are not recorded. ## What CubeCRM does about it - **A new business pipeline:** Enquiries, pitches and proposals on one board with values and dates, visible to the whole leadership team - so a thinning pipeline is obvious months ahead. - **Proposals from templates:** Proposal templates with credentials, services and rate cards, so most proposals are assembled rather than written from scratch. - **Retainer reviews and renewals:** Renewal dates and quarterly review reminders on every retainer, with notes from each review on the client record. - **Client email on the record:** Correspondence files itself against the client, so scope agreements and approvals can be found by anybody on the account. - **Pitch win rates:** Win rates and values by sector, service and source, so the agency can see which pitches are worth the effort. - **Prospect lists by sector:** Segment prospects and past clients by sector, size and interest for targeted outreach and campaigns. ## Use cases ### The quiet month nobody saw coming **Scenario:** A 20-person digital agency finished a large project and discovered it had nothing lined up to replace it. Prospecting had stopped three months earlier while everybody delivered. **Outcome:** A weekly pipeline review from CubeCRM now shows forward value against capacity. When the pipeline dips below a threshold, business development time is protected, and the agency has not repeated the gap. ### Retainers renewed without a review **Scenario:** A PR agency lost two long-standing retainers in one quarter. In both cases the client had been unhappy for months, but no formal review had taken place. **Outcome:** Every retainer now has a quarterly review scheduled with notes recorded on the client. Issues are raised earlier, and renewals are discussed rather than assumed. ## Getting started 1. **Discovery:** A short, structured session on how enquiries arrive, how you quote, and where customer information lives now - the inboxes, the spreadsheet, the old CRM and the notebook in the car. We come back with what works as standard and what needs configuring. 2. **Setup:** Pipeline stages, fields, quote templates, email connection, teams and permissions set up to match how you sell - not a demo account with your logo dropped on it. 3. **Data import:** Contacts, companies, open opportunities and quote history brought across from spreadsheets, inboxes or your previous CRM, with duplicates merged. You check it against what you had before anybody switches over. 4. **Training & rollout:** Short, role-based training so the sales team learns the pipeline and the office learns enquiries and cases - in person where it helps. Guides and screen recordings left behind for new starters. 5. **Ongoing support:** UK support from the people who built the platform, with a named contact, agreed response times, and a product roadmap you can influence. ## Frequently asked questions **Does it replace our project management tool?** No. CubeCRM handles new business, client relationships, proposals and retainers. Project delivery usually stays in your project tool, and won work can be passed across through the API or webhooks. **Can we track retainers and one-off projects separately?** Yes. Deals can carry one-off values, recurring monthly values or both, and pipelines can be split by type of work. **Can we run email campaigns from it?** Segments are built in CubeCRM and campaigns sent through Mailchimp, with campaign responses and enquiries tracked back to the contact. We would rather integrate with a mail platform than pretend to be one. **Will the account team actually use it?** Email and calendar sync does most of the work, and the rest is designed to take seconds. If updating the CRM feels like admin, it has been set up wrong, and we would fix that. ## Relevant solution pages - **Sales Pipeline Software** - Every opportunity on one board, by stage, with value, likelihood and next step - so the whole team can see what is live and what is stuck. https://cubecrm.co.uk/software/sales-pipeline-software - **Client Management Software** - For service businesses that manage clients rather than sell products - engagements, contacts, documents, renewals and every conversation on one client record. https://cubecrm.co.uk/software/client-management-software - **Quoting & Proposal Software** - Branded quotes and proposals built from your own price list, with every revision kept, automatic chasing and online acceptance that closes the deal. https://cubecrm.co.uk/software/quoting-software - **Lead Management Software** - Capture, qualify, assign and nurture leads in one place, so sales spends its time on the prospects most likely to buy. https://cubecrm.co.uk/software/lead-management-software ## Related industries - **Professional Services** - CRM for consultancies, accountancy practices, surveyors, architects and other firms that win work through relationships, referrals and proposals. https://cubecrm.co.uk/industries/professional-services - **Technology & IT Resellers** - CRM for IT resellers, software companies, telecoms providers and technology suppliers - pipeline, renewals, recurring revenue and long B2B sales cycles. https://cubecrm.co.uk/industries/technology-it - **Events, Venues & Hospitality** - CRM for venues, event organisers and corporate hospitality - enquiries, proposals, repeat bookers and agency relationships in one place. https://cubecrm.co.uk/industries/events-venues ## Contact - **Product:** CubeCRM - **Trading name of:** Cube Systems Limited (company number 17220899, ICO registration number ZC216972) - **Email:** hello@cubecrm.co.uk - **Sales:** sales@cubecrm.co.uk - **Support:** support@cubecrm.co.uk - **Telephone:** 01234 672 617 (+441234672617) - **Address:** Unit 11, Olney Business Park, Osier Way, Olney, Buckinghamshire, MK46 5FP - **Opening hours:** Monday to Friday, 9am to 5.30pm - **Part of:** Crushed Ice Group (https://crushedicegroup.co.uk)