If you’re wrestling with messy spreadsheets, duplicate contacts, or just trying to wrangle your sales pipeline, you’re in the right place. This guide’s for folks who want their CRM to actually help them close more deals—not just create busywork. We’ll walk through importing and managing leads in Close, step by step, with an eye on what actually works (and what’s just noise).
1. Prep Your Data Before Importing
Most headaches with CRMs start with bad data. Garbage in, garbage out.
Before you even touch Close, do this:
- Clean your spreadsheet: Remove obvious duplicates, blank rows, and weird formatting. If you’ve got fields like “First Name” and “first_name,” pick one and stick with it.
- Standardize columns: Make sure your headers actually make sense. “Phone Number” is a lot better than “MobNum.”
- Decide what matters: You probably don’t need to import every column. Focus on what your sales team will actually use—think Name, Email, Company, Phone, maybe Source.
- Tag your leads in advance: If you want to track lead sources or segments, add a “Tags” column. Trust me, this is easier now than later.
Pro tip: If you’re merging lists from different places, use a tool like Excel’s “Remove Duplicates” or Google Sheets’ “Unique” function. Don’t just eyeball it.
2. Understand Close’s Lead Structure
Close isn’t like some CRMs that treat every contact as stand-alone. Here, Leads are companies or accounts, and Contacts are the people within those accounts.
- Lead = Account/Company
- Contact = Person at that company
- Opportunities = Potential deals tied to a Lead
If you import a list of people with no company info, you’ll end up with a mess—lots of single-person “Leads.” Always include a company or account name, even if it’s just the person’s name for solopreneurs.
3. Map Your Fields Carefully
When you import into Close, you’ll be asked to map spreadsheet columns to CRM fields.
- Don’t rush this. A misplaced field now is a headache for months.
- Custom fields: If you track stuff like “Industry” or “Annual Revenue,” create custom fields in Close before importing.
- Tags: You can map a column to Close’s “Tags” field for easy segmentation later.
What to Ignore
- Don’t bother importing “notes” columns full of random history. It just clutters things. Start fresh.
- Skip empty or rarely-used fields. Don’t overcomplicate your CRM on day one.
4. Do a Test Import (Seriously)
Even if you’ve imported into other tools before, always test with a handful of records first.
- Import 5-10 leads and check that everything lands where it should—names, emails, company, tags, etc.
- Look for weirdness: Are there duplicate accounts popping up? Are phone numbers in the right place?
- Check for formatting fails: Like “(555) 123-4567” getting mangled, or names in all caps.
If it looks good, then do the full import. If not, tweak your spreadsheet and try again.
5. Import the Full List
Once your test batch looks right, go for the full import.
- Use Close’s CSV importer—it’s the most reliable.
- Avoid special characters in file names and data fields. These can trip up importers.
- Watch for rate limits. If you’re importing a huge list, Close might take a while. Be patient.
After the import, spot-check a few records. Make sure your tags and custom fields came through.
6. Deal With Duplicates Right Away
No CRM is immune to duplicates, but Close has built-in deduplication tools. Still, don’t trust any tool blindly.
- Run Close’s duplicate detection.
- Manually review matches. Sometimes two “Acme Inc.” leads are actually different companies.
- Merge carefully. Don’t just bulk-merge and hope for the best.
Pro tip: Set up a recurring task to check for duplicates every few weeks, especially if your team does manual entry.
7. Set Up Lead Assignment and Segmentation
Having a pile of leads is pointless if no one follows up.
- Assign owners: Use Close’s bulk edit tools to assign leads to reps. Don’t leave everything in a free-for-all.
- Segment with tags and filters: Split leads by source, industry, or priority. Build smart views for each rep or team focus.
- Automate where it helps: Set up workflows or email sequences for new leads, but skip over-engineered automation until you know what actually works for your team.
8. Establish Simple Lead Management Routines
The best CRM is the one people actually use. Overcomplicating things kills adoption.
- Keep your pipeline stages simple. “New,” “Qualified,” “Demo Scheduled,” “Closed”—that’s enough for most teams.
- Regularly update statuses. Don’t let dead leads pile up in “Active.”
- Encourage quick notes. Log calls or emails, but don’t force people to write essays.
What Doesn’t Work
- Over-customizing stages. If you need a flowchart to explain your pipeline, you’ve gone too far.
- Nagging about data entry. If reps hate the CRM, they’ll find ways around it.
9. Train Your Team—But Don’t Overdo It
A 90-minute Zoom training isn’t going to make anyone love your CRM. Focus on the basics:
- How to find and update a lead
- How to log a call or email
- How to use tags and filters
- How to avoid duplicates
Let people ask questions and learn by doing. Encourage power users to share shortcuts.
10. Audit and Iterate
Your process won’t be perfect on day one. That’s fine.
- Review your data every month. Look for old, untouched leads, or pipeline stages that make no sense.
- Ask your team what’s annoying them. Fix obvious pain points.
- Trim the fat. If a custom field or stage isn’t getting used, drop it.
Pro tip: Good lead management is about habits, not hacks. There’s no silver bullet.
Keep it simple. Start with a clean import, basic routines, and fix things as you go. Most CRMs—including Close—get messy when you overthink them. Focus on the few things that actually help your team close deals, and skip the rest. Iterate as you learn, and don’t let perfect get in the way of done.