If you run or manage a B2B sales team, you know the drill: too many tools, not enough time, and everyone hates the CRM. Spreadsheets, clunky interfaces, and a bunch of features you’ll never touch. Enter Attio, one of the newest GTM (go-to-market) platforms trying to fix your CRM headaches. But does it actually help? Let’s cut through the hype and see if Attio’s worth your team’s time.
Who Attio Is (and Isn’t) For
Attio isn’t trying to be Salesforce. It’s marketed to startups, scaling sales teams, and anyone who wants a CRM that isn’t a dumpster fire of complexity. If you need something that’s:
- Fast to set up, and easy to change on the fly
- Collaborative (think: Google Docs, but for relationship management)
- Not going to require a six-month onboarding
Then you’re in the right place. If your sales process is carved in stone, you need deep forecasting, or you’re running a 200-person sales org, you might outgrow Attio pretty fast.
What Makes Attio Different?
Attio’s pitch is simple: make CRM behave more like the modern tools people actually want to use. Here’s what stands out (and what doesn’t):
The Good
- Real-time collaboration: Multiple reps can literally work in the same record at once—no more “record locked” errors.
- Flexible, spreadsheet-style lists: Creating and editing custom pipeline views feels more like building an Airtable base than fighting with Salesforce reports.
- Email sync that works: Connect Gmail or Outlook, and Attio pulls in all the threads relevant to your deals, without weird duplicates.
- Fast, clean UI: No hunting through five menus to find a contact or update a field.
The Not-So-Good
- Light on automation: If you want advanced workflows, triggers, or custom code, you’ll hit walls.
- Reporting is basic: You get the essentials, but don’t expect detailed revenue analytics or fancy forecasting.
- Still growing: Attio’s adding features fast, but you might run into a “coming soon” if your needs are niche.
Setting Up: How Attio Fits Into Your Sales Workflow
Let’s walk through what it’s actually like getting Attio working for a B2B sales team.
1. Connecting Your Tools
Attio starts with integrations. You can hook up:
- Email (Gmail, Outlook): Pulls in past and future conversations automatically.
- Calendar: Meetings get linked to deals and contacts.
- Google Contacts: Syncs your team’s address books.
- Zapier & API: For connecting other tools, but don’t expect native integrations galore (yet).
Pro tip: If your team relies on a patchwork of random tools, expect some manual setup. Attio’s API is solid but you’ll need someone technical for anything fancy.
2. Importing Your Data (Without Losing Your Mind)
Nobody wants to babysit CSV imports. Attio’s import tool is decent, but there’s no magic wand. Here’s what to watch for:
- Mapping fields is simple, but double-check types. Custom fields can trip you up if your old CRM used weird naming.
- Relationships pull in. Attio does a good job linking people to companies and deals (if your data’s clean).
- No automatic deduplication. You’ll need to merge duplicates by hand.
3. Customizing Pipelines and Fields
This is where Attio shines for teams that hate asking IT for help. You can:
- Build pipelines as lists. Drag-and-drop columns, add filters, and tweak stages—all in the browser.
- Add custom fields on the fly. No waiting for an admin.
- Share views with the team. Everyone sees the same data, live.
What’s missing: You can’t do conditional logic or validation rules yet. If you need “if X, then Y” field behavior, it’s not here.
4. Actually Using Attio Day-to-Day
Here’s what your reps will notice:
- Search is instant. You can find a contact or deal in seconds.
- Bulk editing is easy. No more updating 30 records one at a time.
- Timeline view: See every email, meeting, and note in one place, per deal.
But…
- No mobile app (yet). The web app is mobile-friendly, but if your team lives in the field, you’ll miss a true app.
- Task management is basic. You can log calls, emails, and notes, but there’s no Kanban for sales tasks.
Where Attio Stands Out (and Where It Doesn’t)
The Real Wins
- Teams who hate CRMs actually use it: Adoption is high because it’s not annoying.
- Setup time is short: You can go from zero to tracking deals in a day.
- Everyone sees what’s going on: No more “who owns this?” confusion.
The Tradeoffs
- Automation is limited: If you want to automate things like lead assignment or follow-up emails, you’ll need Zapier or your own scripts.
- Reporting is basic: Great for pipeline status, weak for executive dashboards.
- Still maturing: There are feature gaps, especially for bigger teams or more complex sales processes.
What to Ignore (and What to Watch Out For)
- Ignore the hype about “AI.” Attio does some smart sorting, but you’re not getting robo-assistants here.
- Ignore the fancy templates. You’ll end up building your own views anyway.
- Watch out for data migration headaches. This is true for any CRM switch, but Attio won’t save you if your old data is a mess.
Should Your B2B Sales Team Try Attio?
If your team’s drowning in spreadsheets, hates your current CRM, or just wants something that feels modern, Attio is worth a shot. It’s not magic, but it is refreshingly usable. Just know what you’re signing up for:
- Great for small-to-midsize teams
- Less great if you need deep automation or heavy analytics
- You’ll probably have to build a few things yourself
Keep It Simple (and Iterate)
CRMs are always a work in progress. Don’t get lost chasing the “perfect” setup. Start simple, get your team on board, and add complexity only when you need it. Attio makes that pretty easy—just don’t expect it to fix broken processes by itself.
If you want a CRM that gets out of your way (mostly), Attio’s one of the better bets out there right now. Try it, see if your team stops complaining, and don’t be afraid to move on if it doesn’t stick. That’s the real productivity hack.