Your producer tracks the next three commissions in their inbox, and HubSpot has no idea a shoot is even happening
A custom CRM (Customer Relationship Management) for a Wellington studio or government-contracting tech firm runs NZD 90,000 to 280,000 over 4 to 8 months. Build custom when your pipeline is project-shaped and relationship-driven rather than a clean B2B sales funnel. Salesforce and HubSpot model deals and stages well. They model a returning commercials client who books you three times a year through a producer relationship, with overlapping shoots, very badly.
Your business development in Wellington is not a funnel. It's a producer or studio head who knows the agencies, the government comms teams, and the international productions that come through Stone Street, and the next job lands because of a relationship and a reel, not a form-fill. HubSpot wants a contact, a deal, and a stage. Your reality is a client who has three jobs in flight, two in the pipe, and a relationship that predates the CRM.
So the real pipeline lives in a producer's head and inbox, the CRM holds half-dead deals nobody updates, and when that producer is on a six-week shoot the business development just stops because the system never captured how the work actually arrives.
Why the usual tools struggle in Wellington
- A repeat agency client shows as five disconnected 'deals' instead of one relationship with a job history
- The pipeline lives in a producer's inbox, so when they're on a shoot, follow-ups vanish
- Government comms procurement (RFPs, panels, all-of-government contracts) doesn't fit a B2B deal stage
- No link between the CRM and the actual production schedule, so sales promises capacity the studio doesn't have
What a custom crm build changes
A custom CRM models the relationship and the job history, not just the open deal. It shows that this agency has booked you nine times, what the margins were, who the producer contact is, and whether you actually have the crew capacity to say yes to job ten. It handles government procurement panels and RFP cycles as first-class objects, and it ties pipeline to your real production schedule so you stop selling time you don't have.
The features that matter for Wellington
CRM services we deliver in Wellington
Everything a CRM build here can cover: Salesforce development, HubSpot integration, Zoho CRM, Pipedrive and custom CRM software.
- Your work arrives through relationships and reels, not a measurable inbound funnel
- Repeat clients with long job histories are your core revenue
- You bid into government panels and RFP cycles that don't fit deal stages
- Sales keeps promising capacity production can't deliver
- You run a high-volume, low-touch inbound funnel that HubSpot automates well
- You need marketing automation more than relationship depth
- Your team is under ten and a tuned Pipedrive covers the pipeline
- You can't commit to disciplined CRM data entry
CRM pricing in Wellington: the real numbers
| Project scope | Typical cost | Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| Relationship-and-job-history CRM core | $90k to $150k | 4 to 5 months |
| With government procurement and capacity logic | $150k to $220k | 5 to 7 months |
| Full build with ERP and scheduling integration | $220k to $280k | 6 to 8 months |
From kickoff to launch: the schedule
Exactly what you get
A system built around the relationship and the job history, not the open deal. It tracks government panels and RFP renewals, checks production capacity before commitments, and hands won work cleanly into project management software and ERP job codes. The producer's head stops being the single point of failure for your pipeline.
How to choose a developer in Wellington
Pick a team that understands relationship-driven, project-shaped revenue, not just SaaS funnels. Wellington's screen and creative sector runs on reputation and repeat work, so ask the developer to model your most loyal agency client and a live government RFP. If they only know lead-stage-deal pipelines, they'll force your business into the wrong shape.
- Client records that carry full job history and margin, so you price the tenth commission knowing the first nine
- Pipeline that survives a producer being on a six-week shoot because the system, not the inbox, holds it
- Government RFP and panel cycles tracked as real objects with deadlines, not crammed into deal stages
- Capacity-aware selling that checks the production schedule before a producer promises a slot
- A clean handoff from won work into project management software and ERP job codes
- You lose HubSpot's marketing automation and email tooling unless you rebuild or integrate it
- A relationship-and-job-history model needs disciplined data entry or it rots like any CRM
- Reporting that Salesforce gives you out of the box is now your team's build
- Smaller studios may not have enough deal volume to justify the spend over a tuned Pipedrive
- !They pitch a HubSpot rebuild without asking how relationship-sourced work arrives. Ask them to model a nine-job repeat client.
- !No experience with government procurement cycles. Ask how they'd track an all-of-government panel renewal.
- !They ignore capacity. Ask how the CRM stops a producer overselling the studio's time.
- !They can't show CRM work that survived a key person being unreachable. Ask for the architecture that prevents inbox-only pipelines.
- !They quote without discovery. Ask what they need to learn about your sales reality first.
Most Wellington teams pricing crm end up comparing notes on mobile app, website, pos too; the systems share one data spine.
Rohan advises mid-market and enterprise teams on ERP, CRM and custom software, and has led delivery on dozens of business-software builds.
Writes for Digital Heroes, shipping business software for 2,000+ brands across 55+ countries since 2017.
Frequently asked questions
Why not just configure HubSpot or Salesforce?
They model a deal-stage funnel. A Wellington studio's revenue is relationship-sourced and project-shaped, with repeat clients carrying long job histories and government panels that don't fit stages. A custom CRM models the relationship and ties pipeline to real production capacity.
Can it handle government procurement?
Yes. A custom build treats RFPs, all-of-government panels, and renewal dates as first-class objects with their own deadlines and rules, instead of forcing them into a B2B deal stage that loses the detail.
How does capacity-aware selling work?
The CRM checks your live production or delivery schedule before a producer promises a slot, so you stop selling time the studio doesn't have. It's the link between business development and the project management software that runs the work.
What does a Wellington custom CRM cost?
NZD 90,000 to 280,000 depending on whether you need government procurement tracking, capacity logic, and integration into your ERP and scheduling tools.
Will it replace our marketing tools?
Not automatically. Custom CRMs focus on the pipeline and relationship layer. If you rely on HubSpot's email automation, plan to integrate it or rebuild that piece, which adds cost.