May 20, 2004 at 11:55 am
I am in the process of collecting sales lead information for my business but this information will come in many different formats. I haven't used SQL Server in a couple years now so I'm really trying to locate a turnkey solution.
My business is in the early stages of development but I need a way to capture prospects/leads, look for existing lead matches, appending of information from multiple sources when matches are found and I have to imagine I'm not the first to do this. CRM or sales force automation tools don't seem to have this feature built in. Am I missing something?
Has anyone created an automated system or database that accepts multiple forms of input (XML, CVS etc), identifies duplicates, updates and merges information? Basically, I get leads in many different formats but I need them to be massaged into a list of leads that haven't been contacted in a format that the post office accepts (Name, street, city, zip). I know I could use DTS to set up some scheduled packets then write some scripts to handle matching and merging but I don't have the time to do this right now.
Where is the best place for me to look for this or do any of you have experience in this?
Thanks for the help!
Scott
May 21, 2004 at 4:14 am
I do not have a solution like that but bear in mind the SQL Server has the very best tools for importing multiple source types. Look at the DTS Packages.
Andy.
May 21, 2004 at 7:31 am
Andy,
Yes, I'm familiar with DTS and while that will get data into the database it won't handle dedupe, and merging. Well, I know I can code some logic but it won't do everything I need. Bringing the data into a database won't be much of a problem but I will be obtaining records that I won't know if I've already obtained, some will be incomplete, some will need postal address completion, and some information will need to be appended for a complete picture of the lead.
I'm trying to avoid programming all of this. I have to imagine there is software that absorbs, matches, appends and cleanses data. I've found some that do parts but not all. Well, I have found some sites that claim for $65K they can offer it but I'm not that big of a company and I'm not doing that much volume!
Anyway, thanks for the feedback!!
Scott
May 21, 2004 at 8:24 am
Melissadata's Mailers+4 comes to mind, has build in merge purge capabilities and will accept most formats. Includes USPS CASS/LOT/DPV functionality as well.
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