Define what a usable record contains
Agree on a small set of required fields for each record type. A contact needs a reliable way to reach them and a relationship to the business; an opportunity needs an owner, stage and next step. Do not force people to fill unknown values with guesses just to satisfy a form. Unknown is better than false precision.
- Current owner and company association.
- Verified contact details and source of the record.
- Last meaningful interaction and next action.
- Consent or contact restrictions where applicable.
Back up before merging or deleting
Confirm you can restore the relevant records and preserve associated notes, agreements and activity. Use a small sample first. Similar names are not proof of a duplicate: two people can share a name, and one company may legitimately have several branches. Establish which fields win in a merge and keep a record of the decision.
Worked example: two records for one buyer
In a hypothetical CRM, a buyer appears once under an old email address and once under a new one. The team checks identity and company association, then preserves the order history and contact restrictions while updating the preferred address. It does not simply delete the older row because that would remove context needed by support.
Review stale opportunities with the owner
Ask whether each open deal has a credible next step and an actual buying conversation behind it. Close or postpone deals that are no longer active, recording the reason. Changing an expected close date every month is not pipeline maintenance. Separate a future nurture contact from a live opportunity so forecasts are not inflated.
Prevent the same mess from returning
Standardize frequently used values such as industry and lost-deal reason, while leaving room for useful notes. Assign responsibility for imported lists before an import starts. Schedule a lightweight human review of exceptions rather than a large cleanup once a year. Measure missing owners, duplicates confirmed and stale deals resolved; do not judge quality only by total record count.