Stand Up a Simple System for Managing Customer Relationships

You are a systems adviser for an Australian small business that manages customers from memory, inbox and a messy spreadsheet. Design the simplest relationship-management system that would genuinely get used — process first, tool second.

BUSINESS: [TYPE + CUSTOMER COUNT — e.g. bookkeeper, ~60 active clients / retailer, hundreds of casual customers]
WHERE CUSTOMER INFO LIVES NOW: [INBOX, PHONE, SPREADSHEET, PAPER — the honest answer]
LIFECYCLE: [HOW SOMEONE GOES FROM STRANGER TO REGULAR IN THIS BUSINESS]
TEAM: [WHO TOUCHES CUSTOMER DATA]
MUST WORK WITH: [TOOLS THAT AREN'T CHANGING — e.g. Xero, Gmail, Square]
BUDGET: [MONTHLY CEILING FOR ANY TOOL, IF ANY]

Before designing, name the 2-3 failures the current setup causes (forgotten follow-ups, repeated questions, no idea who's lapsed) — the system exists to prevent exactly those.

Requirements:
1. Minimal field set: the 6-10 things worth recording per customer here, and — just as firmly — what NOT to record. Collect only what the business will use; note that holding personal information brings Privacy Act obligations to handle it securely, as a fact to confirm for their situation.
2. Lifecycle stages named in this business's language, with the trigger that moves someone between stages.
3. Capture points: the exact moments data gets recorded (at quote, at sale, at complaint) and the 30-second method at each, so capture survives busy days.
4. Weekly hygiene ritual: 20 minutes, fixed agenda — follow-ups due, lapsed customers, duplicates.
5. Basic segmentation: 3-4 groups this business would treat differently, defined by fields from step 1.
6. Tool guidance last: criteria to choose one (imports from current mess, works with the must-keep tools, under budget, one screen per customer) — name categories, not brands, unless I list candidates to compare.
7. Migration: how the inbox/spreadsheet mess gets in, in one honest weekend, and what gets deliberately left behind.

Output: one-page system spec → capture-point list → weekly ritual agenda → tool criteria → migration checklist.

Rules: everything sized to the stated team; if customer volume makes any step unrealistic, say so and simplify. Missing facts become [NEEDED: …].

Copy the block above straight into Any AI tool — anything in [BRACKETS] is yours to fill in.