As a solopreneur I'm always looking for tools that save time and extend my limited reach, and full-featured CRMs are top of the list. Unfortunately, I've never been able to find one that wasn't a) too expensive, b) bloated with features I'll never use, or c) missing the features I need the most.

Currently, I'm using LACRM for contact management, TidyCal for appointments, and Encharge for my onboarding sequences and newsletters. It's a fine, workable system, but it's still clipped together, leaving me with numerous pain points along the way. I'm always on the lookout for a single system that can give me what I need for a reasonable cost.

So, is NinjaPipe "the one"? I'm not sure yet -- I'm still putting it through the paces -- but I DO know that $69 with a 60-day return policy makes it worth a looksee, so let's dive in:

* First thing I encountered was difficulty with the Google integrations, but this seems to be a temporary issue while they get their Google certifications approved. The workaround they gave me works fine.
* The Dashboard looks nice and offers a wide array of information, even a section at the bottom with tutorials. However, I don't see any way to customize it.
* Deals is pretty standard for CRMs, but their Pipeline feature is promising. It allows you to put any element (contact, deal, etc) through a pipeline, which is super useful.
* I haven't tried out the Sales and Finance section yet, but I did add a single product (service) and the product creation page is fine. I'll be adding more this evening.
* Productivity is an interesting and welcomed addition to a CRM and NinjaPipe provides a section for Projects and Tasks and even a Whiteboard! However, there's no Document creation capabilities that I know of, so it's limited to uploaded docs. A nice Rich Text or Markdown page creator would be an asset.
* Data and Automations: this is where they house the rest of the features: Automations, Lists, Forms, Email Campaigns, etc. Just kicking the tires almost all of these features seem fine.
* There is also a full calendar accessable from a tab at the bottom of the menu. I sync'd with Google and it seemed to go through fine, but I can only view one calendar at a time. I use multiple Google Calendars for different events and processes, and it's useful to view my entire calendar for effective scheduling. I'm not sure why -- maybe it's a bug but I don't think so -- but it makes it useless for me. Also, I don't know how this affects the Booking Pages but if your booking app can't see your full calendar then it's rendered useless as well.
* I went to the "Marketplace" and downloaded the Sales & CRM pack -- it's like what HighLevel calls Snapshots or Monday calls Recipes, different functions grouped together to create a workflow. I'll be playing with that for the next couple of days.

Overall, I'm pretty psyched about NinjaPipe. They don't "hide" essential features from the LTD, they give you a little of everything and you can quantity up as you go (As a solo operator, I probably won't outgrow Tier One). And most of what I've seen so far (aside from the calendar issue) is clean and well executed.

There's only one thing about NinjaPipe that gives me pause, and unfortunately it's one of the most important elements: Contacts.

The contact listing page is clean and configurable. It took me a sec to find the bulk actions, and when I did they were very limited (you can delete, assign to a team member, or update a field -- that's it). Then I clicked on one of the contacts I uploaded, and that's where I ran into some problems.

NinjaPipe follows the CRM standard of providing the essential contact information in a sidebar while leaving all of the interactions for the main body of the page. So under the name and photo in the sidebar is their job title, company name and website url. This is the top panel. Under THAT is the email and phone. This is acceptable for a company listing, or any B2B business, but I'm B2C and that's decidedly NOT the information I want to see in the sidebar.

When I tried to find the info I wanted I found it strewn out under different tabs on the main page. It was like strolling through a mostly-empty warehouse, just to find a filing cabinet.

And it doesn't look like there's any way to customize -- move fields around, delete sections, hide sections, etc. You can ADD fields but they stay sequestered under yet another tab, Fields.

Understand, I do most of my work from the contact's page. That's where I hold chats, write emails, send SMS messages, etc and I want to have the important information I need right there at my fingertips -- not buried under other tabs that I have to switch to because I'm working in another.

So that's a disappointment but not a deal breaker. If those are the exact fields you need in your CRM then it's perfect as is. But I suspect many would prefer to have a CRM that's more customizable, at least on the most important page. For $69 I can make it work! :D