We took over a CRM where nearly every inactive contact had been dumped into the same list.

Some had never received a proper follow-up. Others had already taken a demo and gone quiet. A few had clearly said no. There were also people who had changed jobs and leads still assigned to sales reps who no longer worked there.

Our first thought was to put everyone into one follow-up sequence.

That would have been a mess.

We cleaned the records first, removed bad contacts, and separated the people we had spoken with from the ones who had simply been ignored. We also marked the clear no’s instead of continuing to chase them.

Only after that did automation become useful. Basic reminders could stay inside the CRM, while the stronger leads got more research before anyone contacted them again. Some needed a personal message. Others just needed to be closed and left alone.

The CRM wasn’t really the problem. We didn’t have a clear picture of what had already happened with each person.

How do you separate old opportunities from leads that were never properly worked?