CRM data entry best practices for private capital

A customer relationship management (CRM) system helps firms manage their contact and deal data. Even in industries without traditional “customers,” like private capital, a CRM is a critical tool for keeping track of contact data, managing portfolio companies and investors, and staying on top of deal pipelines. 

But a CRM is only as good as the quality of the data in it, with accurate data entry serving as an essential part of maintaining a well-functioning CRM.

In this article, we’ll explore what CRM data entry is, strategies for improving the data quality of your CRM, and CRM data entry automation tools to help you find and close more high-quality deals.

Key takeaways

• CRM data entry is the process of inputting data into your firm’s CRM platform.
• Dealmakers rely on accurate CRM data entry to make informed, data-driven decisions.
• The Affinity CRM automates data entry to improve accuracy and turn firm data into actionable insights that drive deals forward.

What is CRM data entry?

CRM data entry involves inputting various details—like contact information, founder or investor preferences, deal size, and engagement history—into your CRM platform to create a holistic view of your contacts and their interactions with your firm.

With modern CRMs acting as more than just digital Rolodexes, data entry has quickly expanded to include other key data points, including emails, notes from phone calls and meetings, and deal metrics. Multiplied by dozens if not hundreds of prospects, LPs, partners, and portfolio companies, data entry has become more tedious and time-consuming than ever. 

As deals become increasingly data-driven, your CRM can be a valuable source of insights for dealmakers, but only if the data is accurate and accessible. 

The importance of accurate data entry

Clean data is essential to understanding relationships in your network and the opportunities in your deal pipeline. It enables dealmakers to make informed, data-driven decisions, tailor their strategies effectively, and conduct personalized outreach, leading to better deals and firm success. That starts with accurate data entry, which also shouldn’t be a full-time job.

Private capital firms face complex, non-linear deal pipelines. With longer deal cycles and large teams, it’s important that everyone has reliable, up-to-date information. 

There’s often an assumption that any data is valuable. But in reality, inaccurate data entry can lead to worse outcomes. Dealmakers need access to the right information when they need it. Outdated or incorrect data can lead to suboptimal decisions that put deals in jeopardy.

Beyond individual deals, quality issues can also create long-term reputational risks. It’s easy to duplicate outreach efforts or create miscommunications when dealing with siloed or fragmented data. Mistakes happen, but frequent crossed wires and disconnects can make your firm look disorganized and unreliable.

Turning CRM data into insights

Your CRM can—and should—provide more than just basic contact data and deal information. When your data is complete, you can use it to uncover key insights into the relationships, behaviors, and strategies that drive successful deals. 

In private capital, your firm’s collective network is your competitive advantage. By analyzing this data, you can uncover crucial insights that help you nurture your most important relationships and identify new opportunities. Put simply, your CRM data is the key to the relationship intelligence insights that help you find and close the best deals.

For example, by analyzing the insights that are typically hidden in your team’s inboxes and calendars, you can identify the strongest connections to founders, investors, and other key decision-makers, uncovering overlooked opportunities and warm paths of introduction.

Common obstacles with data entry

Although your CRM contains a wealth of data,  several factors can prevent you from realizing its full potential, leading to wasted time, missed opportunities, and even reputational damage.

Common challenges include:

• Inaccurate or incomplete data: Incorrect or missing CRM data is often tied to human error or manual data entry. For example, typos, misread information, and forgotten updates can lead to gaps in your CRM data.
• Inconsistencies:  Conflicting methods or poor standardization can lead to missing information and unreliable data. For example, different team members may use different formats to input data, such as dates or contact information, which can prevent data from being effectively analyzed.
• Duplicate entries: Identical data entries can happen when multiple team members input the same information into their CRM system without proper coordination, which creates CRM clutter and inefficiencies.
• Data decay: CRM data can suffer from data decay when information becomes outdated or irrelevant, reducing its reliability and usability. For example, old contact information or incorrect roles can prevent effective outreach.

How to maintain accurate CRM data

Prioritizing data maintenance is critical for making the most of your CRM data entry efforts. Here are some actionable tips and best practices for improving accuracy and maintaining high-quality data.

Standardized data entry

Establishing standardized procedures and clear guidelines for entering data can help reduce inconsistencies, even in situations where data needs to be entered manually. For example, having consistent formats and mandatory fields can help data get inputted correctly, reducing errors and the need for cleanup 

Comprehensive training and accountability

Even if standards and safeguards are put in place, team members should be accountable for accurate data entry. Thorough training sessions can help educate teams on how to input CRM data correctly and the importance of accurate data entry.

Setting expectations and showing your team how data entry can impact their role and success is critical for boosting CRM adoption and data accuracy. 

Use a deduplication tool

Deduplication is the process of identifying and merging duplicate contacts, companies, and deals, preventing fragmented information and crossed wires. 

There are many CRM features or third-party apps that can help speed up the deduplication process. For example, the Affinity CRM uses 40+ data sources to intelligently identify duplicate records and functionality to quickly merge records at scale.

