# One row per person, two formulas and a Monday routine turn a sheet into a personal CRM

One row per person, with columns for where you met, what they are working on, what each of you promised, the last contact and the next step with a date. Add two formulas, sort by the next step every Monday, and update the row the same day you meet someone.

A spreadsheet is a good personal CRM if you keep it small and update it the same day. It costs nothing, it is yours, and any spreadsheet app on your laptop or phone will do. Here are the columns, the formulas, the routine and where it breaks.

## The columns

Put these across the top, in this order. The example row is one contact, filled in.

| Column | What goes in it | Example |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Name | Full name, spelled the way they spell it | Daria Kowal |
| Company | One spelling per company, so filters work | Signal Hill Media |
| Role | Their title as they gave it | Editor |
| City | Where they are based | Warsaw |
| Email | From the card or the signature | From her card |
| Phone | From the card or the signature | From her card |
| Where and how met | The event or the introduction, in words you will recognise | She interviewed me after the panel |
| Introduced by | Who connected you, if anyone | Nobody |
| Right now | What they are working on or deciding | A series on regional trade routes |
| I promised | What you owe them | Suggest two people to interview |
| They promised | What they owe you | The publication dates |
| Last contact | The date you last spoke or wrote | 2026-09-24 |
| Next step | The one thing that happens next | Send the two names |
| Next step date | When it is due | 2026-10-12 |
| Tier | Close, active or dormant | Active |
| Days since contact | A formula, below | Calculated |
| Status | A formula, below | Calculated |
| Notes | Anything else worth one line | Prefers messages to email |

The three columns that do the work are Right now, I promised and Next step date. A sheet without them is an address book. For what belongs in Right now, see [what to record about someone you just met](/guides/what-to-record-about-someone-you-just-met). The [keep in touch cadence](/guides/keep-in-touch-cadence) guide explains the tiers.

## Two formulas tell you what to do

Assuming Last contact is in column L and Next step date is in column N, put these in row two and fill down.

Days since contact: `=IF(L2="","",TODAY()-L2)`

Status: `=IF(N2="","",IF(N2Capture away from the desk is slow. Typing a row on a phone in a corridor waits until the evening, and then the weekend.
Reminders do not come to you, because the sheet tells you nothing until you open it. Put anything important in your calendar as well.
Context grows sideways. A long relationship does not fit in a cell, and the Log tab needs discipline.
Duplicates appear when the same person arrives from two events with two spellings.

If capture and the Monday habit are working for you, keep the sheet. It is a good system.

## Where Marrow fits

Marrow is for the person whose sheet breaks at capture. It is an app on iPhone and Android: you say the row in a voice note on the way out of the room. It fills in the person, the context and the follow up with a date, then reminds you when it is due.

To bring the people across, save the sheet as a CSV or Excel file and send it in the chat, up to 5 MB for CSV, 5 MB for Excel and 30,000 contacts per file. Marrow matches people you already have by email, phone or name. The contact columns come across: name, company, role, email, phone, website, address, city, public profile link and notes. The promises and next step dates do not, so say those in a voice note afterwards. Check what came across before you retire the sheet.

If you leave, you can export everything as JSON from Telegram or the web view, or ask in the Telegram chat for a contacts file. Marrow is in Beta.

Who should not bother: if the sheet works, keep it. If you share it with a colleague, stay with the sheet, because Marrow is one person per account with no shared workspace.

## Related

- [Guides](/guides)
- [Keep in touch cadence](/guides/keep-in-touch-cadence)
- [How to clear a backlog of business cards](/guides/business-card-backlog)
- [How Marrow works](/how-it-works)
- [I hate CRM data entry](/guides/i-hate-crm-data-entry)

Last updated 10 October 2026. Canonical: https://usemarrow.com/guides/building-a-personal-crm-in-a-spreadsheet