Create the custom fields you need now, for better data filtering later

As a CRM Coach, if I’m talking to a customer and they’re having trouble coming up with custom fields to create, I like to reframe the conversation by saying “What information would you like to see in a report?” I say that because it’s easy to forget that filters in a CRM are only as helpful as the data you’ve entered.

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So if you want to make your CRM as useful as possible down the road, create the custom fields you need today.

To help you get started, here are some custom field ideas that are very handy for filtering:

1. 🔍A field to record how a contact found you: Having a “source” field is a great way to help your future self. If you create a source field and fill it out now, you’ll have a treasure trove of data later on. You'll learn if, for example, your social media presence has been a great source of leads or whether you get the most new customers through referrals.
2. 💰Record monetary values: Depending on your business, you may be recording a total sale value, a commission amount, or the projected value of a particular lead. Use our special “currency” field type for this custom field. By collecting this data right away in your CRM, over time you'll get a sense of the most lucrative aspects of your business.
3. 💼Industry: Many customers like to track the industry their leads and clients work in. If you are someone who works with a variety of industries, keeping track of this will make it easier to get a list of everyone in one particular industry. Then in the future, you can either use our integration with MailChimp or export a list of everyone in a particular industry to send tailored communication.
4. 🎁Service/Product Interest: Create a checkbox field to list all of the services and products you offer. Then, record when a lead or customer expresses interest. That way, you can easily follow up with everyone interested in a particular product or service at a later date.
5. 📅Last Purchase Date: Keeping track of the last date of purchase in the CRM makes it easy to later filter your contact list by this date. Find a list of people who haven’t purchased anything from you in the last 6 months and follow up with them!

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To make these fields even more useful, consider adding them to a form you send out to leads and/or customers. That way, you won’t have to actually manually enter the data yourself but you’ll still reap the benefits of being able to filter by these fields later on.