Sales teams live and die by their data. But let's be honest: most B2B data is a mess, and just dumping it into a tool doesn't magically make it useful. If you're using Mantiks to wrangle your leads, accounts, or deal info, you need a solid plan. This guide is for people who want to cut through the noise, skip the busywork, and actually get value from their sales data. You’ll find clear steps, pitfalls to avoid, and no fluff.
1. Know What You're Importing (and Why)
Before you even touch a spreadsheet, get clear on your goals. Mantiks can handle a lot, but drowning it in junk won’t help anyone.
Ask yourself: - What do we actually use? (Accounts, contacts, deals, activities, custom fields?) - Where is the data coming from? (CRM, spreadsheets, LinkedIn exports, scraped lists, etc.) - Who needs to see or update this data? (If it’s just for the sales team, don’t import marketing’s wish list.)
Honest take:
Don’t try to “future-proof” by importing everything “just in case.” You’ll only end up cleaning it later (or ignoring it forever).
2. Clean Your Data Before Importing
If you skip this step, you’ll regret it. Mantiks is great, but it can’t fix garbage-in, garbage-out.
What to do: - Deduplicate: Get rid of exact and “fuzzy” duplicates. (Same company, different spellings? Merge.) - Standardize fields: Make sure columns like “Phone” or “Industry” use the same formats throughout. - Fill gaps: If you’re missing key info (like emails for contacts), either find it or accept you’ll have holes later. - Remove dead weight: Old contacts who left the company? Toss them. Outdated notes? Archive or delete.
Pro tip:
Most spreadsheet tools have “Remove duplicates” and basic find/replace. Use them. Don’t wait until after import.
3. Map Your Fields Carefully
Mantiks will ask you to map your spreadsheet columns to its database fields. This is where things usually go wrong.
Best practices: - Match exactly: “Company Name” in your sheet should go to “Account Name” in Mantiks, not “Notes” or some other field. - Custom fields: If you use custom fields (like “Territory” or “Tech Stack”), set them up in Mantiks before importing. - Date formats: Watch out for U.S. vs. international date styles. 03/05/2024 — is that March or May? Decide and fix before importing.
What to ignore:
Don’t bother mapping fields you’ll never use. “Fax Number” and “Pager” still show up in some old exports. Let them die.
4. Import in Batches, Not All at Once
Trying to drop 50,000 records in one go is asking for trouble. Mantiks can handle big imports, but if something breaks, you’ll have a nightmare tracking it down.
How to play it safe: - Start small: Do a batch of 100–500 records first. Check that everything looks right in Mantiks. - Validate: Spot-check for weirdness — missing fields, weird characters, misaligned columns. - Iterate: Once you’ve nailed the process, scale up.
If something goes wrong:
Don’t panic. Mantiks usually tells you why an import failed. Read the error message. Fix the file. Try again.
5. Set Up Data Organization from Day One
Don’t wait until you have thousands of records to think about how you’ll organize them. Mantiks gives you tools — use them early.
Tactics that work: - Tags or labels: Use tags for things like lead source, priority, or vertical. Keep the list tight — “SaaS” is useful, “John’s Q4 Prospects” isn’t. - Ownership: Assign records to reps or teams as part of the import (if possible). Don’t let everything default to “Unassigned.” - Custom views: Set up saved searches or filters for common workflows (e.g., “My Active Deals,” “Stale Accounts,” etc.)
Don’t bother:
Creating dozens of tags or overthinking folder structures. Simple, broad categories win out every time.
6. Automate What You Can (But Don’t Overdo It)
Mantiks can hook into APIs or take regular CSV imports. Automation is great — until it breaks, or until you’re auto-importing garbage.
Best uses: - CRM sync: If you trust your CRM data, set up auto-syncs. If not, stick to manual review. - Scheduled imports: For things like marketing leads, schedule weekly imports and reviews.
Be wary of: - Blind imports: Always review automated data before it goes live. Automation just makes mistakes happen faster. - APIs you don’t control: If your data source changes its format, your import will break. Keep an eye on things.
7. Make Data Quality Everyone’s Job
Sales teams love to blame “bad data,” but usually nobody owns fixing it. Set the expectation that everyone helps keep Mantiks clean.
How to keep things tidy: - Set a process: Decide who updates records, merges duplicates, and deletes junk. - Regular reviews: Block 30 minutes each month for a data cleanup sprint. It pays off. - Keep it simple: Don’t make reps fill out 20 fields for every new contact. More fields = more errors.
Real talk:
No tool, not even Mantiks, will fix data hygiene on its own. It’s a habit, not a feature.
8. Don’t Fall for the “Single Source of Truth” Trap
Everyone talks about having a “single source of truth.” It’s a nice idea, but reality is messy. Mantiks can be your sales team’s main hub, but don’t expect it to solve every data problem across your org.
What works: - Use Mantiks as your go-to for sales data. - Keep other source systems (CRM, marketing tools) in sync as much as possible. - Accept that some info will be out of date or missing — and build processes to catch and fix that.
What to ignore:
Anyone who says, “Just import everything once and you’re set.” Data gets old fast. Ongoing care matters more than a one-time cleanup.
9. Train (and Retrain) Your Team
Tools are only as good as the people using them. Even if Mantiks is easy, don’t assume everyone’s on the same page.
Practical steps: - Walk through an import together: One live demo beats a dozen PDFs. - Document the basics: Write down your field mappings, tags, and naming conventions. Keep it simple. - Check in: Ask for feedback after a month. What’s confusing? What’s working?
Don’t make training a one-time thing. As your process evolves, update your docs and retrain as needed.
Wrapping Up: Keep It Simple, Iterate Often
Importing and organizing B2B data in Mantiks isn’t rocket science, but it does take intention. Start with clean, relevant data. Map it carefully. Set up lightweight organization. Automate with care. And above all, don’t wait for perfection — get something working, then keep making it better. The simplest systems tend to last the longest, so resist the urge to overcomplicate things out of the gate.
Now, go take a good, honest look at your data — and give your sales team a fighting chance.