Open almost any five-year-old lead sheet and you will find the same mobile number saved as 98xxxxxxxx, +91 98xxxxxxxx and 098xxxxxxxx, the city typed as Delhi, New Delhi and ND, and a column called "Remarks 2" that only one person ever understood. CRM data migration is mostly about dealing with this carefully, before it reaches your new system.
Common CRM data migration problems and how we handle them
| What we find | What we do |
|---|---|
| One customer spread across several sheets | Match on mobile number and email, then merge only after you approve the matching rules |
| Free-text status like "intrested call later" | Map it to a proper stage and keep the original remark in the notes |
| Leads with no owner because staff left | Assign them to a manager or a common pool, as you decide |
| Old CRM with its own custom fields | Map fields one by one and run a sample import for your team to check |
| Ten-year-old enquiries that never replied | Archive them separately so they do not clutter daily lists |
What to collect before we start
- Every sheet anyone uses, including the ones on personal laptops. Ask the team directly. There are always more than the owner knows about.
- A full export from your old software, with history and notes, not just names and numbers.
- Your current staff list and roles, so each lead lands with the right person.
- A cut-off decision on how far back to go. Not every old record deserves a place in the new CRM.
Standard imports from Excel or an old CRM are included in every dial4crm project. Very large or unusual sources, such as scanned registers, are discussed separately during the discovery call.
How switchover day works
We agree on a cut-off date. Until then your team works in the old sheets as usual. On that date the final data is imported and checked, and the old files are kept untouched as a backup. From the next morning, new entries go only into the CRM.
Running both systems side by side for weeks sounds safe. In practice it creates two half-updated lists and arguments about which one is right. A clean switch with a short check is better. Pick a quiet day for it, such as the start of a week rather than the middle of a sale or admission season.
After the import, we ask two or three of your people to search for customers they know well and check the history. If they trust what they see, the rest of the team follows.
Mistakes to avoid
- Importing everything "just in case". Junk data makes good data harder to find.
- Letting staff keep a private sheet after go-live.
- Skipping the sample check because the deadline is close.
Once data is in, the next job is getting people to trust it, which is where training and support come in. If you are moving off another system, send us a sample export and we will tell you what can come across.