Introducing batch data management: a clear path to high-quality data

Imagine a world where your sales team has a perfect software solution. What comes to mind? The answer will vary pretty significantly from team to team, even role to role, but there’s one common denominator that should be top of mind for every business– a platform that ensures health and quality of their data.

In today’s post, we’ll introduce batch data management for Zendesk Sell and touch on new updates that will put you in full control of your sales and customer data.

Why we built it

Nearly two years ago, we introduced deduplication for Zendesk Sell to improve data quality for our customers. As a refresher, we implemented three new components to help combat duplicates:

1. Lead/Contact suggestions

   
   When creating new leads or contacts manually from within Sell, we’ll scan for existing records with similar information and suggest these to prevent duplicates.

2. Flexible deduplication with imports

   
   Choose how Sell should handle your conflicting data and whether duplicates should still be added, merged into other records, or ignored.

3. Customizable merge logic

   
   Define what constitutes a duplicate by customizing your own merge logic to tell Sell which fields (i.e. phone number, email address, etc) should be scanned for matches.

Accuracy is everything

We immediately saw a positive impact on the health of our customers’ data through a reduction in duplicates and a boost in the accuracy of reports.

As more and more time passed, this impact grew significantly, demonstrating how important it is to promote clean, healthy data and enable our users with intuitive tools to get there.

It only makes sense that we continue to invest in improving these capabilities. Today, we announce batch data management to take our commitment to data quality one step further.

How it works

This week we released several updates to improve the overall importing experience within Sell. You’ll notice a refurbished look and feel the next time you perform an import, but this one’s just a bonus (enjoy!).

The powerful new import capabilities that deserve your attention will give users a lot more control when it comes to making mass updates to your Leads, Contacts, and Deals that are already in Sell. Let’s talk about how.

A new, powerful unique identifier

For those of you familiar with importing data to Sell, there’s a good chance you’ve tried updating existing Leads or Contacts.

Today we make this safer and easier than ever before. Now, users can import new data to existing records (Leads, Contacts, or Deals) in Sell using a new unique identifier, the Record ID.

How to use Record ID to mass update existing Leads, Contacts, or Deals?

1. Export a list from Sell

   
   Every list you export from Sell will contain a column with the record ID

2. Update the exported data in your preferred editing software

   
   This could be Excel, Google Sheets, or another spreadsheet tool

3. Go back to Sell, select “Update Existing Data”

   
   You’ll find this in your Import Settings

For further instructions, access the new help guide here.

Batch modify existing deals

Another big update to get excited about is the ability to mass update your deals that are already in Zendesk Sell. Head over to your Import Settings to find this new option to Update Deals too. No record type left behind!

The result

These enhancements should instill more trust in your Sell data than ever by ensuring no duplicates slip through the cracks. Leverage batch data management in Sell to build a better foundation for your sales organization and make data quality a priority so you can reap the major benefits discussed below.

Control of your data is priceless

Manually reconciling data is a waste of time, especially with these new capabilities to do the heavy lifting for you. Not to mention, manual reconciliation leaves bigger room for error. With the ability to mass update deals (in addition to leads and contacts) and use a safe unique identifier, it only makes sense for you to spare yourself the time, effort, and worry.

At the end of the day, high-quality data makes a world of difference when it comes to informed decision making. With data points and information you can trust, sales reps will make more educated decisions as well as exude confidence with their talk tracks when it comes time to sell.

Happy selling!

This post originally ran on the Base blog. Please visit www.zendesk.com/sell if you’d like to learn more about Zendesk Sell.