database / sales spreadsheet advice

I have been following few blogs to try and determine what I need for my new small business. My basic need is for a database / excel type of program that I can track clients progress with. I have looked at Neooffice, bento 4 and a few others and although bento is good, as it links with address book and i.cal for each contact, I need to be able to attach documents to clients files but more importantly be able to track and monitor their progress through my step by step critical path from contact to contract. This tracking I need to link to dates and tasks to get reminders of where each client is each day. Salesforce.com seemed like the go but with the $1000 minimum set up, plus nearly $1500 a year it was too expensive for me. Any ideas would be much appreciated. Cheers

Daylite might be useful to you. Or, with some learning and patience, Filemaker Pro could be used to roll your own exacting features.

I have very little personal experience with this, but it sounds like what you want is a CRM. Take a look at Daylite or Relationship.

thanks, i am checking out daylite and Bento 4 seems to be very user friendly but may not be comprehensive enough.
Cheers