Having high-quality CRM data is invaluable for field sales as it ensures accuracy, comprehensiveness and promptness. This directly impacts revenue by reducing the time wasted on dead leads and improving forecasting. Despite this, research has shown that only 23% of CRM data can be deemed as complete, a statistic that has emphasized the benefits of automated solutions.
High-performing modern entrepreneurs know that success relies on their ability to work smarter, not harder. It doesn’t matter if you’re working as a lone wolf or managing a vast team of sales reps; Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is the foundation of your business. However, this foundation is only as strong as the quality of its materials. If your system is saturated with outdated contact information, missing notes and guesses instead of verified data, you are setting yourself up for failure.
Thankfully, there is a solution to this challenge. Building a foundation using a system that you can trust is all about precision. When managing outreach, the quality of your CRM data is what gives you a competitive advantage because, when your data is clean, your path to success becomes clear.
How Substandard Data Will Cost Your Business
In a home-based or small business, time is your most valuable resource. Every minute you spend updating contact information or verifying whether or not a specific contact has already been called costs you another minute you could have spent closing a deal. However, the cost of forgoing these tasks can be even greater.
Inaccurate data can create a ripple effect on inefficiency that impacts:
- The accuracy of your forecasting. If your pipeline is being padded with dead leads, your forecasts will be skewed, and you’ll be unable to accurately predict your cash flow.
- Your reputation. If you reach out to a contact with inaccurate or outdated information, or accidentally redial them due to a duplicate entry, the professionalism and integrity of your business will come into question.
- Your opportunities. When important notes lie buried beneath a pile of papers instead of being synced to your CRM, you’ll miss out on opportunities for follow-ups, and potential deals will slip through your fingers.
Optimizing your crm data quality for field sales isn’t just a tedious administrative task that you can push to the side because it fundamentally impacts your ability to conduct your business efficiently.
Why Field Sales Struggle When it Comes to Quality
Field sales are notoriously chaotic by nature. With reps constantly moving between meetings, maneuvering their way through traffic and trying to build rapport with potential clients, the likelihood of them sitting down to record the minute details or every interaction is highly unlikely.
However, the data gap is where most businesses lose their edge. Creating an expectation where your reps have to sit down and take notes after every meeting or call will just lead to them cutting corners, ultimately undermining the system you can trust, and potentially leaving out vital bits of information that seem trivial to them as a way to save time. Sometimes it’s one of those small details that hold the key to closing a deal.
The best way to mitigate this risk is to implement a system that works with them, and not against them. When you can make the process of capturing data as streamlined and frictionless as possible, you’re more likely to get accurate, up-to-date information from your sales team.
What Are The Strategies For Building a Trustworthy System?
If you want to build a CRM environment that results in actionable insights, there are 3 pillars you should consider to create a system you can trust.
Standardize the Process
Data quality begins with discipline. If one person records a lead as “International Business Machines” and another enters it as “IBM”, your information will never be accurate.
You should try:
- Using picklists and dropdown menus to limit manual entry
- Standardized naming conventions
- Making vital fields like “Next Action Step” mandatory
Incorporate Automation
The future of field sales lies in automated data capturing. With tools that allow a sales rep to use voice-to-text for uploading meeting summaries directly into the CRM while walking to their car, you can eliminate the data gap.
Regularly Wash Your Data
Data decays at a staggering rate because people are constantly changing jobs, merging companies and disconnecting phone numbers. Making it a point to regularly wash your data by using deduplication tools to verify your top leads can give you a real competitive advantage. After all, having a short, accurate list is more valuable than a long, neglected database. Quality over quantity is the ultimate goal.
A System Based on Insights Instead of Intuition
Working smarter and not harder means being selective of where you choose to expend your energy, and administrative tasks shouldn’t be on that list if you want to build a system you can trust. Instead of wasting hours on recording minute details of client interactions, you can focus your attention on where it’s most needed, which is closing deals and growing your revenue.
By implementing automated AI tools for capturing data, you can ensure that your CRM is always accurate and up-to-date and that vital information isn’t lost in the data gap or due to sales reps rushing through the process to get back to closing deals. The quality of your CRM will determine the accuracy of your forecasts and the success of your efforts, so make sure you’re giving your business the strong foundation it deserves.
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