If you’ve ever wanted to throw your laptop out the window after wrestling with your company’s CRM, you’re not alone. Sales teams, revenue ops, and even founders all feel the pain—too many clicks, too little context, and an overall sense that these tools were designed for someone else. If you’re evaluating Scratchpad versus the usual suspects like Salesforce, HubSpot, or Dynamics, and just want something that lets your team actually sell, this guide’s for you.
We’ll dig into where Scratchpad really shines, where traditional CRMs hold their ground, and which features are worth your attention (and which are just noise). The goal: help you pick the right tools for a go-to-market workflow that’s actually…well, workable.
Why Do Go-To-Market Teams Hate Most CRMs?
Let’s get honest: CRMs often feel like they’re built for managers, not reps. Here’s why:
- Overkill: Most CRMs are packed with features you’ll never use, buried under menus you’ll never click.
- Slow and clunky: Updating a deal feels like filling out a tax form.
- Designed for reporting, not action: Sure, you can generate lots of charts, but actually moving deals forward? That’s another story.
- Disjointed workflows: Notes in one place, tasks in another, pipeline buried somewhere else.
If you’re a sales rep, you want to update your pipeline and get on with your day. If you’re a manager, you want reliable data—without nagging everyone for updates. Everyone loses when the CRM is more obstacle than asset.
What Is Scratchpad, Really?
Scratchpad bills itself as a “workspace for salespeople.” In plain English: it’s a lightweight, fast layer that sits on top of Salesforce, giving reps an interface that doesn’t make them want to scream. Unlike classic CRMs, it’s not trying to be all things to all people. It’s laser-focused on:
- Fast pipeline updates
- Quick note-taking (that actually syncs)
- Task management that fits a sales workflow
- A UI that feels more like a spreadsheet than an enterprise dashboard
It’s not a CRM by itself—it’s more like a power tool that makes Salesforce less painful for the people who use it the most.
Traditional CRM Tools: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Before you hit “delete” on your CRM subscription, let’s be fair. Big-name CRMs like Salesforce, HubSpot, and Dynamics have strengths:
What They Do Well
- Central source of truth: If set up right, you get a single place for all your customer data.
- Reporting & forecasting: Management loves the dashboards and analytics (when they work).
- Automation: You can automate emails, tasks, and reminders—if you have the time (and budget) to set it up.
- Customizability: You can tailor pipelines, fields, and stages to your business.
Where They Fall Down
- User experience: Let’s be real, most reps hate logging in. Too many tabs, too many fields.
- Speed: Updating deals or adding notes is slow, especially on weak connections.
- Training required: New reps need a crash course just to do basic stuff.
- Feature bloat: You pay for lots of stuff nobody uses.
If your sales process is simple, or your team is small, these “features” can feel like a tax on your time.
Scratchpad vs. CRM: Head-to-Head on Go-To-Market Workflows
Let’s break down where each tool fits into a modern go-to-market workflow, from the perspective of people actually using them.
1. Pipeline Updates
- Scratchpad: Updating a deal is as quick as editing a cell in Google Sheets. You see your pipeline, drag and drop, and move on. It syncs instantly with Salesforce. No waiting, no digging.
- Traditional CRM: Clicking into each record, waiting for pages to load, saving every change. Multiply by 20 deals and you’ve lost half an hour.
Pro tip: If your reps aren’t updating the CRM, your forecast is junk. Fast editing means better data—end of story.
2. Taking and Syncing Notes
- Scratchpad: Notes are right next to the deal. You can take call notes during a meeting, and they sync to Salesforce automatically. No switching tabs, no copy-pasting.
- Traditional CRM: Notes often live in a separate module, or worse, in random Google Docs. Syncing is manual, and stuff gets lost.
What to ignore: Fancy AI note summaries sound great, but if reps can’t find their notes, it doesn’t matter.
3. Task Management
- Scratchpad: Tasks are tied to deals and show up in a simple, actionable list. It’s not trying to replace your calendar, just making sure you follow up.
- Traditional CRM: Tasks often get buried. Reminders pop up in places you don’t check, and most reps ignore them.
4. Collaboration
- Scratchpad: Built for sharing notes and context, but doesn’t try to be Slack. Keeps everyone on the same page without overwhelming you.
- Traditional CRM: You can @mention people, but it feels clunky. Most collaboration happens elsewhere, like email or chat.
5. Customization and Reporting
- Scratchpad: Not built for deep customization or complex reports. It’s intentionally simple; if you need heavy-duty analytics, you’ll end up back in Salesforce.
- Traditional CRM: You can slice and dice data any way you want—but it takes time, training, and often a specialist (or three).
Where Scratchpad Wins
- Speed: Hands down, the fastest way to update Salesforce.
- Adoption: Reps actually use it, which means leadership gets better data.
- Focus: Does a few things, does them well. No distractions.
- No rip-and-replace: Works with your existing Salesforce setup.
Where Traditional CRM Still Matters
- Complex sales processes: If you need custom objects, integrations, or deep reporting, you can’t escape the CRM.
- Company-wide data: Marketing, support, and finance all need a central place for customer info.
- Automation: If you want to trigger workflows, emails, or integrations, you need the CRM’s backend muscle.
What’s Overhyped (and What to Ignore)
- AI “deal insights”: Most reps just want a simple way to update where a deal stands. Unless your team is huge, these features rarely move the needle.
- Gamification: Badges and leaderboards sound fun but rarely change behavior. Fast tools do.
- All-in-one promises: No tool does everything well. The more a vendor claims to “replace” your whole stack, the less likely it’s actually usable.
Real-World Scenarios: Which Tool Fits Where?
Let’s get concrete. Here’s where each tool makes sense:
- Small to mid-sized sales teams using Salesforce: Scratchpad is a no-brainer for daily work. Use Salesforce for reporting and system-of-record stuff.
- Large, complex orgs or multi-team setups: You’ll need the full power (and headache) of a traditional CRM.
- Startups without Salesforce: Scratchpad isn’t for you—look at simpler CRMs, or even spreadsheets, until you’re ready.
How to Roll Out (Without the Drama)
- Start small: Pilot Scratchpad with a few reps. Get feedback on what actually helps.
- Keep the CRM as the backbone: Don’t try to replace Salesforce overnight. Use Scratchpad as a front-end, not a substitute.
- Focus on pipeline hygiene: Make it dead simple for reps to update deals. Everything else is secondary.
- Ignore features you don’t need: If nobody asks for AI or advanced analytics, don’t pay for it.
- Iterate: Review what’s working every month. Kill what isn’t.
Bottom Line: Don’t Overthink It
If your team is drowning in CRM busywork, Scratchpad gives you speed and sanity—without a messy data migration or endless training. If you need serious reporting or company-wide workflows, you’ll still need your CRM, like it or not.
Keep your workflow simple. Use tools your team actually wants to use. Iterate, dump what’s not working, and remember: nobody gets a medal for using the most features—just the right ones.