Yes.
You need a simple CRM — but the real job is a follow-up system, not a database.
What's really going on
You're running two motions from one head: cold outbound to strangers and warm nurture with partners. Both live or die on one thing — did you follow up on the day you said you would? At 10-50 conversations a month across four channels, no brain holds that. A sheet won't chase you either. You need something that pings you.
What to do instead
- HubSpot Free CRM (£0) — one contact record per person, with tasks and follow-up reminders across email, LinkedIn, and IG. Free forever for one user, and the task queue is the whole point for you.
- A partner pipeline stage inside the same CRM — same tool, separate pipeline. "Agreement signed", renewal date, next check-in. Attach the PDF to the contact.
- A daily 20-minute "follow-up hour" — open the task view, work the list, close it. The tool is worthless without this habit.
Today: sign up for HubSpot Free, import the last 20 people you messaged on LinkedIn and IG as contacts, and set a "follow up" task on each for the right day. Done in 30 minutes.
What you're being oversold
If anyone points you at Apollo, Outreach, or Salesloft — walk away. Those are for 20-person outbound teams burning through 10,000 emails a week. At your volume they'll cost more than your rent and automate you into every spam folder in Britain. Pipedrive is fine but costs ~£12/user/mo for something HubSpot gives you free at this scale. The cost of doing nothing isn't a number — it's that every warm reply you don't chase on day 3 is a stranger again by day 10.
When to revisit this
When you hire a second person, or when Sales Hub's paid features (sequences, meeting links at volume) start looking necessary — not before.
The part worth getting right
The judgment call is whether your cold outreach needs true sequencing — automated day 3 / day 7 / day 14 emails firing while you sleep — or whether manual task reminders are enough. If you're sending 10-15 cold touches a week, manual reminders in HubSpot Free work fine and cost nothing. If you're pushing 50+ cold touches a week to grow faster, you'll outgrow the free tier inside a quarter and need a light sequencer bolted on — which changes the tool choice. Get this wrong and you either overpay from day one or migrate mid-campaign. Which volume are you actually planning to run?