Google Workspace gives you great building blocks—Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Docs. What it doesn’t give you is a single place to track relationships, forecast revenue, or enforce follow-ups. That’s where a CRM comes in. The right one turns scattered messages and files into a clean, reliable system of record without forcing your team to leave their inboxes. Picking that CRM, though, isn’t about long feature lists. It’s about fit: how well the tool maps to the way your team already works inside Google.

Start with your workflows, not with features

Before you compare vendors, map the work you want the CRM to capture. Keep it specific:

• How do leads reach you—web forms, calendar bookings, inbound email, LinkedIn?
• What counts as a qualified lead, and who moves it forward?
• Which handoffs break most often (sales → success, SDR → AE, AE → finance)?
• What proof do managers need each Monday to run the week—pipeline, forecast, aging, activity?

Write these down. The list becomes your acceptance test. If a CRM can’t automate your first-response SLA for inbound Gmail threads or can’t create a deal from a Calendar event in one click, it’s not a fit—no matter how slick the dashboard looks.

Integration depth beats integration logos

Almost every CRM claims it “works with Google.” The details matter. Look for:

• Gmail side panel and compose integration: view and edit records from the inbox; auto-log threads to the right contact, company, and deal without manual tagging.
• Calendar sync both ways: create meetings from deals, tie attendees to contacts automatically, capture no-show outcomes, and update next steps after the call.
• Drive automation: attach Drive folders to accounts and deals by template, enforce naming rules, and surface the right docs (proposal, order form) at each stage.
• Contact and user sync: reliable, conflict-free syncing with Google Contacts and Directory so you don’t battle duplicates.
• Search and permissions aligned to Google: respect shared drives, OU-based access, and group visibility.

Ask vendors to demo a full round trip: an inbound email becomes a lead, books to Calendar, creates a Drive folder with the right template, and logs the call notes back to the record—all from Gmail. If they can’t show that live, keep looking.

Automation: remove busywork, not judgment

Good automation nudges deals forward. Bad automation spams people and hides truth. Build a small set of rules that erase repetitive tasks:

• SLA timers: if an inbound lead isn’t answered in 15 minutes, alert the owner and their backup.
• Stage-based tasks: when a deal moves to evaluation, create tasks for security review, trial setup, and stakeholder mapping.
• Data hygiene: block stage changes if mandatory fields (budget, start date, decision role) are empty.
• Renewal monitors: surface usage or risk markers to account managers 90 days before term end.
• Signals from Workspace: calendar no-shows reopen outreach tasks; a signed PDF in the Drive folder triggers “closed won.”

A small, thoughtful ruleset keeps the pipeline honest and your team focused on conversations, not clicks.

Reporting you’ll actually use

Leaders need a forecast they trust and a way to spot trends early. Reports should be easy to build, fast to load, and grounded in activity that’s logged without extra work. Non-negotiables:

• Pipeline by stage with aging: highlight deals stalled beyond your normal cycle.
• Forecast by owner, segment, and product: roll up from reps to regions with clear commit/best case.
• Source performance: show which channels create wins at acceptable CAC and sales cycle.
• Activity quality: emails, meetings, and calls tied to outcomes, not vanity counts.
• Custom fields and filters: your model will change—your reports must, too.

If it takes three exports and a spreadsheet to answer “What slipped last week and why?”, the CRM isn’t doing its job.

Adoption lives or dies in the inbox

Reps will live where they sell: Gmail. Make that a strength.

• Create and update records without leaving threads.
• One-click templates and snippets available in compose, linked to stages and personas.
• Calendar notes that land on the deal automatically, with attendees matched to contacts.
• Mobile app parity for updates right after meetings.

When daily actions happen in the inbox and sync back to the CRM instantly, adoption stops being a change-management project. It becomes the path of least resistance.

Security, admin, and scale

You’re building a system of record. Treat it like one.

• SSO and 2-step verification via Google.
• Granular permissions: who sees what by team, region, or line of business.
• Field-level histories and audit logs for compliance.
• Backups and export paths so you’re never locked in.
• API and webhooks for future connections—billing, support, product usage.

Run a sandbox with real data. Break things on purpose. Can you revert? Can you prove who changed pricing on a quote? These aren’t nice-to-haves when money’s on the line.

Shortlist with evidence, not hearsay

The market has solid Google-centric CRMs—some are lightweight and fast to adopt; others add deeper workflow and reporting. Build a shortlist from credible, practitioner-led resources, then run a two-week pilot against your workflow checklist. For a focused overview of Google-integrated options and practical selection tips, see https://nethunt.com/blog/google-crm/. Use guides like that to shape a pilot plan, not to replace one.

During the pilot, score each vendor on:

• Time to value (first record created from Gmail, first report built).
• Number of clicks for common tasks.
• Data hygiene: duplicate handling, merge tools, validation.
• Support response times and setup help.
• Feedback from the three people who will actually live in the tool.

Rollout without the drama

Adopt in slices. Start with one team or segment, freeze your field list for four weeks, and ship a short playbook: how to log from Gmail, how to move a deal, what “done” looks like for discovery. Hold a 20-minute weekly review: what broke, what to fix, what to standardize. Celebrate the first measurable win—more on-time follow-ups, cleaner forecast, fewer missed handoffs—then scale.