RunBeat CRM User Guide

Sales and advertiser management built specifically for radio stations.

Docs → RunBeat CRM

Overview

RunBeat CRM is a customer relationship management system built specifically for radio advertising sales. Unlike generic CRMs, it understands how radio stations sell — accounts represent advertisers, deals map to campaigns, and the pipeline tracks spots from initial enquiry through to proof-of-play delivery.

CRM is hosted at runbeatcrm.com and is multi-tenant, with each radio station operating in its own isolated environment.

Getting Started

Visit runbeatcrm.com and sign up for a plan. Log in with your email and password, or use Microsoft 365 if your station has configured Azure AD federation. Once logged in, you'll see your station's CRM dashboard.

First steps

  1. Add your accounts — Create records for your existing advertisers and prospects.
  2. Set up your pipeline stages — Customise the sales pipeline to match your station's sales process.
  3. Import contacts — Bring in your existing contact data.
  4. Connect Microsoft 365 — Link your Microsoft account for calendar and email integration.

Guided Wizards — "Show Me How"

Every CRM page includes a "🎓 Show me how" button in the sidebar. Click it to open a library of step-by-step guided walkthroughs that walk you through common tasks without leaving the app.

Each wizard guides you through the process one step at a time, with tips and explanations along the way. You can dismiss a wizard at any point by pressing Escape or clicking the ✕ button.

Available wizards

WizardWhat it covers
🏢 Add a New AccountCreate a company/advertiser account with contacts and pipeline links.
💰 Create a Sales DealAdd an opportunity to the pipeline with value, stage, and account assignment.
📧 Run an Email CampaignCreate and send targeted email campaigns with templates and recipient filtering.
👥 Import & Manage ContactsBulk import contacts via CSV or add manually, with tagging and segmentation.
📊 Generate a ReportCreate sales, pipeline, activity, and campaign reports with date filtering and export.
🎧 Set Up Support QueuesConfigure customer support queues with SLA targets, agents, and auto-assignment.
📻 Connect RunBeat PulseEnable Pulse integration for campaign sync and proof-of-play data.
💰 Connect RunBeat BonusEnable Bonus integration for automatic deal-to-commission sync.
📅 Connect RunBeat CalendarEnable Calendar integration for meeting and call sync.
📝 Connect RunBeat ContractsEnable Contracts integration for proposal-to-contract generation.
📈 Customise Pipeline StagesDefine your station's sales process with custom stages, colours, and probabilities.

Wizards are a great way to learn the platform — especially for new users or when exploring features you haven't used before.

Companies House Prospector

The Prospector is a built-in business search tool powered by the Companies House API. Find new advertising prospects without leaving the CRM:

  • Business search — Search the Companies House register by company name, SIC code, location, or incorporation date. Results show company name, number, registered address, status, and SIC codes.
  • Saved searches — Save search criteria and re-run them later to find newly registered businesses matching your target profile.
  • Lists — Build prospect lists from search results. Add companies to named lists for organised outreach.
  • Push to CRM — Convert a prospect into a full CRM account with one click. Company details, registered address, and SIC codes are pre-populated.
  • Export — Export prospect lists to CSV for use in external tools or mail merge.

Access the Prospector from the main sidebar under "Prospector". Available on the Professional tier and above.

Accounts & Contacts

Accounts represent your advertisers and prospects. Each account can have multiple contacts associated with it. Account records include:

  • Company name, address, and industry.
  • Primary contact and billing contact.
  • Account status (active, prospect, inactive).
  • Notes and activity history.
  • Associated deals and campaigns.

Contacts store individual people with their name, email, phone, job title, and relationship to the account.

Sales Pipeline

The visual sales pipeline gives you a drag-and-drop board view of all active deals. Each deal moves through customisable stages (e.g. Enquiry → Proposal → Negotiation → Closed Won / Closed Lost).

Deal records include:

  • Deal value and expected close date.
  • Associated account and contacts.
  • Campaign details (if the deal relates to an advertising campaign).
  • Activity log — calls, emails, meetings, and notes.
  • Probability weighting for revenue forecasting.

Proposals & Quotes

Create professional, branded proposals for your advertisers — complete with templates, itemised pricing, attachments, and shareable links with real-time tracking.

Proposal templates

Station admins create reusable proposal templates with custom sections (e.g. "About Us", "Campaign Overview", "Pricing", "Terms"). Each template can include:

  • Branded header with station logo and colours.
  • Configurable sections with rich text content.
  • Attached files — rate cards, media packs, audience data (uploaded once, included in every proposal from that template).
  • Line item structure with product types, descriptions, and default pricing.

Creating a proposal

Create a proposal from a template, linked to an account and optionally an opportunity. Fill in the per-section content (personalised for this client), add a cover message, and configure line items with quantities, unit prices, and discounts. The proposal total is calculated automatically.

Sharing & tracking

Generate a shareable link for your proposal — the recipient views it in a professional, branded web page without needing a RunBeat account. The system tracks:

  • Views — When the proposal was opened and how many times.
  • Section views — Which sections the recipient spent time on.
  • Attachment downloads — Which files they downloaded.
  • Questions — Recipients can ask questions on specific sections directly from the proposal view.

All activity is logged in the proposal's activity timeline so you know exactly how engaged the prospect is.

Proposal workflow

Draft → Sent → Viewed → Accepted → Declined → Expired. When a proposal is accepted, generate a contract in RunBeat Contracts with one click (if the integration is enabled). Expired proposals can be re-sent with updated validity dates.

