Have you heard of the TV show “Hoarders”? It follows people that struggle to clean out their house of unnecessary objects. This leads to a less than ideal life that is too disorganized. All things begin to lose value because they are all treated as if they are the most important thing in life for those people and the same thing can happen if you don’t have a CRM contact management process in line.

For example, this happens in businesses far more often than people care to admit. As a business owner, it is sometimes difficult to let go of lost leads. Countless resources have been spent to collect those contacts, and who’s to say one of those isn’t your next biggest customer?

Unfortunately, life is full of unknowns. Even more so when you are running your own business, you must make educated decisions during your CRM contact management process. In this article, we are going to cover three ways to help declutter your data.

  • Know When to Get Rid of Contacts
  • Deliverability Testing
  • Remove Competitors and Vendors

 

Know When to Get Rid of Contacts

“I had a plan for that rock.”

That was a quote from the show Hoarders as a rock was tossed into some distant shrubbery. The woman saying this was visibly upset as if someone had thrown away a jewel that had been in the family for generations.

As hard as it is to admit, some of your contacts are just that. Rocks that you are afraid to throw away. CRM contact management is important and our rule of thumb is that if your contacts have not engaged in 8 – 15 emails, it may be time to get rid of them. The likelihood that they will become customers is extremely low, and they take up space that a more qualified lead can take. Make sure to clear out contacts that are bouncing or if they have unsubscribed.

 

Deliverability Testing

The key to clearing out the above contacts is to have a reliable tracking strategy.

  • That means identifying what an unengaged contact is by setting an exact number of unengaged emails and clearing out contacts who reach that number.
  • Keep your unsubscribed emails only if you have a plan to re-engage them. Otherwise, they are just sitting ducks taking up space in your CRM and your wallet.
  • Make sure to understand what a realistic bounce rate is for your industry, and not to exceed that by too much. Your emails can be blacklisted if you let this ratio get too high.

There are tools out there to help you keep track of all of this. We recommend that you get started with GlockApps. Keep track of your inbox placement, reputation, bounce rate, and more in one place!

 

Remove Competitors and Vendors

This one might be a no-brainer, but it is easy to overlook. As you grow and start taking more market share in your industry, you will begin to get people looking at your brand and what you are doing right.

That means that you will have form fills from your competitors, aka people that will never buy from you. It is a good idea to keep track of who your competitors are for more than one reason. Clearing them out of your CRM is one of those reasons.

Your vendors are easier to keep track of, and if you don’t need them to be inside your system, clean them out.

If you follow our advice you will be decluttered and free of a lot of contacts that may have previously been wasting space. However, if you find that you just can’t get rid of those rocks, or keep track of which ones are important, then contact us. Vonazon offers services to help you clear out and optimize your CRM. Claim a free CRM optimization evaluation today!

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Andy Dosev