CRM data that matters

Who this is for

Founder led lower-middle market companies with 5 to 50 million in annual revenue that want a clean pipeline and useful dashboards.

The quick answer

Track account, contact, stage, next step with a date, amount, source, and expected close date. Add a short reason for win or loss. Review stage conversion and deal age by segment each month. Clear idle deals so the pipeline reflects reality. Use dashboards that leaders and reps open every week.

The method in six steps

Define the minimum fields
Keep only fields you use in decisions. Make next step with a date mandatory at every stage.
Write stage definitions
For each stage define the exit criteria and the expected documents such as a mutual action plan in late stages.
Run weekly hygiene
Owners update next steps. Managers clear stale deals. Sales operations audits a small sample for accuracy.
Build two dashboards
A rep view with pipeline by stage and next steps. A leadership view with stage conversion, deal age, and forecast versus plan.
Capture outcomes
Closed won and closed lost reasons with three to five standard choices and one free text field.
Review monthly
Look at conversion by segment and by source. Fix the stages that drag with training or changes in the process.

Example

After cutting unused fields and enforcing next steps with dates, a firm improved forecast accuracy and freed time that had been going to data entry.

Pitfalls and fixes

Too many required fields. Data quality drops. Keep it lean.
Vague stages. Write exit criteria and inspect them.
Dashboards nobody uses. Build views for reps and for leaders, not a single page for all.

Checklist

Minimum field list
Stage exit criteria written
Weekly hygiene rhythm
Two dashboards live
Closed won and lost reasons set