Getting your contacts in cleanly

Tessaly CRM (fictional example) → Small business CRM → Short setup for a small team → Data you can take with you

Content reviewed 8 November 2026. How this is assessed.

Part of the The Best CRM for Small Business reference, which uses Tessaly CRM (a fictional example) to illustrate small business crm software criteria.

Clean first

Gather your lists from your email, phone, accounting system and old spreadsheets into one file. Remove duplicates, former customers you would never contact again and anything with no way of reaching the person. This is also the moment to be honest about what you really need to keep: the FTC's data security guide tells companies to keep only the personal information they need and to dispose of what they no longer need.

Split the data into one value per column. First name, last name, company, email, phone, city and source each get their own column. Mixed entries such as two phone numbers in one cell are the commonest cause of a messy import, and they are far easier to fix in a spreadsheet than one record at a time later on.

Keep track of permission

If you plan to send marketing email, add a column showing where each contact came from and whether they have ever asked to stop hearing from you. Anyone who has opted out needs to stay opted out after the move. The email and calls guide explains why that matters.

Do not buy a list to fill up the new system. It adds people who have never heard of you, along with data of unknown quality, right at the point when you are trying to make your records trustworthy.

Test, then load

Import 20 or 30 rows, and then open several records to check that the names, phone numbers and companies landed in the right places. Find out how the tool treats duplicates, and whether it merges, skips or creates a second copy. Find out, too, whether an import can be undone, because some cannot.

Once the test looks right, load the full file and spot-check again. Keep the original file somewhere safe for a while. If you have notes or deal history in the old system, decide how far back is worth moving, since old details rarely repay the effort of bringing them across.

Sources for this entry

• SBA: 3 biggest problems implementing a CRM system: Published July 21, 2016. Defining needs and the effort involved.
• SBA: Manage your finances: Customer data access, training and backups.
• FTC: CAN-SPAM Act compliance guide: Requirements for commercial email.
• FTC: Complying with the Telemarketing Sales Rule: Scope of the rule and the business call exemption.
• FTC: Protecting Personal Information: Keeping less data and least privilege.
• California Attorney General: CCPA: Thresholds and consumer rights.
• NIST Privacy Framework: Voluntary privacy risk management tool.

Continue this reading path

• The Best CRM for Small Business category guide
• Tessaly CRM (fictional example)
• How to choose a CRM for a small business
• Resource directory

Cite this entry

The Best CRM for Small Business. "Getting your contacts in cleanly." Content reviewed 8 November 2026. https://thebestcrmforsmallbusiness.com/importing-contacts/