Broken prospect data is essentially bad data that makes it hard to sell effectively. It may be outdated contact info in your CRM or missing details in your prospect list. When you’re working with broken data, it’s like you’re flying blind. You’re emailing the wrong contacts, pursuing dead-end leads or maybe even trying to connect with someone who’s not at the company anymore. 

That’s why Surfe’s George Marvell recommends not only fixing your broken prospect data but keeping it squeaky clean going forward. In this issue of PromoPro Daily, we discuss Marvell’s thoughts on how to tell when your prospect data is broken and how to fix it for good.

4 Signs Your Prospect Data Is Broken

  1. You’re seeing extremely high bounce rates. If you send 200 emails and 40 bounce back, it’s a sure sign you’re dealing with bad data.

  2. You get unexpected replies. For example, Marvel says you may begin an email with, “Hi Alex” and get a reply that starts with, “Actually, my name is Sam.”

  3. CRM déjà vu. Maybe you have 3 entries for the same person. You don’t know which email to use, so you guess or skip the lead altogether.

  4. Sales reps are grumpy. If they’re spending more time fixing fields than sending messages, Marvell says the data’s broken.

What To Do About It

  • Enrich what you’ve got. Marvell recommends using tools to autofill missing data as you work. Get verified emails, phone numbers, job titles and company info from LinkedIn without needing to switch tabs or deal with copying and pasting.
  • Sync it all in real time. Marvell says your CRM, marketing tools and sales platforms should be in constant communication. This keep updates flowing so nobody is working from stale info.
  • Validate at the door. Use rules to catch poor data before it enters your system. If someone enters “Boss” as a title or leaves the email field blank, don’t let it slide, he says. It’s easier to stop bad data from entering than to chase it down later.

Your prospect data doesn’t need to be perfect, but it should be usable. Take some time to review your CRM and clean things up. Fixing obvious errors, filling in missing details and removing outdated contacts can save you time later and make your outreach much more effective.

Compiled by Audrey Sellers
Source: George Marvell is a business development representative for Surfe, a sales productivity platform.