Your spreadsheet isn't the problem. Your phone is.
A lot of outfitters run their season on a spreadsheet, a notebook, and a cell phone. It works, and plenty of good operations have run that way for years. This is a straight look at what that setup does well, where it lets hunts slip, and when it's worth changing.
"Spreadsheet" here means the setup most outfitters already have: a sheet or a notebook, a cell phone, and whoever helps with the office.
A record of what happened, or a system that acts on it.
A spreadsheet and your phone
It's free, you already know it, and it holds whatever you put in it. Your phone takes the calls you can pick up, and the rest go to voicemail until you're back in service. Deposits, waivers, and tags get tracked by hand, by you or whoever helps with the office. The sheet only knows what somebody typed in.
HuntingCRM
A booking and paperwork system built for hunting outfitters, set up for you. It texts every hunter back in two minutes when you can't pick up, starts the paperwork the minute a deposit clears, and puts the whole season on one board on your phone. Your spreadsheet is where it starts. Send it over and we load every hunter before your first login.
Where the spreadsheet holds up and where it doesn't.
| Spreadsheet and phone | HuntingCRM | |
|---|---|---|
| When a hunter calls and you don't pick up | Voicemail. You hear it when you're back in service, and you call back if he's still looking. | The system texts him back in under two minutes, in your voice, asks species and dates, and logs it. |
| Texts, website forms, Facebook | Spread across your phone, your email, and whatever apps you check. | One inbox on your phone, with the same two-minute reply. |
| Quotes and deposits | You text or email dates and a price, then watch for the payment. | A hunt sheet with dates, price, and a deposit link. You see whether he opened it, and a nudge goes out if he didn't. |
| Waivers, licenses, and tags | A column you update by hand, and a lot of "did you get that waiver?" texts. | Deposit paid starts the checklist. Reminders go out until it's done, then stop. One glance shows who's cleared for camp. |
| Guides | A group text or a phone call the night before. | Rosters and checklists by text the night before. No app, no login. |
| Seeing the season | Whatever's in the sheet, plus whatever's in your head. | One board: who's booked, who paid, who's missing docs, who needs a call. Open dates and your fill rate. |
| Rebooking | When you get to it after season. | A thank-you, a review request, and first shot at next season's dates, sent after the hunt. |
| Your books | QuickBooks, or however you keep them now. | QuickBooks stays QuickBooks. Deposits and balances flow through, verified on your setup call. |
| Your data | Yours. | Yours. Every contact, hunt, and signed waiver can be exported any time. |
| Cost | Free, other than your time. | In beta with a founding group. Covered on the call. How the founding group works. |
No two outfitters' spreadsheets are the same. If yours does something this table doesn't give it credit for, text us at (435) 324-5115.
Which one should you actually use?
Stick with the spreadsheet if…
- You run a handful of hunts a season and pick up nearly every call.
- Somebody already keeps the paperwork current, and it isn't costing you hunts.
- Most of your hunters are repeat clients who'll wait for a call back.
- You'd rather not change anything this season. That's a fair call.
HuntingCRM is probably worth it if…
- You're in the field when hunters call, and some of them book somewhere else before you call back.
- The weeks before season go to chasing waivers, licenses, and tags by text.
- The season lives in your head, and you'd like it on a board you can hand to someone.
- You want it built for you, with your spreadsheet loaded before your first login.
Good. That's where we start.
Send it over and we load every hunter before your first login. If you're in the middle of season, the call can happen now, and the setup happens when you've got a minute to breathe.
See your season on a board.
Thirty minutes. You tell us how you run, we show you your season on a board. If your spreadsheet is doing the job, we'll tell you that.
Book a 30-minute callRather text? Send us a message and we'll get right back to you.