Data Hygiene

ever get like really amped up for a big presentation you know and then right before

you're about to go on you realize oh man my data is just it's a mess totally deflating refill

well unfortunately that's the reality for so many businesses when it comes to their crm we're

talking about the core of your customer relationships and keeping it clean it's

mission critical folks and i'll be straight up this isn't just about you know making things

look pretty we're talking about wasted marketing dollars missed sales targets even potentially

hurting your company's reputation all because the right info isn't going where it needs to

now something i stumbled across while prepping for this deep dive is this tool called click to crm

and it really caught my eye they're using ai to help businesses make sense of their data and

honestly after seeing what we're about to unpack today you'll understand why that's a total game

changer but okay before we get ahead of ourselves we need to understand the problem right so we've

got an actual data expert with us today hey there someone who not only gets the stuff but actually

gets it done and gets it done and gets it done and gets it done and gets it done and gets it done

and gets it done and gets it done and gets it done and gets it done and gets it done and gets it done

excited by it which let me tell you is not always easy to find what always blows my mind about crm

data is that it's not just numbers on a spreadsheet you know each data point is a person a relationship

you're trying to build and when that data is messed up it's those relationships that really

take a hit so paint me a picture let's talk about the dirty data horror stories how does this

actually affect a business's bottom line give me the nitty-gritty well let's say for example your

sales team is working with closed dates that are inaccurate they're forecasting they're building

their entire strategy based on information that's completely wrong it's like you know building a

house on a foundation of sand eventually the whole thing is going to collapse and the worst part

this can directly hit your revenue projections are off you could miss investor targets overspend

on resources you could even end up with a pr nightmare on your hands and it's not just about

the big picture right i was reading about something called spiff misalignment and it's not just bad

data messing with your projections it can actually like demotivate your project and it can actually

affect your whole sales team absolutely yeah if you can't accurately track when deals are closing

you can't really reward your top performers fairly increase this like ripple effect of

mistrust frustration internally for sure but potentially with your customers as well okay so

we've established that inaccurate close dates big problem but what about those opportunities

just sitting there in your crm no contact information that sounds like especially for a new

account manager it's a total nightmare oh it's every new account manager's worst nightmare they

come in they're excited eager to build those relationships drive revenue and then they realize

they're missing the most basic info it's like trying to win a race with your shoelaces tied

together and i imagine this isn't just like oh you're missing a phone number right we're talking

about losing that whole history of interactions that context that helps you actually understand

the client's needs precisely without that context client relationships become incredibly fragile

i mean imagine being a customer and having to re-explain your whole history every time you interact

with the company it's frustrating it's a waste of time and honestly it just erodes trust it's like

you know that saying garbage in garbage out but it's not garbage right it's like your whole customer

relationship is on the line and without good data you're basically just flying blind and it's not

just those individual relationships either right when you have data that's inconsistent across the

board that can really hurt a company's growth

like even something as simple as how you're writing down a country oh for sure it can have

a huge impact i was actually reading about that about how just putting you know usa versus united

states versus the united states of america can totally throw things off i'll admit i've been

guilty of that myself what kind of problems does that actually cause well if your crm is full of

these little inconsistencies it makes it so hard to segment your customer base accurately imagine

you're trying to launch a targeted marketing campaign but you don't have a clear picture of

who your customers are where they're actually located you just end up wasting money and missing

out on opportunities it's like trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle but all the pieces are

just slightly the wrong shape you know you're never going to get that clear picture and speaking of

getting on the same page the research really emphasizes how important standardized data entry

is especially for fields like industry or customer type why are those so crucial those fields are

like the backbone of your crm it's how you categorize an animal and how you categorize an animal

and how you categorize your data to actually make good decisions yeah but if everyone's just entering

information however they want different formats leaving stuff blank it's like everyone's speaking

different language yeah your crm becomes this tower of babel instead of a source of truth right

it's about as useful as a chocolate teapot at that point so how do we fix it because i mean most of us

we're not data scientists we need practical solutions we don't have time to go get a phd

in this stuff you're telling me well one of the simplest but honestly most effective strategies

is putting in field level validation okay so basically this means you're setting up rules in

your crm to prevent bad data inaccurate or incomplete info from being entered in the first

place so it's like having a spell check but for your crm it catches those mistakes before they

even become a problem exactly think of it as like a safety net making sure everyone's speaking the

same data language this does two things it makes your data quality better right from the start

but it also saves you a ton of time

later on because you're not cleaning up those mistakes right less time cleaning equals more

time actually using that data to grow your business yeah now the research also touched on

data audits which i'll be honest sound kind of intimidating like yeah i don't know what exactly

is a data audit it's not as scary as it sounds okay good it's just a really systematic way

of looking at all the data you have in your crm to find and fix those inaccuracies okay think of it

like spring cleaning but for your data i love that out with the old bad data in with the fresh

clean insights so it's more about building good habits like doing a little bit of maintenance

regularly so it doesn't become this huge overwhelming mess yeah that's where a tool like

click to crm could be super helpful right it can streamline that process and make it a lot less

daunting absolutely you know this click to crm is starting to sound like that ai cleaning crew we

could all use right just like quietly working in the background keeping everything tidy

can it help with like outdated records because those always seem to clutter up a crm oh

absolutely click to crm can definitely help with that but those regular data audits that we were

talking about those are still key they help you actually identify and remove that outdated

information so you're not wasting time you know chasing ghosts right right it's like weeding your

garden yeah you got to pull out those weeds regularly so your flowers can actually thrive

and much like a neglected garden, ignoring your CRM hygiene can get out of hand so quickly.

and didn't the research mention something about like wasted resources, even damaged client relationships because of this?

oh yeah for sure.

if you're working with outdated information, you risk reaching out to people that aren't even relevant anymore or even worse, like bombarding your current clients with the same message over and over again.

oh man.

yeah it just screams disorganized.

it makes your company look unprofessional.

not a good look.

and let's not forget about those KPIs.

you know you hear so much about skewed KPIs.

if your data is a mess, you're basically making decisions with a broken compass.

exactly.

you might think you're on the right track, but you're miles off.

100%.

inaccurate metrics have this ripple effect.

they impact everything, your sales forecasts, your marketing campaigns, even your hiring decisions.

right.

like we were saying before, building that house on a shaky foundation.

yeah.

it might look okay from the outside.

but it's just a matter of time before those cracks start to show.

so if our listeners could do just one thing this week to start improving their CRM hygiene, what should it be?

you know i would say start by just taking a look at your data entry processes.

are there common errors? are there fields where people just don't follow a standardized format?

addressing those issues can be a game changer.

it might seem small, but it makes a big difference.

and remember, every little step helps.

that’s such good advice.

well, it's been great having you on the show today.

thank you so much for sharing your expertise.

my pleasure.

thanks for having me.

absolutely.