October newsletter

Hey [First name],

It’s Halloween tomorrow, but that didn’t stop the neighbours from wrapping their house in fake cobwebs back in September.

More importantly, October is also Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and the internet has marked it with an actual scare this year (more on that below; don’t worry, it doesn’t affect Capsule).

So this month has a slightly haunted theme. We’re looking at the things that creep up on small businesses when you’re busy running everything else, and a few tools to help you keep the lights on.

A note on PHP

You may have seen headlines about a critical security issue in PHP, a programming language that runs behind a huge number of websites. The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre is advising organisations to update straight away.

We don’t use PHP at Capsule, so there’s nothing you need to do on our side. If your own website or tools do use it (WordPress sites are built on PHP, for example), you might want to check with your IT team or web host that everything’s been updated.

For more information, the NCSC’s guidance is here↗, and php2shell.com↗ has more on which products are affected.

Frankenstein’s CRM: a short horror story

Building a CRM with AI? It might come back to haunt you. Like many small businesses, our Capsule customer previously tried to create a CRM built to her needs. 

Then the costs started adding up: the AI tools themselves, plus all the time it took to fix things when they broke and build new features as her business grew.

She worked out she’d be spending more time managing her software than doing the job she actually loves.

We’ll be sharing her full story soon, including what made her switch. Keep your eyes peeled.

ICYMI: Build your own dashboards

With two months left in the year, someone’s bound to ask how things are going. Sometimes that someone is you, at 7.30pm.

You can build your own dashboard in Capsule CRM to pull the different reports you check most into a single view, so you can see sales performance, tasks, and team activity side by side without exporting anything first. 

Discover how↗

Be first to see what’s in every deal

Ever opened an Opportunity, looked at the value, and wondered “...but for what?” We’re building a new way to add the products and services you sell to your deals, with prices, discounts, and tax, so you can see exactly what each deal is made of.

It’s not out yet, but you can try it before anyone else. Join our beta testers to help shape how your CRM works - sign up with a drafted note to our support team here↗

Top tips before the year’s out

Here are a few guides I figured would be extra handy this time of year. 

Plan 2027 with answers straight from your CRM

Working out how your year’s gone usually means an afternoon of running reports and fiddling with filters.

Connect ChatGPT to Capsule and you can ask in plain English instead, like which deals you won this quarter and where they came from, or what’s still due to close before the year’s out. 

Then you can use the answers to set realistic goals for 2027. Find out how↗

Value-based selling: a framework to stop competing on price

If your year-end deals keep ending in a discount conversation, this guide shows you how to steer it towards what your work is actually worth to the customer. It also covers when the approach isn’t worth the effort, which is handy if you sell lots of smaller jobs. Read more↗

Small business automation: what to automate first (and how)

Admin eats up more than a third of the average small business owner’s week. This new guide helps you choose which jobs to hand over first and how to set them up so they keep working, ready for a quieter January.

Here's what to automate first↗

AI CRM pricing: what you’re really paying for

Budgeting for next year? If AI tools are on your list, this explains the costs that don’t show up on the pricing page and the questions worth asking before you sign anything. Find out more↗

How to set goals (and why you should)

More goal-setting advice for the new year, this time from leadership coach Heather Elkington. Her take: skip the vanity metrics and put your energy into improving the processes that get you there. Read the takeaways↗

How to make the most of Capsule’s Goals feature

Looking ahead to 2027, this one’s about setting next year’s targets together with your team, so they actually own them, and celebrating progress along the way as well as the big wins. Read more↗

No tricks, all treats in these integrations

Is out-of-date contact data haunting your records?

Every CRM has a few ghosts. Records nobody’s touched since they were added, with job titles from two roles ago and phone numbers that may or may not still work.

Lusha helps you dust them off. Look up a contact in Lusha to get their latest details, then send them back to Capsule to update the record. Your outreach starts from information you can trust. Find fresher leads with Lusha↗

Make your accounts the least scary thing in your inbox 

If January’s Self Assessment deadline is already looming in the back of your mind, Crunch might help. You get expert advice from chartered accountants, plus easy-to-use software made for small business owners with little-to-no accounting know-how. It also connects to Capsule, so you can see each client’s invoices right alongside their contact record.

Better yet, Capsule customers get 25% off their first three months. Check out Crunch↗

Missing inbound customer calls giving you the creeps?

When you’re on a job or away from your desk, Pocket Receptionist’s UK-based team answers your calls in your business name. They’ll add new callers to Capsule and set a follow-up Task, so you can see who called and pick up from there.

Here’s a sweet treat: Capsule customers get 20% off their first three months. Get started with Pocket Receptionist↗

Heading to The Business Show at ExCeL London?

We’d love to see you at our stand, B935. Don’t miss our seminar with Capsule CEO Steven Ledgerwood. Join Steven at his talk, ‘AI Without the Hype: 3 Practical Wins for SMEs’ at 3:30pm on 11th November in Seminar Theatre 8. See you there!

That’s me done haunting your inbox for this month. If anything in here raised a question (or a goosebump), just reply to this email or get in touch at support@capsulecrm.com. Our lovely customer team is always happy to help.