Regular data audits

Even the best data needs to be reviewed from time to time. Data audits should include deduplication, cleanup of incorrect fields, and updates to outdated data. Implementing routine audits can minimize errors, identify causes of inaccuracies, and maintain the integrity of your CRM data.

While it can feel like a resource-heavy endeavor, regular data audits can improve dealmaker efficiency and prevent larger issues down the line.

Use permission controls

While data access is important, too much access can lead to data breaches and errors. Setting user permissions can help get data in the right hands while limiting access to creating, editing, or deleting certain data fields to protect data integrity.

Automate data capture

It’s not enough to rely on manual data entry methods—private capital firms need tools that automate CRM data entry to succeed. Not only is manual data entry inefficient, it’s prone to errors. 

By automatically syncing your calendar and email data with your CRM, you can minimize the risk of inaccurate data entry and keep records updated in real time. It guarantees that no changes or updates are missed, saving time and boosting deal visibility. 

CRM platforms, like Affinity, use automated activity capture to seamlessly update records, eliminating hours of manual entry. Where insights aren’t available internally, CRM records are automatically enriched with data from Affinity and over 40 trusted sources, including Pitchbook, Dealroom, and Crunchbase, so dealmakers can access all deal-relevant insights right within your CRM.

The advantages of using a CRM platform

The right CRM platform does more than store your data—it integrates data into your deal workflows and turns them into actionable insights, so you can save time and accelerate deal velocity. The advantages of using a CRM platform include:

• Centralized data management: Keep and easily access all deal-relevant information in one place.
• Stronger relationship tracking: Interaction and engagement data help you stay on top of every interaction and monitor the strength of every relationship.
• Improved collaboration: Get full visibility into interactions with key stakeholders so teams can work together seamlessly to move deals forward.
• Increased efficiency and automation: Streamline deal workflows by automating tedious and repetitive tasks, like data entry.
• Better pipeline visibility: Move deals through the pipeline seamlessly,
• Data-driven decision making: Increase access to accurate, real-time data to drive faster and more informed deal decisions.
• Greater data accuracy: Reduce errors and inconsistencies with features that support data validation and maintenance.
• Enhanced context: A full picture of your firm’s collective network and engagement history helps manage the relationships that matter and identify the best time to follow up.
• Stronger compliance and security: The best CRM platforms offer enterprise-grade security features to protect your proprietary data and that of key stakeholders.
• Scalability: Successfully manage large volumes of data across more team members as your firm grows.

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Certain CRM software, especially those with automation features, can streamline the CRM data entry process to reduce errors and inconsistencies, ultimately improving the quality of your data. 

The importance of CRM automation tools

With a growing volume of data, private capital firms can no longer rely on manual data entry and data management efforts if they want to stay efficient. Automation tools play a critical role in boosting the effectiveness of your CRM data. 

Automating repetitive data-entry processes can keep your CRM up-to-date with complete and reliable information, while reducing human error and saving time. It not only helps dealmakers make data-driven decisions but also helps your team unlock the full power of your firm’s collective network.

Affinity is a leading CRM that enables private capital firms to scale and streamline dealmaking with relationship intelligence and purpose-built workflows. By combining automated data capture, enriched insights from 40+ premium sources, and intuitive capabilities, it helps firms execute and optimize investment decisions with confidence.

 By using a CRM with automation capabilities like Affinity, firms can:

• Create a complete record of every communication activity with automated activity capture. 
• Understand the strength of every relationship in your network and find paths to warm introductions and uncover new opportunities with relationship intelligence.
• Make faster, more informed deal decisions with CRM data enrichment and integration.
• Accelerate deal velocity and drive better outcomes with Automation Builder to create customizable rules that autofill predictable deal data and reduce tedious, repetitive tasks.

See how Affinity can make relationship and CRM data your competitive advantage. Request a demo today.

CRM data entry FAQs

What does a CRM do?

A CRM, or customer relationship management system, helps firms manage their interactions and relationships. Unlike an Excel spreadsheet, a CRM dynamically manages and organizes records so dealmakers can focus on nurturing relationships. 

Even in private capital firms, where dealmakers don’t have traditional customer interactions or customer data, CRM software helps keep track of contact information and streamlines the deals process, so teams can find and close more deals.

What is CRM data entry?

CRM data entry is the process of inputting deal-related data (including contact, demographic, LinkedIn or other social media accounts, and deal information) into a CRM, either manually or via automation tools. The goal is to create a centralized record of interactions, deals, and network insights that teams can use to make better deal decisions. 

What does CRM data do?

CRM data helps dealmakers understand the relationships in their collective networks to uncover new deals and identify opportunities for deal efficiency. By having access to clean, up-to-date CRM data, dealmakers can accelerate dealmaking and improve decision-making. 

How do I enter data into a CRM?

To enter data into a CRM system, it's important to follow clear and standardized procedures. For example, use a consistent format for entering phone numbers to ensure consistency and accuracy. This approach to data input helps maintain uniformity and improves the overall data quality in your CRM. 

This is also where you can use CRM automation tools like Affinity to automatically capture data from your email, calendar, and browser and surface key insights directly into your CRM.