Messy data? There’s hope yet.

Is your CRM starting to feel like somebody else's junk drawer?

Can't distinguish which members are most engaged,
on the verge of dropping out,
or completely dormant?
Spending far too long trying to identify the donors
who would just need a nudge to increase their annual gift?

Don't throw up your hands just yet.

You can fix this, even with your limited resources.

The "secret" to clean and reliable CRM data is probably a little too obvious. You "just" need to:

• Approach your data with a systems mindset. Don't allow anyone to treat it like a drunk drawer. Ever.

• Design an organizational system for tagging, grouping, and reporting that supports your strategy for outreach, member engagement, and donor management.

• Ensure that any staff who can edit data actually understand your system and their place in it, that they have a common vision for that strategy and how your CRM data will support it. They're not just creating records, they're building a library of useful information.

• Make a regular practice of finding and merging duplicate contacts and improving your own organizational system.

Of course the problem is: Who the heck has time for all that?

So here's the trick:

First, admit that you have limited time, staff, and budget.
They will never be enough to implement the "perfect" system.

But don't stop there.

Notice that you do have some time, staff, and budget.
You can use those to tackle some of the biggest challenges with your messy data.

Could you give this 1 hour of your time each day?
What about 1 hour per week?

If you can do that, there's hope.

So:

Look through that "secrets" list again.

Which one can you spend just 1 hour on, this week?

All the best,
A.