As we gather to celebrate Thanksgiving, a time for gratitude and sharing, let’s not forget our CRM system and data quality, which can sometimes be left in a state of disarray amidst the festive preparations. Just like a well-prepared Thanksgiving meal requires careful planning and execution, maintaining clean, correct and up-to-date data is crucial for crafting effective marketing and business development strategies.

Here are six strategies to help you manage your CRM data, ensuring your business development efforts are as successful as a Thanksgiving feast:

1. Consistent Data Entry: The perfect Thanksgiving feast takes planning to ensure that the meal is served on time and the turkey isn’t overcooked or undercooked. Similarly, inconsistent CRM data can lead to problems, so establish clear data entry guidelines and implement data validation rules to ensure that your CRM system and data remain well-organized.
2. De-duplicating Records: Tackling duplicate records in your CRM can be as daunting as cooking for a large Thanksgiving meal. Leverage technology and data stewards to detect and merge duplicate records, enhancing data accuracy.
3. Completing Missing Data: There’s nothing worse than realizing you forgot a key ingredient for your Thanksgiving meal and realizing it after all the stores are closed. You also don’t want to find out that you missed connecting with key constituencies because of incomplete or dated data. Implement data capture protocols to ensure all fields are populated and use an automated data quality service to help identify and enhance incomplete records.
4. Data Integration: Just as some of your guests may like to mix the turkey and gravy with the mashed potatoes and stuffing, integrating data from different departments can enhance sucess. Create system integrations and use automation and data stewarding to ensure data is consistent.
5. Investing in Data Quality Resources: Nobody likes lumpy gravy, so we spend a lot of time mixing it to make sure it’s consistent and smooth. It’s also important to invest in resources like data stewards and processes to make sure your data is consistent to facilitate searches and reporting. 
6. Collaborative Data Management: When preparing a large Thanksgiving meal, sometimes it’s good to have more than one cook in the kitchen. Managing data quality issues should not be a solo task either. For a strategic approach, consider partnering with professional service firms that specialize in data quality.

Much like our Turkey Day traditions and celebrations, maintaining your CRM data should be an ongoing affair.