The Hidden GTM Cost of Bad Data

“Just pull a list from the CRM.”

Famous last words.

Because what you think is a lead database is often a junk drawer—full of outdated contacts, incomplete records, and recycled accounts that haven’t been touched in years.

And while it might not feel urgent, dirty data quietly kills your go-to-market (GTM) strategy. It wastes rep time. Corrupts your reporting. Skews your forecasts. And worst of all—it destroys trust in your sales system.

At KORE Strategies, we help teams not just clean data, but build a system where it stays clean. Because bad data isn’t just a CRM issue—it’s a revenue issue.

How Bad Data Undermines Your Sales Engine

Every bad record, duplicate account, or mislabeled lead compounds over time. Here’s what that really costs you:

• Reps waste hours chasing dead leads
• Ops teams can’t build reliable forecasts
• Marketing misfires campaigns due to poor segmentation
• New hires ramp slower because they don’t trust what they see
• Leadership makes decisions based on incomplete (or wrong) data

The result? Low pipeline conversion, missed targets, and leadership fire drills. All because the foundation is cracked.

What “Good Data” Looks Like

Clean data isn’t about perfection. It’s about usability. Your team needs:

• Accurate contact info for key personas
• Complete account profiles (industry, headcount, territory, etc.)
• Current funnel status with next steps clearly documented
• Consistent naming conventions, picklist usage, and ownership
• Connected data between sales, marketing, and CS platforms

If any of those are missing, you’re operating in the dark.

The KORE GTM Data Clean-Up Framework

Here’s how we turn chaos into clarity:

1. Audit the Current State
   We start by running a data health diagnostic across your CRM, marketing tools, and outbound platforms:

• • % of records missing emails, phone numbers, or titles
  • Duplicate contact or account entries
  • Inactive records still labeled as MQLs or SQLs
  • Outdated lead sources or funnel statuses
  • Junk custom fields that no one uses (but confuse everyone)

We score your database health and prioritize the fixes.

2. Define What “Good” Looks Like
   Data needs governance. We align on:

• • Required fields per stage (lead, MQL, SQL, opportunity)
  • Owner rules (by territory, vertical, or round-robin)
  • Validation triggers (i.e. a deal can’t move to Proposal without budget confirmed)
  • Field naming standards across tools

Then we document it all in a GTM Data Dictionary that lives inside your RevOps stack.

3. Enrich and De-Dupe
   We use tools like Apollo, Clay, Clearbit, and ZoomInfo to enrich records and de-dupe intelligently.

But here’s the key: we enrich based on your ICP, not just volume. No fluff. Just usable contacts that match your ideal customer profile.

4. Enable with Automation
   We implement processes to keep data clean going forward:

• • Auto-routing and field updates via tools like HubSpot Workflows or Salesforce Flows
  • Alerting reps to missing data before advancing a deal
  • Syncing outreach tools to CRM in real time (no double entry)

Now your system stays accurate without requiring heroic manual cleanup.

5. Train Teams to Use and Trust the Data
   We lead RevOps and sales enablement sessions so reps, SDRs, and managers know:

• • How to log, update, and manage records properly
  • Why data hygiene affects their quota (not just admin KPIs)
  • What good recordkeeping looks like in your CRM

This drives adoption—and protects the investment.

Real Impact: What Clean Data Actually Delivers

A B2B medtech company we worked with had 11,000 leads in their CRM—only 13% were usable. We cleaned, enriched, and segmented their ICP contacts. Result?

• Sales productivity per rep increased 2.7x
• Marketing CAC dropped by 34%
• Forecast accuracy jumped from 62% to 89%
• New reps ramped in 30% less time due to higher confidence in pipeline quality

Clean data doesn’t just feel good. It makes money.

Signs You’re Suffering from Dirty Data

• Reps say “I couldn’t find the right contact” more than once a week
• Marketing blames sales (and vice versa) over lead quality
• You’re still manually assigning or routing leads
• Your CRM feels more like a graveyard than a sales engine
• You’ve “reset” your funnel or rebuilt your reports more than once this year

Final Thought: Clean Data ≠ Admin Work. It’s GTM Infrastructure.

Bad data doesn’t just slow you down—it breaks the system.

At KORE Strategies, we treat your data layer like your revenue layer. Clean, usable, trusted—and driving growth.

If your team is struggling with CRM clutter, contact decay, or GTM alignment, let’s clean it up for good.

Contact me to request a GTM Data Health Audit.