New to CRMs – need some help with getting organised!

I run a consultantcy in the UK.

At the moment I use Xero, Stripe and Excel along with our email account.

I have 5 consultants who work with our clients. They tend to use whatever they use to get the job done and email between the client and other third parties.

As a general rule, we do not see these emails etc. This would cause an issue if they were unable to continue. Although we could potentially access their emails if required.

Our invoices are all sent from Xero.

We are not automated at all!

I thought that a CRM might help, but I know nothing about these.

Do we need a seat for each consultant and the two of us in the office?

Or do we only need two seats?

I guess they would copy in the crm for each client email and this would get recorded. But I guess that doesn't need a seat.

So why would they need a seat?

Any suggestions on the best CRM for us?

As I know so little about CRMs, I have no way of knowing what I really need.

We have maybe 20 enquiries per week, some will pay for a basic consultation, others will just ask for a price and go nowhere, others will become clients for a job that might take two or three months.

Some clients will have more than one purchase from us, so these need to be easily separated from each other.

Do they link to Xero? Do you even need to link to the accountancy side of things?

Any suggestions on where to start?

As right now, it's a bit like being asked to install an engine in a car!! Beyond my knowledge! 😂