The reason I’ve dedicated the last nine posts on Sales Force Automation is that it’s a key bridge between marketing and sales. Having a well organized and smooth running SFA or CRM process helps both marketing and sales, and improves the communications between the disciplines. But nowhere in these posts have I mentioned “The Data”.
People have asked me, “What about the data? Don’t I need to assure accurate or quality data in the system?”
If you are responsible for the oversight, administration or operations of a SFA or CRM, repeat after me: “It’s not about the data.” Repeat, “It’s not about the data.” Your data will never be perfect. It will always be out of date. When your boss asks, you will never be able to run a query on, “All the left handed prospects with birthdays between 1980 and 1990,” because you know you only have those prospect’s children’s names in your data base, and not the prospect’s actual birthdays. Too many people obsess about the quality of their data as the first thing to fix. This is like worrying about the quality of the html code for your website.
Of course the data is important. This doesn’t mean you don’t clean, de-dup and add data. But your data doesn’t mean anything unless the system is easy to use, or your people are trained or you have a consistent sales process. When you address some of the issues outlined in the last nine posts, you will find that your data quality will miraculously improve. Sales people will start using the system and entering critical information. For example, you will find that you don’t need to de-dup because users are following your rules for account name generation. Reports will become more accurate as management sees the value and begins to require compliance of your lone rangers who resist its use. In the end, it’s not about the data, it’s about the overall process for using and managing your data.
The problem is that management often wants perfection immediately. When faced with managment questions, your response should be, “What are you trying to accomplish with this information? What are your goals?” There is always a way to get information that can answer the immediate question. But your job is to get them to focus on the bigger picture. Guide your management through the diagnostic questions and use their energy or frustration to help build the overall process.
Final Postscript for senior management: If you are saying your data is crap, you may not be helping and may actually be hurting your chances at establishing a process that can help you sell more stuff. Crappy data is a symptom. You don’t need to treat the symptom, your need to treat the causes.