If you’ve been searching for a CRM and GoHighLevel keeps coming up, you’re not imagining it. It’s everywhere right now and for good reason. But I also get asked on a regular basis whether it’s actually the right tool, or whether people are just buying into the hype.
I use GHL with my own clients. I’ve set it up, migrated people onto it, and watched it transform how some businesses run. I’ve also seen it be completely wrong for certain people. So here’s my honest take.
So, Is GHL Actually a CRM?
Yes. But calling it just a CRM is a bit like calling a Swiss Army knife just a knife.
GoHighLevel is a CRM at its core, which means it manages your contacts, tracks where people are in your sales process, and keeps all your client communication in one place. But it also does a whole lot more than that. It includes email marketing, SMS, automation workflows, landing pages, booking calendars, pipelines, invoicing, course hosting, and a client-facing mobile app.
For small business owners who are juggling five or six different tools, that’s either very exciting or very overwhelming depending on where you are in your business right now.
Why I Recommend GoHighLevel for Small Business
I came to GHL after working with a lot of different CRM and marketing platforms. The main reason I recommend it is that it actually replaces multiple subscriptions in one go. If you’re currently paying for a CRM, an email marketing tool, a booking system, and a landing page builder separately, GHL can cover all of that.
For coaches, course creators, and service-based businesses in particular, the pipeline management feature is genuinely useful. You can see exactly where every lead or client sits, set up automated follow-ups so nobody falls through the gaps, and get a clear picture of what’s coming in without having to dig through spreadsheets or your inbox.
The automation capability is also a big reason I use it. Once it’s set up properly, your onboarding, follow-up sequences, appointment reminders and contract requests can all run without you touching them. That’s not magic, that’s just a well-built system, but GHL makes it very achievable even for small teams.
Want to try GoHighLevel for your business? Start your free trial here.
What GHL Is Really Good At
Here’s where it shines:
Managing leads and clients in one place. If you’re currently tracking enquiries in your inbox and updating a spreadsheet and trying to remember who you followed up with, GHL fixes that immediately. Every contact, every conversation, every stage of the process lives in one dashboard.
Automating your follow-up. This is the one that saves the most time. GHL can send a personalised email or text the moment someone fills in your contact form, books a call, or completes a purchase. You stop losing warm leads because you were too busy to respond quickly.
Replacing your booking tool. If you’re using Calendly or Acuity separately, GHL has a built-in calendar and booking system that integrates directly with your pipelines. One less subscription and everything talks to each other.
Running your email marketing. You can build and send campaigns, set up nurture sequences, and tag contacts based on behaviour. It’s not as simple as Mailerlite if you’re brand new to email marketing, but once it’s set up it’s very capable.
Hosting courses and memberships. If you sell digital products or run a membership, GHL has a built-in course platform so you’re not paying for a separate hosting tool either.
When GHL Is NOT the Right Choice
Here’s the part most people skip when they’re recommending tools and I think it’s the most important bit.
GHL has a learning curve. If you’re a solo business owner with very little time and no interest in learning a new platform, the setup process can feel like a lot. It’s not the kind of tool you sign up for on a Friday and have fully running by Monday.
If your business is very simple, maybe you just need a contact list and the occasional email newsletter, then GHL is more than you need right now. Something like Mailerlite paired with a simple spreadsheet will do the job without the complexity.
It’s also worth knowing that GHL is built primarily for agencies and businesses that have some volume. If you have a handful of clients and you’re not actively generating new leads, the more advanced features won’t get used and you’ll be paying for something that’s sitting idle.
And the interface, while it has improved a lot, is not the most intuitive thing in the world. Most of my clients who use it successfully either had support setting it up or took the time to learn it properly before going live.
How to Know If You’re Ready for GHL
Ask yourself these questions:
- Are you currently using three or more separate tools that don’t talk to each other?
- Are leads or enquiries falling through the gaps because follow-up is manual?
- Are you spending time on repetitive admin tasks that could be automated?
- Do you have a team, or are you planning to grow one?
- Are you selling services, programmes or digital products online?
If you answered yes to most of those, GoHighLevel is worth a serious look. If you’re not there yet, that’s fine too. The right system is the one that matches where your business actually is right now, not where you hope it will be in two years.
Getting GHL Set Up Properly
This is the part I want to be straight with you about. GHL is genuinely powerful but a poorly set up CRM is often worse than no CRM at all. If your pipelines are wrong, your automations are broken, or your data is messy, you’ll end up more frustrated than before.
If you want to get it right the first time, that’s exactly what I help with. I build and set up GHL for clients as part of my business systems and automation services, so you’re not stuck watching YouTube tutorials and hoping for the best.
You can also start by booking an Ops Review to figure out whether GHL is actually the right fit for your business before you commit to anything.
Ready to try GoHighLevel? Use my affiliate link to start your free trial.
Mandie Wheeler is a Business Systems and Automation Specialist and Certified OBM based in Cork, Ireland. She works with coaches, service providers and small business owners to build the systems that take the operational weight off their plate.
