Data Hygiene and Database Maintenance

Dirty data costs money: on average 30% of time is wasted searching for info, dealing with duplicates, and fixing errors. Teams with clean databases are 40% more productive and close more deals.

Data hygiene isn't a one-time task - it's an ongoing discipline. This guide shows you exactly how.

Why Duplicates Happen

• Naming variations: "John Smith" vs "Smith, John" vs "J. Smith"
• Multiple teamlids adding same contact
• Import from different sources
• Typos in email/phone
• Company contacts vs personal contacts

Prevention Strategies

1. Search before creating (always!):

• Use Tesoro's global search (Cmd/Ctrl+K)
• Search by email (most reliable)
• Search by phone number
• Check recent adds (could be colleague's)

2. Naming conventions:

• First Name | Last Name format (separate fields)
• Capitalize properly: "Carlos García" niet "carlos garcia"
• No titles in name fields: "Carlos" niet "Mr. Carlos"
• Company names consistent: "Inmobiliaria López S.L." always same

3. Email/phone standards:

• Email always lowercase: "[email protected]"
• Phone international format: +34 600 123 456
• Validate before saving

Detecting Duplicates

Weekly duplicate scan:

• Run Tesoro's duplicate detection tool
• Review suggested matches (fuzzy matching)
• Check same email/phone different names
• Look for recent adds with similar info

Red flags for duplicates:

• Similar names + same company
• Same email domain, different contacts
• Identical phone numbers
• Viewing history overlap

Merging Duplicates Safely

Pre-merge checklist:

1. Identify primary record (most complete/recent)
2. Review all data from both records
3. Check open deals attached
4. nietify team if shared contacts

Merge process:

1. Select primary record (keeps ID)
2. Select secondary record (to be merged)
3. Review which fields to keep
4. Confirm merge (irreversible!)
5. Verify result - check niething lost

Post-merge:

• Update any external references
• nietify teamlids who worked with contact
• Document in notes: "Merged from X on [date]"

Daily (5-10 min)

• Check new contacts for completeness
• Update status tags after important interactions
• Add notes to conversations
• Quick scan for obvious duplicates

Weekly (30-45 min, Friday afternoon)

• Duplicate detection run
• Review and merge duplicates (target: <5 per week)
• Update stale tags (remove outdated)
• Complete missing required fields
• Archive inactive contacts

Monthly (90-120 min, first week)

• Deep database cleanup:
• Review all contacts without activity >90 days
• Archive lost/won deals
• Delete/archive spam/invalid entries
• Review custom fields usage - remove unused
• Export database backup
• Generate data quality report

Quarterly (3-4 hours)

• Major database audit:
• Review ALL tags - consolidate similar
• Standardize naming across board
• Review segmentation strategy
• Team training on data standards
• Update documentation