How to Manage CRM Records When Contacts Leave a Company

Maintaining CRM Hygeine – What happens when a Contact leaves and organization?

One of the most crucial aspects of CRM management is keeping your dataset clean, organized, and up-to-date. A well-maintained CRM is like a high-performance engine: it runs smoothly, helps you meet your goals efficiently, and minimizes costly errors. The cornerstone of CRM hygiene is simple—ensure your contact lists are clean and updated, and actively engage with the data.

While there is much more involved in maintaining a clean CRM system, today we’ll focus on a common issue that happens regularly—when people leave an organization. What should you do with all the history and interactions associated with that contact? Rather than deleting valuable data, there’s a better way to manage this scenario, and I’ll walk you through it.

What Happens When a Contact Leaves?

People leave organizations frequently, and when that happens, handling their CRM record correctly is essential. Imagine you have years of emails, phone calls, and opportunities tied to a contact, such as Jason Walker. If Jason leaves his organization, what happens to all the communication history with him? You need a strategy that preserves the relationship and sets the stage for a smooth transition when you engage with his replacement.

Never DELETE The contact as this will defeat the purpose of the CRM by losing all the history and communication with this contact.

One common mistake is letting outdated contacts clutter up your CRM, which can lead to wasted outreach efforts and broken communications. To prevent this, the solution is simple: mark the contact as an ex-employee and tag them accordingly, while keeping the history intact. Below is a script that helps automate this process in Zoho CRM.

Zoho CRM Script to Manage Ex-Employees

To make the transition seamless, here’s a simple script you can use in Zoho CRM to tag a contact as an ex-employee. This script will:

1. Rename the contact’s last name (e.g., from “Jason Walker” to “Jason Walker – Ex Employee”).
2. Mark their email address as opted out or non-marketable, so no further marketing emails are sent to them.
3. Add a note stating that the contact is no longer with the organization, preserving the history of the interaction for future reference.

Steps in CRM:

Find the Contact.

Add the Tag: Ex-employee

This triggers the automations

And the following changes are made.

Function Add Ex-Employee To Name was calledvia Workflow Rule AddExEmployeeToName

Note added –
Jason Walker is no longer working for Test Syncezy via Function Add Ex-Employee To Name

• Last Name was updated from Walker to Walker-Ex-Employee
• Email Opt Out was updated from false to true
• Full Name was updated from Jason Walker to Jason Walker-Ex-Employee
• Unsubscribed Mode was updated from blank value to Manual
• Unsubscribed Time was updated from blank value to 15/10/2024 08:23 PM
• via Function Add Ex-Employee To Name

Ex-employee

=========================================

This ensures that any lists or views where Jason Walker’s name appears are updated, making it clear he’s no longer with the organization, while keeping his historical data intact.

Script Example:

ZOHO CRM Custom Script Copy code

// Retrieve the contact data based on the contact ID
ContactsData = zoho.crm.getRecordById("Contacts",ContactID);
// Get the last name of the contact from the contact record
Last_Name = ContactsData.getJSON("Last_Name");
// Check if the last name already contains "Ex-Employee"
hasOrNO = Last_Name.contains("Ex-Employee");
// If "Ex-Employee" is not found in the last name, proceed with the update
if(hasOrNO == false)
{
// Append "Ex-Employee" to the last name
Last_Name = Last_Name + "-" + "Ex-Employee";
// Create a map to hold the updated last name and set Email_Opt_Out to true
updateMap = Map();
updateMap.put("Last_Name",Last_Name);
// Update the last name with "Ex-Employee"
updateMap.put("Email_Opt_Out",true);
// Set the email opt-out flag to true
// Update the contact record with the modified last name and email opt-out status
res = zoho.crm.updateRecord("Contacts",ContactID,updateMap);
// Create a note description stating that the contact is no longer working for the account
//<Contact Name> is no longer working for <Account Name>
desc = CName + " is no longer working for " + Acc_name;
// Create a map for adding a note to the contact's record
notesMap = {"Parent_Id":ContactID,"Note_Title":desc,"Note_Content":desc,"$se_module":"Contacts"};
// Create the note record in Zoho CRM for the contact
Note_response = zoho.crm.createRecord("Notes",notesMap);
}

Why Is This Important?

1. Avoids Communication Mistakes: By marking the contact as an ex-employee and opting them out of emails, you prevent embarrassing mistakes like sending marketing material to someone no longer at the company.
2. Preserves Relationship History: Keeping notes and communication history ensures that when you identify a replacement for Jason, you can easily transition conversations without losing any important details.
3. Reduces Clutter: Keeping your CRM up-to-date with accurate contact information ensures clean reporting and helps your sales and marketing teams focus on active, relevant contacts.
4. Enhances Efficiency: By automating the process, you reduce the manual effort required to manage contacts that are no longer with an organization, making it easier to maintain CRM hygiene on an ongoing basis.

Handling Bounced Emails and Out-of-Office Responses

This situation isn’t limited to people leaving an organization. When sending bulk emails, you’ll often receive bounce or out-of-office notifications. Some of these are actually signals that the contact is no longer active or the email address has changed. It’s essential to have a process in place for updating or removing these contacts in your CRM to maintain the integrity of your communication lists.

Conclusion

Maintaining clean CRM data is essential to driving better results from your sales and marketing efforts. One key aspect is managing contacts when they leave an organization. By implementing a simple script and process, you can ensure that your CRM stays clean, communication history is preserved, and you’re set up for success with the contact’s replacement.

Stay proactive with your CRM hygiene, and your team will benefit from more efficient workflows, cleaner data, and better relationship management.