Fixing it for good
Where does bad data get into our systems?
By Doug Taylor and Jake Mayell, Co-Founders · Last reviewed 16 October 2026
It rarely starts in the CRM. It comes in at the edges, wherever a form, a list or a spreadsheet lets it through, and then travels into every system it touches. The fix is mapping every way data enters the business, deciding what each entry point must check, and fixing the source instead of cleaning up after it.
Where does the bad data get in? · 1 min
91%
have systems that do not talk to each other
What the video says
A lead form comes in with "Director" as the job title and a personal Gmail address. Director of what, and at which company? The form never asked, so nobody knows.
CRM files the lead as a stranger, not against their company. Sales ignores it, the ad platform sees this as a conversion, and learns from it, and email puts it in the wrong segment.
The person behind the form might already work for a customer, but their account manager never hears about the enquiry. The opportunity is missed, every report built on the data is wrong, and a real customer gets treated like a stranger.
Bad data rarely starts in CRM. It comes in at the edges, wherever a form, a list or a spreadsheet lets it through.
The fix is mapping every way data enters the business, deciding what each entry point must check, and fixing the source instead of cleaning up after it.
Bad data getting into your systems? Let's talk.
So is there one problem to fix, or several?
