CRM Hygiene

Systematically identify and resolve data quality issues in your CRM to improve forecast accuracy, reporting, and automation reliability.

When to Use This Skill

Quarterly CRM audits
Before major reporting periods
When automation workflows fail
After team changes or migrations
Preparing for CRM integrations

Methodology Foundation

Based on Salesforce Data Quality Best Practices and RevOps Co-op Data Governance frameworks, focusing on:

Completeness (required fields populated)
Consistency (standardized values)
Accuracy (correct and current data)
Timeliness (recent updates)

What Claude Does vs What You Decide

| Claude Does | You Decide | |-------------|------------| | Defines audit criteria | Which fields are required | | Identifies data issues | Priority of fixes | | Categorizes problems by type | Who owns cleanup tasks | | Suggests remediation steps | Automation vs manual fix | | Creates cleanup reports | Enforcement policies |

What This Skill Does

Audit design - Define required fields and validation rules
Issue identification - Find missing, inconsistent, duplicate data
Prioritization - Rank issues by business impact
Remediation planning - Action steps to fix issues
Governance recommendations - Prevent future issues

How to Use

For Audit Design:

Help me create a CRM hygiene audit for [CRM System].

Key objects to audit:
- [Leads, Contacts, Accounts, Opportunities]

Critical fields for each:
- Leads: [list required fields]
- Opportunities: [list required fields]

Our main issues:
- [Describe known problems]

For Data Audit:

Audit this opportunity data for hygiene issues:

[Paste export or describe data]

Required fields:
- [List fields that must be populated]

Validation rules:
- [List rules like "Stage must match Amount > $0"]

Instructions

Step 1: Define Audit Scope

Object Priority (typical):

Opportunities - Revenue impact
Accounts - Relationship foundation
Contacts - Communication accuracy
Leads - Pipeline source

Field Categories:

Critical - Blocks processes if missing
Important - Affects reporting/segmentation
Nice-to-Have - Enriches but not required

Step 2: Completeness Audit

Check required fields by object:

Opportunities: | Field | Criticality | Why Required | |-------|-------------|--------------| | Amount | Critical | Forecast, pipeline value | | Close Date | Critical | Forecast timing | | Stage | Critical | Pipeline reporting | | Owner | Critical | Accountability | | Account | Critical | Company linkage | | Primary Contact | Important | Communication | | Next Step | Important | Deal momentum | | Competitor | Important | Win/loss analysis | | Loss Reason | Critical (if lost) | Improvement insights |

Accounts: | Field | Criticality | Why Required | |-------|-------------|--------------| | Industry | Important | Segmentation | | Employee Count | Important | ICP fit | | Website | Important | Research, enrichment | | Billing Address | Critical | Invoicing | | Account Owner | Critical | Accountability |

Step 3: Consistency Audit

Check for standardization issues:

| Issue Type | Example | Impact | |------------|---------|--------| | Picklist variations | "US" vs "USA" vs "United States" | Reporting breaks | | Case inconsistency | "ACME" vs "Acme" vs "acme" | Duplicates | | Format variations | "(555) 123-4567" vs "5551234567" | Automation fails | | Null vs blank | NULL vs "" vs "N/A" | Filters don't work |

Step 4: Accuracy Audit

Identify likely incorrect data:

| Check | Criteria | Action | |-------|----------|--------| | Stale close dates | Past date, still open | Update or close | | Amount mismatches | $0 in late stage | Verify pricing | | Stage regression | Stage 4 → Stage 2 | Investigate | | Impossible values | 200% probability | Fix validation | | Bounced emails | Marked invalid | Remove or update |

Step 5: Duplicate Detection

Find potential duplicates:

| Match Type | Criteria | Confidence | |------------|----------|------------| | Exact email | Same email address | 99% duplicate | | Domain match | Same company domain | 80% duplicate | | Fuzzy name | Similar company name | Investigate | | Phone match | Same phone number | 90% duplicate |

Step 6: Timeliness Audit

Flag stale records:

| Object | Staleness Threshold | Action | |--------|---------------------|--------| | Open Opportunity | No activity 30 days | Review with rep | | Lead | No touch 14 days | Reassign or nurture | | Account | No contact 90 days | Re-engagement | | Contact | Bounced + 30 days | Archive |

Examples

Example 1: Opportunity Audit

Input:

Audit these opportunities:

1. Acme Corp - Stage: Proposal, Amount: $0, Close: Jan 15 (past), Owner: Empty
2. Beta Inc - Stage: Closed Won, Amount: $50K, Close: Feb 1, Loss Reason: "Price"
3. Gamma LLC - Stage: Discovery, Amount: $100K, Close: Mar 30, No activity 45 days
4. Delta Co - Stage: Negotiation, Amount: $75K, Close: Feb 28, Next Step: Empty
5. Echo Systems - Stage: Closed Lost, Amount: $200K, Loss Reason: Empty

Output:

## CRM Hygiene Audit: Opportunities

### Summary
- **Total Records**: 5
- **Critical Issues**: 4
- **Warnings**: 2
- **Clean Records**: 0

### Critical Issues (Fix Immediately)

#### 1. Acme Corp - 3 Critical Issues
| Issue | Field | Current | Required |
|-------|-------|---------|----------|
| 🔴 Missing | Owner | Empty | Assigned rep |
| 🔴 Missing | Amount | $0 | Deal value |
| 🔴 Stale | Close Date | Jan 15 (past) | Future date |

**Action**: Assign owner, verify if deal is active, update amount and close date.

#### 2. Beta Inc - Logic Error
| Issue | Field | Current | Problem |
|-------|-------|---------|---------|
| 🔴 Inconsistent | Loss Reason | "Price" | Stage is "Closed Won" |

**Action**: Either change stage to Closed Lost, or clear Loss Reason.

#### 3. Echo Systems - Missing Required
| Issue | Field | Current | Required |
|-------|-------|---------|----------|
| 🔴 Missing | Loss Reason | Empty | Required for Closed Lost |

**Action**: Rep must document why deal was lost.

#### 4. Delta Co - Missing Next Step
| Issue | Field | Current | Impact |
|-------|-------|---------|--------|
| 🟠 Missing | Next Step | Empty | No clear action |

**Action**: Rep should define next step for Negotiation stage.

### Warnings (Review This Week)

#### 5. Gamma LLC - Stale Deal
| Issue | Indicator | Value |
|-------|-----------|-------|
| 🟡 Stale | Last Activity | 45 days ago |

**Action**: Review with rep - is this deal still active? If yes, update. If no, close lost.

### Hygiene Score: 20/100 (Poor)

### Recommended Actions by Priority

1. **Today**: Fix Acme Corp (no owner = orphaned deal)
2. **Today**: Fix Beta Inc logic error (affects win rate)
3. **This Week**: Get Echo Systems loss reason
4. **This Week**: Update Gamma LLC status
5. **This Week**: Add Delta Co next step

### Process Recommendations
- Add validation rule: Amount required when Stage > Discovery
- Add validation rule: Owner required on all opportunities
- Add validation rule: Loss Reason required when Closed Lost
- Create stale deal report (no activity 30+ days)

Example 2: Duplicate Detection