# What is the difference between a personal CRM and a sales CRM?

A personal CRM is a private record of one person's relationships, kept for memory and follow through. A sales CRM is an organisation's shared record of customers and deals, kept for selling and reporting.

## Side by side

| | Personal CRM | Sales CRM |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Owner | You | Your employer |
| Organised around | A person and a conversation | An account and a deal |
| Purpose | Memory and follow through | Targets, deal stages and reporting |
| When you change jobs | It comes with you | It stays behind |

## An example

Yusuf Demirkan of Bosphorus Growth Partners uses both. The firm's CRM tracks each company by stage and partner. His own record holds what it does not: Amani Wekesa pitched third at the agritech demo day, asked about co investors, and he promised her an introduction.

## Which one you need

If a manager reviews your deals against a target, you need a sales CRM. If your work depends on relationships that are not yet deals, you need a personal CRM. Marrow is one, in Beta: a deal has a title, a status and a timeline, with no stages, amounts or forecasts.

## Related

- [Personal CRM](/glossary/personal-crm)
- [CRM](/glossary/crm)
- [Personal CRM apps compared](/blog/personal-crm-apps-compared)

Last updated 10 October 2026. Canonical: https://usemarrow.com/glossary/personal-crm-vs-sales-crm