12 Days of CRM: Day Eleven – Best Practices for Data Management

On the 11th day of CRM Chris Kringle Fritsch told me some best practices to maintain our data quality!

After you have a CRM system implemented, how can you ensure that the data going in is clean, correct, and up to date? Not only that but how can you make sure that the data stays clean? Well, Chris Fritsch, of CLIENTSFirst Consulting, offers some advice so firms and organizations can maintain healthy data by implementing processes and procedures related to data entry.

The first step any firm or organization should take is to establish a data management strategy. Without a strategy, your end users will not know why they are entering contact data and what the end goal is. This strategy may be to minimize bad data coming in and maximize the efficiency and speed of the data once it is there so it can do more work for the professionals.

Next, you should dedicate resources including time, money and people. Resources may also include processes and procedures that help maintain uniformity when data is being entered. These dedicated resources should be able to ensure that the data being entered is adequate and accurate. It’s a good idea to commit a certain number of data stewards to the system depending on the number of contacts within the software.

Other important considerations are training and communication. Training should be focused on the why, not the how. Focus on the value end users receive when they use the system regularly and how it contributes to the success of the firm.

Communication should also be centered around value and other messages that will promote adoption. Provide fun statistics or updates about new data that is coming into the system, or offer incentives through a means of healthy competition to increase data entry as training begins.

Additional benefits may be recognized if the assistants are included in the training as they can lessen the workload of attorneys or other professionals who may not have as much time to enter contact data. Entering contact data for attorneys can be a big pain point for them, but attorneys care greatly that their information is correct and gets to the right people.

To ensure all data records are entered correctly, creating a style and standards guide can help all users with data management. If records are entered differently for every person, inconsistencies will arise and can cause duplicate data or incorrect data. Style and standards guides can help with uniformity.

While COVID may have disrupted the normal flow of everything, organizations are still finding ways to promote training through goodie bags being sent to homes or through other incentives like pizza parties for those who go into the office every so often.

Watch as Chris Fritsch offers some best practices for dealing with data and maintaining a healthy CRM system.

For more than a decade, the team at  CLIENTSFirst Consulting has been helping professional services firms and other organizations successfully select and implement CRM and eMarketing systems and improve Data Quality to maximize value, adoption and return on investment. If you need help achieving CRM Success, contact us at 404-249-9914 or Info@ClientsFirstConsulting.com.