Databases are the foundation for reliable Customer Relationship Management (CRM). CRM optimizes interactions with customers using data analysis. In order for this data analysis to be useful for these interactions, it’s important to maintain and cleanse the data used for your CRM.
Without regular updating of your CRM data, many problems can arise. Sales and Marketing teams rely heavily on the data within a CRM to guide their sales opportunities and marketing initiatives. When this information is inaccurate, incomplete, or outdated, sales and marketing opportunities can go unnoticed.
Bad data can cause inefficiencies with sales cycles and finding prospective leads. It will require sales personnel to have to find new prospects on their own or even spending time on outdated inopportune leads, which is a major monetary and time loss.
Fixing the problem is tremendously simple by finding that outdated information, and then by doing one of the following: delete, correct, or update that information. But just because the solution is simple doesn’t mean it is easy.
It can be an act of futility if you are already trying to work your way through the monotonous task of cleaning up your entire database, which is usually done either in transition from one CRM to another, or when a company starts implementing their first CRM. It goes without saying that database cleansing should be more frequent to prevent any bit of “bad” information from corrupting your database, and by extension, your CRM.
Data is the foundation of any contractor intelligence solution, and if you’re like many other distributors, keeping a customer database can be a challenge.
With the ToolBelt Contractor Universe (TCU) match report, we perform a quality hygiene check that ensures the validity of some of the following:
- Company – Is the business still active/in-business?
- Address – Has it been NCOAed? does it CASS/DPV standardize?
- Phone – 10 digits, valid area code, full 10-digit check
- E-mail – does it pass verification services?
- Deduplication – how to determine if there are multiple company IDs/records belonging to the same entity.
In regard to the company, the first validation that is done is checking if the business is still active and in-business. This is done through various forms of outreach, social media interaction, reviews, etc. If you’ve been in business for a long time, chances are you have inactive businesses in your database. Identifying companies that are no longer in business is a bit like scraping the barnacles from a ship. Without doing it, you may never know if a client is no longer purchasing from you is buying from a competitor or is no longer in business. Data solutions that combine bankruptcy filings and Secretary of State periodic reports can help distinguish the two.
Most data integration requires current and standardized postal addresses. To ensure your postal addresses are properly formatted, we run them through Coding Accuracy and Surveillance (CAAS). CAAS is a certification program established and maintained by the US Postal Service. A number of software vendors and service bureaus offer CAAS solutions. We will also identify contractors that have moved and update their address using National Change of Address (NCOA).
Phone checks will ensure formatting with a standard 10-digit number verification (excluding extension lines), which will also confirm a valid area code and prefix. If outbound call center activity is a cornerstone of your contractor engagement program, consider a 10-digit validation to determine if a number is connected/disconnected.
E-mail addresses may be bad for many reasons. Perhaps the record was mis-keyed by your team, the recipient has changed e-mail addresses or left their job, or a bad address was deliberately supplied. Bad e-mail addresses can have a wider impact on campaigns. Many e-mail servers use a high e-mail bounce rate (10%-15%) to idetify spammers and filter their e-mails. If the IP address used for your e-mail campaign is also flagged, it will dramatically reduce deliverability on future campaigns. Identifying undeliverable e-mail addresses is imperfect, but certain verification tools such as NeverBounce, BriteVerify, and E-mail Oversight can help identify both deliverable and undeliverable e-mailaddresses.
With duplication, it is common for marketing databases to contain duplicates, particularly when the data is compiled from many sources. A merge/purge solution (using either service bureau or in-house ETL tools) can identify duplicate company or contact records. The tools perform ‘fuzzy’ matching that allows records from the same entity but with slight variations in name/address to be linked. Establish business rules on how to manage your duplicates.
We help get you reach the first necessary steps to a reliable CRM.
For more information about the ToolBelt Contractor Universe and How we develop the ideal contractor profile, read our article “Developing the Ideal Contractor Profile” HERE