
As the year winds down, many sales and marketing teams face a common challenge: their CRM, meant to simplify work, has become a source of frustration. Messy data, unused fields, and clunky processes often lurk beneath the surface, quietly slowing things down.
But the end of the year is the perfect time to uncover and fix these hidden issues. By tackling them now, you’ll set your team up for a smoother, more productive 2025.
Here are five CRM and data challenges we see time and time again—and how to fix them.
1. No One’s Logging Activity Because It’s Too Hard
If your CRM isn’t capturing what’s happening on the ground, it’s hard to get a clear picture of progress—or what’s holding your team back.
The problem: Logging client activity (like calls, meetings, or follow-ups) feels tedious, especially if the CRM makes it clunky or time-consuming.
What to do: Make activity logging easy by:
Reducing unnecessary clicks or steps.
Reviewing automations to ensure activity tracking is seamless.
Offering quick training or refreshers to remind your team why logging matters—and how it helps them.
💡 Quick Fix: Build templates or shortcuts (like one-click meeting logs) to make tracking activity part of the workflow—not an afterthought.
2. Those Fields You Added Last Year? Are They Helping or Hurting?
Remember that custom field you added to track a specific project or campaign last year? Is anyone actually using it—or is it just adding clutter?
The problem: Fields and processes designed for short-term needs often outlive their purpose, creating unnecessary complexity over time.
What to do: Audit your CRM fields by asking:
Are they being used? Check if those fields show meaningful data or are just sitting empty.
Are they actionable? If no one’s using the information to make decisions, it’s probably time to remove it.
💡 Quick Fix: Archive unused fields or workflows and streamline the system to focus on what truly supports your business goals.
3. Reports That Create More Questions Than Answers
If your team doesn’t trust the CRM’s reports—or doesn’t know how to use them—they’re missing critical insights.
The problem: Dashboards and reports that are overly complex or poorly aligned with business goals make it harder to identify trends or act on opportunities.
What to do: Simplify and refocus your reporting by:
Aligning metrics with outcomes (e.g., tracking engagement and retention, not just data volume).
Testing dashboards with your team to ensure they provide clarity, not confusion.
💡 Quick Fix: Replace reports no one uses with one or two dashboards that give clear, actionable insights at a glance.
4. Your Data Is Too Messy to Trust
Outdated contact details, inconsistent formatting, and duplicate records can wreak havoc on your CRM.
The problem: Dirty data makes it harder to trust reports, target the right contacts, or even plan your next steps.
What to do: Clean up your data by focusing on:
Key Contacts: Update missing or incorrect information for your most important relationships.
Duplicates: Merge or archive redundant records.
Standardisation: Ensure formatting is consistent for names, emails, and phone numbers.
💡 Quick Fix: Set up simple data validation rules to keep your CRM clean moving forward.
5. Processes That Are Slowing Everyone Down
Are your sales and marketing teams spending more time managing the CRM than working with clients?
The problem: Clunky workflows, outdated automations, and unnecessary steps in processes can create bottlenecks.
What to do: Review key workflows (like onboarding new contacts or updating records) and identify pain points, such as:
Automations that trigger too many emails or alerts.
Tasks that require redundant data entry.
Approval processes that delay progress unnecessarily.
💡 Quick Fix: Streamline key workflows to reduce admin time and let your team focus on high-impact activities.
Tackle These Issues Now for a Stronger 2025
If these problems sound familiar, you’re not alone. CRMs and data systems naturally become more complex over time. But by addressing inefficiencies, cleaning up your data, and streamlining processes now, you can give your sales and marketing teams the clarity they need to thrive in 2025.
While many teams slow down over the holiday season, Crinkle Cut Digital is hard at work helping our clients transform their sales and marketing systems for a strong start to 2025. Whether it’s simplifying your CRM, cleaning up your data, or optimising workflows, we deliver the changes that enable your team to hit the ground running in January.
We Can Help You Simplify and Enable Success
At Crinkle Cut Digital, we specialise in helping sales and marketing teams overcome these common CRM and data challenges. Whether it’s simplifying activity logging, cleaning up unused fields, or aligning your processes with your goals, we’re here to make your CRM work harder for your team—not the other way around.
📞 Contact us today to get started.