Shareable links

Each shared link has configurable options: expiry date, password protection, and whether the recipient can download attachments. Links can be revoked at any time.

Campaign Builder

When a deal is won, create a campaign directly from the CRM. The campaign builder lets you define:

  • Campaign dates (start and end).
  • Spot requirements (number of plays, dayparts, frequency).
  • Budget and rate card.
  • Creative assets (advert audio files).

If you use RunBeat Pulse, campaign data can feed directly into the Ad Manager for automated scheduling and proof-of-play reporting.

Contract Automation

Generate advertising contracts directly from deal records. CRM can auto-populate contract templates with account details, campaign terms, and pricing. If you use RunBeat Contracts, send contracts for electronic signature directly from the CRM interface.

Shared Inbox

The Shared Inbox lets your sales team collaborate on client emails from a single place. Create shared inboxes (e.g. "Sales Enquiries", "Renewals") and assign team members. Conversations can be linked to accounts, contacts, and opportunities for context. Reply directly from the CRM.

Lead Scoring

Automatically rank your accounts based on engagement signals. Station admins configure scoring rules — each rule adds or subtracts points based on signals like recent activity, completed meetings, deal history, and spend tier. Scores are on a 0-100 scale and update automatically.

Renewal Alerts

The CRM automatically detects upcoming contract renewals and flags accounts at risk of churning. Alerts include upcoming renewals (within 60 days), overdue renewals, and churn risk (accounts with >50% spend decline). Access via Pipeline → Renewals.

Workflow Automation

Automate repetitive tasks with trigger-based rules. Triggers include: deal won, stage changed, account created, contract expiring, lead score threshold. Actions include: create task, create activity, notify user, update field. Station admins configure rules via Settings → Automation.

Custom Dashboards

Create personalised dashboards with configurable widgets. Choose from pipeline value, weighted forecast, pipeline by stage, pipeline by rep, renewal alerts, lead score leaderboard, deal velocity, and more. Share dashboards with your team or keep them private.

Cross-App Integrations

Connect the CRM with other RunBeat products for seamless workflows:

  • RunBeat Pulse — sync campaigns to playout, receive proof-of-play data, view play logs.
  • RunBeat Bonus — closed-won deals auto-sync to sales compensation targets.
  • RunBeat Calendar — CRM meetings and calls sync to calendar events.
  • RunBeat Contracts — generate contracts from accepted proposals, track signatures.

Station admins enable integrations via Settings → Integrations. Each integration includes a guided setup wizard.

Single Sign-On

When you click a cross-app link, you're automatically signed in using your Microsoft 365 session — no need to enter your password again. If you don't have access to the target app, you'll be redirected back with a clear message. Logging out of any RunBeat app logs you out of all apps.

Microsoft 365 Integration

Connect your Microsoft 365 account to:

  • Calendar sync — See your Outlook calendar alongside CRM activities. Create meetings from deal records.
  • Email tracking — Log emails sent to contacts automatically.
  • Contact sync — Keep CRM contacts in sync with your Outlook address book.
  • Single sign-on — Log in to CRM with your Microsoft 365 credentials.

Email Ingestion

CRM can automatically capture and log inbound emails from known contacts, associating them with the correct account and deal. This builds a complete communication history without manual data entry.

Reporting

Built-in reports include:

  • Pipeline report — Total deal value by stage, weighted revenue forecast.
  • Activity report — Calls, emails, and meetings per salesperson.
  • Revenue report — Closed deals by period, account, and salesperson.
  • Campaign performance — Campaign delivery status and proof-of-play summaries.

Support & Helpdesk

A built-in customer support system for managing advertiser queries, technical issues, and service requests — all without leaving the CRM.

Tickets

Create and manage support tickets linked to accounts and contacts. Each ticket has a subject, description, priority (low/medium/high/urgent), status (open/in progress/waiting/resolved/closed), and assigned agent. Tickets track full conversation history with internal notes and customer replies.

Queues

Organise tickets into queues (e.g. "Sales Support", "Technical", "Billing"). Each queue has assigned agents and SLA targets for first response and resolution time. Tickets can be auto-assigned to the least-busy agent in a queue.

Knowledge Base

Build a self-service knowledge base for your advertisers. Create categorised articles with rich text content. Articles can be public (visible on the support portal) or internal (agent-only).

Canned Responses

Save frequently used replies as canned responses. Insert them into ticket replies with a single click, then personalise before sending.

Automation

Automate ticket routing and escalation with rules. Triggers include: ticket created, SLA breached, priority changed, no response for X hours. Actions include: assign to queue, change priority, notify agent, send auto-reply.

Support Portal

A branded self-service portal where your advertisers can submit tickets, check status, and browse the knowledge base — without needing a CRM login.

Reports

Track support performance with reports on ticket volume, resolution time, SLA compliance, agent workload, and customer satisfaction.

Access Support from the main sidebar. Available on the Professional tier and above.

Xero Accounting Sync

Connect CRM to your Xero accounting software to automatically create invoices from closed deals and keep financial records synchronised.

User Roles

RoleAccess
Station AdminFull access — accounts, pipeline, campaigns, contracts, settings, user management, all reports.
Sales ManagerView all accounts and deals, manage pipeline, run reports. Cannot modify system settings.
SalespersonManage own accounts and deals. Cannot see other salespeople's data.

Subscription Tiers

TierMonthlyHighlights
Starter£292 users, 500 accounts, basic pipeline, email support.
Professional£7910 users, unlimited accounts, campaign builder, Microsoft 365 integration, reporting.
Enterprise£199Unlimited users, Xero sync, contract automation, API access, dedicated support.