The fix usually isn’t a new report or a new tool. It’s agreeing on what each thing in your CRM means before you build anything on top of it. Here’s where to start.
- Choose the objects you’ll use, and give each one a job
Before you touch your deals, decide which objects your team will actually work with. You can use all three of Contacts, Leads and Deals, or keep it simple with two. Both are valid. What matters is that everyone knows which one to use, and when.
Here’s a simple way to think about it:
- Contact: the person. It’s the source of truth for who they are and how they’ve interacted with you.
- Lead: the work of prospecting and qualifying that person. Leads don’t replace contacts. They’re a separate object associated with a contact or company, and you can have more than one lead per contact. Learn how to set up leads.
- Deal: a real sales opportunity with an amount, a close date and an owner.
Then write down the handoffs:
- When does a contact become a lead? (A form submission? A meeting booked? A rep decides?)
- When does a lead become a deal? (What has to be true before you create an opportunity?)
- Who owns the record at each step?
If two objects can answer the same question, you’ll get duplicate work and conflicting data.
What are the definitions your team struggles with the most?