How to Build a LinkedIn CRM Inside Chrome (Without Paying for HubSpot)

πŸ“… June 2025 ⏱ 6 min read ✍️ CristΓ³bal Vergara Β· Founder, Inboxium

The problem: You're doing LinkedIn outreach but tracking everything in a spreadsheet. You forget who you contacted, when to follow up, and what you talked about. HubSpot costs $90/month. There's a better way.

Most salespeople use LinkedIn as a prospecting channel but manage their pipeline in a separate tool β€” a spreadsheet, Notion, or an expensive CRM like HubSpot or Salesforce.

The context switching is brutal. You're on LinkedIn, you get a reply, you open your CRM, you update the status, you go back to LinkedIn. Every time.

What if your CRM lived inside LinkedIn? That's exactly what Inboxium does.

What a LinkedIn CRM Actually Needs

You don't need Salesforce. For LinkedIn outreach, a good CRM needs exactly 5 things:

  1. Contact storage β€” name, title, company, LinkedIn URL, email
  2. Status tracking β€” where is each prospect in your pipeline
  3. Activity log β€” when did you last contact them
  4. Notes β€” what did you discuss, what are their pain points
  5. Export β€” get your data out when you need it

That's it. Everything else is noise.

The Pipeline Statuses That Actually Work

Pending
Not contacted yet
Contacted
Request sent
Replied
They responded
Follow-up
Need to follow up
Client
Converted πŸŽ‰
Discard
Not a fit

Inboxium uses these 6 statuses. When you send a message, it automatically moves the contact from Pending to Contacted. You manually update to Replied, Follow-up, or Client as the conversation progresses.

Step-by-Step: Setting Up Your LinkedIn CRM with Inboxium

1

Install Inboxium from the Chrome Web Store

Free to install. Works on any LinkedIn page. No account creation required to start β€” open it and your data is stored locally in your browser.

2

Import your first prospects

Go to any LinkedIn search (e.g., "Sales Manager" in "Falabella"). Click "Extract profiles from this page" and Inboxium imports everyone automatically β€” name, title, company, and LinkedIn URL. No copy-paste.

πŸ’‘ Tip: You can also add contacts manually one by one, or import a list from Excel if you already have prospects somewhere else.

3

Create your message templates

Go to the Messages tab and create 2–3 templates: a first contact, a follow-up, and a reply to interested prospects. Use {nombre}, {cargo}, and {empresa} as variables β€” Inboxium replaces them automatically.

4

Send and let the CRM update itself

When you send a message (individually or in bulk), Inboxium automatically updates each contact's status to "Contacted" and logs the date. You always know who you've reached and when.

5

Add notes for every meaningful conversation

When a prospect replies, click the notes icon on their card and write what they said. "Interested but budget Q3." "Use Waalaxy currently, unhappy with price." These notes are gold for your next message.

6

Export to Excel for reporting or backup

One click exports your entire contact base β€” name, title, company, email, LinkedIn URL, status, last contact date, and notes. Share it with your team or import it into another tool.

How This Compares to HubSpot for LinkedIn Outreach

For LinkedIn-focused sales teams, Inboxium eliminates the tool-switching entirely. Your CRM is right there in the LinkedIn sidebar.

Who This Works Best For

Your LinkedIn CRM is One Click Away

Install Inboxium and have your first contacts imported in under 2 minutes. Free up to 20 contacts.

Install Free on Chrome β†’