Four Salesforce Fields to Add & Delete

Setting up a new Salesforce database can be a bear! However you choose to configure it, the Salesforce fields will be at the heart of your process. Fields are what every dashboard, report and contact entry will be based on. So here are a few fields you can knock out and add on right away, making Salesforce user-friendly from the get-go.

Clear the Clutter: 4 Fields to Delete

1. Address: This is the quickest field to become outdated. Offices move, but telephone numbers and emails all stay the same. Many entrepreneurs tend to work out of home or shared offices anyways. And unless you’re still sending out physical mailers (even the post office is slowing you down there), when do you actually use a mailing address as part of the sales process? Delete it forthwith.

2. Fax Number: If anyone you’re selling to is still using one of these, you had better make sure to ask for their pager number as well!

3. Created By / Modified By: Which is more important – who changed the record or what they did to it? The “Contact History” link at the top of each record will give you all this information in a single click. So why spend time filling out and scrolling down to the “created by” field? Deleting these fields doesn’t take out the information they provide – it just makes the page look cleaner.

4. Home Phone: Like addresses and fax numbers, home phones (when people still have them) are rarely used for business contacts.

Creating Efficiencies: 4 Fields to Add

1. Value: Salesforce exists to help you manage your contacts. Prioritizing them is also key to making it work. Create a field that ranks the value of the contact and company (say, from 1 to 5) to make your efforts more efficient.

2. Summary: A summary field is a short note about the status of the contact. As your staff grows bigger and busier, the summary field will help to ensure that everyone has access to a quick update about the contact whenever they need it. You can also use this field to track your relationship with someone by clicking on the summary history.

3. Next Contact Date: Anticipating when to next ping a contact helps to hone your to-do list. Creating a “Next Contact Date” field will drive every follow up you need to do.

4. Metro Area: Instead of a bricks and mortar address, use a “Metro Area” field to track where your clients are. This will actually be helpful to you when planning business trips and sales campaigns.

For more tips, check out “9 Simple Tactics to Optimize your CRM.”