Keeping a detailed client or lead record in your CRM system allows you to consider the likes and dislikes of your contacts and find the best approach to them. But sometimes, you need to immediately access only the most vital data, to assess your pipeline at a glance and set priorities without the usual data overload.

In the world of sales and great customer support, each minute, or even each second, counts. The sooner you react, the sooner you close the deal; the sooner you respond, the happier your clients are. Delivering the correct and relevant lead data when it’s needed most has always been one of the cornerstones of an effective CRM system. But the CRM vendors can’t foresee all use cases for every industry. And here’s where pipeline customization comes into play.

Here are some examples of what customer and lead data you should have an instant access in a pipeline that would make your job easier.

1. Consider product and deal size

If your company provides multiple products or services, it’s always wise to take into consideration the time you’ll need to prepare a product for shipment, its availability, and other aspects that influence the timely completion of your obligations towards a customer. Using this as a priority meter for the orders will allow you to stay prepared and minimize the wait time for your clients. Plus, seeing the deal size lets you keep in mind how much is at stake and it adds to the satisfaction once the deal is closed.

2. Read notes

If your client record has no Notes field, get one immediately! No matter how great you’re at planning your pipeline, there’ll always be some piece of data that don’t perfectly fit the obligatory field. Notes are where you keep that data. It is your backup plan for the small details that matter the most, letting you add a perfect layer of personalization to your customer communications. You can use Notes as a meeting or call reminders (though, repeating this data in your calendar or setting a follow-up is also advised), logging important parts of your activity or reminding yourself about a special offer you should make next time you speak to that client.

3. Check assignees

You as a project manager or a team lead should be able to get a quick overview of your team’s activity and tasks. Grouping your pipeline by assignees is always an option and most CRM systems allow you to build a report based on that. But when your team workload is one of the most important things to take into consideration (the one that might update very often), you can display this data right in a sales pipeline or a project dashboard. This allows you to correctly spread your most important resource and make sure that your team can perform the best.

It’s not rare for a lead or a client to fit into more than one pipeline or folder. Additionally, a record in your sales/support pipeline may be only a fraction of a client’s bigger profile, stored in a separate client database CRM folder. Staying informed about this and taking into considerations the lead’s previous experience in another process, allows you to provide the same excellent level of customer experience, to avoid past mistakes or to assign a team member who has previously worked with the said client.

5. Set priorities

Sometimes, not all clients are equal. This is true for the companies which have a premium support service, turning the selected clients into the VIPs. The wait time for such client’s messages should be kept to a minimum as they’ve paid for this kind of a special treatment. Seeing a support ticket labeled “Urgent” or “VIP” should trigger you to respond immediately and resolve the case in as little interactions as possible.

These examples can give you a general idea of what data can be displayed in a pipeline view of your CRM system. The key here is to decide what parts of the customer profile should be immediately available at a glance and what should stay under the fold. Try combining the suggestions above and find the best setup for you.

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