A CRM full of duplicates, half-filled records and out-of-date details quickly becomes a CRM nobody trusts. Once trust goes, people stop using it, and you're back to sticky notes and inbox searches. Keeping data clean is mostly about a few simple rules applied consistently.

Decide what's required

Agree on the handful of fields every contact and deal must have, such as name, email, company, source and owner. Make those required in your CRM. Keep optional fields to a minimum, as every extra field is one more thing people skip.

Standardise how things are entered

• Use drop-down lists instead of free text for things like lead source and industry

• Agree on formats for phone numbers and company names

• Use consistent deal names, such as "Company - Project"

Stop duplicates at the door

Most CRMs warn you when a contact with the same email already exists. Turn that on, and search before adding someone new. Run a duplicate check monthly and merge what you find.

Connect your tools

Manual copying is where errors creep in. Connect your website forms, email and calendar so new enquiries and meetings flow into the CRM automatically.

Schedule a regular tidy-up

Once a quarter, spend an hour reviewing:

• Deals with no activity for 60 days or more

• Contacts with bounced emails

• Records missing an owner or key details

Respect privacy

Only store what you genuinely need, and delete or anonymise records you no longer have a reason to keep. Good data hygiene also helps you meet your data protection obligations.

A simple rule: if a record wouldn't help someone pick up the phone and have a useful conversation, it needs fixing or removing.

The short version

Set required fields, standardise entries, block duplicates, connect your tools and tidy up quarterly. Moving to a new system? Read how to switch CRMs without losing data.