It’s the best time to update your CRM Data
In a time when many businesses have had to adapt to working remotely, taking sales representatives off the road is creating new ways to connect to customers and colleagues. It also provides the opportunity to clean up your sales CRM data.
All businesses should have protocols in place to ensure clean data input as well as quarterly cleaning activities, but sometimes this is not the case.
There are multiple ways to data cleanse, regardless of the type of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform your businesses use, here are few basic CRM cleansing activities Sales Representatives and Sales Managers of small to medium businesses can do to start today.
Extractions of Customer Lists
When commencing the cleansing activity, it can be beneficial to extract customer lists depending on permissions and size. Sales Representatives may be able to extract lists themselves, or in some businesses, a CRM Manager, CRM Champion or Sales Manager will have to do the extraction.
The list can assist the sales team with the following sales activities:
Sales Manager
Sales Representative
The data extracted can be amended in the document and uploaded back into the system. In some instances, if Sales Representatives do have certain permissions, some CRM systems allow for the extraction with real-time updates to the document through to the CRM.
Updating Customer Contact & Information Review
Data input into the system can be done two ways, one directly into the CRM or via an extracted excel or .csv file.
The Sales Representative should incorporate the following review and update to check:
Customer Status Updates
Dependent on the CRM set up, some systems are linked to ERP’s that directly update customer open and closed statuses. If the CRM set up is a manual activity, it is advisable to review and update status as part of the data cleanse activity, and a great opportunity to update information within sales pipelines if applicable.
These are just a few suggestions to get you and your team started on data-cleanse and customer engagement activities.
If you want to get the most out of your CRM and need expert advice, please don’t hesitate to speak to our CRM specialist today.
Author | Lauren Sexton – CX & Marketing Specialist Consultant