We all have one. Some of us have multiple. You may even have one in every room of your house. It's the junk drawer.

True Story: I was looking for a piece of wood in my garage to prop up my desk for a project. It was not until I took and posted the image for this post, that I saw the perfect piece (gray on the right) in my junk drawer.

I think we all have two kinds of junk drawers. One where we place things we actually use all the time but don't want to leave on the table or counter. The second is the one where we put stuff we think you will need one day, and ultimately forget where it is or that we even have it somewhere.

The Workbench

When we moved I placed all my tools in two boxes. In my old house, they were strewn across my garage and in various drawers.

Before I started unpacking those, I bought a workbench. My old home had one but over the years things got very disorganized. There were mixed sets of screwdrivers, socket sets, and pliers all over the place. It took me way too long to find the right tool to the point where I hated using them.

I got lazy with how I organized, categorized, and stored them, and my new home gave me the opportunity to get a fresh start.

The tools I use often are displayed and accessible. I decided to donate all my old socket sets and buy a new one that was organized and labeled.

But disorganization still happens. Every new piece of furniture comes with its own tools (hex wrenches and screwdrivers). They are starting to pile up in drawers in my newly organized workbench system.

We all tend to collect things that we deem useful (both today and someday). They were useful at one point, otherwise, we would not have taken the time to place them in a collection.

I believe many of us do the same in our businesses.

Things We Collect

Business data (especially in marketing) is part of the lifeblood of business. Yet it is often neglected and lacks organization. It can be organized like a junk drawer or a workbench that is accessed when you need a tool.

Email – The collection of email addresses we get from our online forms, accounting data, and CRM.

Social Media – Connections can often be exported using a CRM. I use Nimble's LinkedIn Prospector often for this purpose.

CRM – These can often be imported and exported from your online forms, accounting data, tradeshows, and other business interactions.

As you can see, there are a lot of sources to collect data (name, emails, contact info, and more). Is it possible to organize it into a MASTER LIST?

Most businesses will use a CRM or ERP to fulfill that duty. Yet, the email list and social media accounts have names and connections that are not in the CRM (and vice versa).

Even if you have a master list, is there one person or a group in charge of managing it?

CSOs hope that the sales team is keeping that updated and current. CFOs hope that the updated accounting info is being cross-checked. CMOs assume that the email list is current and synced with the CRM data. The CEO is hoping the other C-levels are working together to bring and maintain continuity.

But who in your organization is cross-checking the cross-checkers and making sure the databases are current and optimized?

Branching Out

Your contact data is like a tree. The leaves are the contacts, and your salespeople or accountants

are the

twigs. Your C-level people are the branches, and the trunk is the business. Hidden underground are the roots. That's how the tree gets nutrients (new contact and updated information).

The roots feed off of your contact forms, email sign-ups, and social media links. That data reaches through the tree and ends up at the leaves that convert sunlight into energy.

All parts of the tree need to be healthy in order for it (your business) to grow.

So are you concerned that a part (or parts) of your system may be hindering growth?

Duality and Dichotomy

I am posing this question not because I have it all figured out, it's because I too am searching for the right system.

I think it's actually both easier and harder when you have a bigger team because you have multiple touchpoints where you can instill consistency and yet can have holes in the process. That means you can identify weak links and fix them in phases.

As a solopreneur who has a remote team of experts, I can certainly hire the right person to help, but ultimately it seems overwhelming to pinpoint my multiple weaknesses.

I think we all need one core place where all the data is stored and organized. It may look like a junk drawer because it has a mix of clients, past clients, vendors, prospects, networking contacts, friends, family, and more, but it could become more useful to everyone with segmentation.

Organizing Your Junk Drawers

Email can become a very disorganized junk drawer. People can be thrown in and forgotten. If your system is not properly segmented, it can become untenable to try to go back and organize it when you feel you need to use it. That does not mean that you can't do so in phases.

Email systems are filled with additions and subtractions that should be cross-referenced and segmented against your core data.

Just because someone is added or unsubscribed from an email system, it should not affect their status as CRM-worthy. If they have a business purpose, then they should be added and segmented, and ultimately nurtured. If they are not willing to remain on your email list, it does not mean that they should be deleted from all databases, just segmented again.

Final Thoughts

Segmenting success is in the eye of the beholder. You want to segment to make it useful to each branch of your tree. If accounting can find clients, and sales can find prospects that's great, but further segmenting should have a purpose, not just a label.

You want to make it visible and useful as with your primary junk drawer. It will always have some things that you don't use often, but when you need them, they're accessible.

So first define your segments (branches and twigs) and get feedback about how this creates a healthy tree for your business.

Pardon me, but now I have to go use that wood block (from my junk drawer and made from a tree) and some tools (from my workbench) to help me make my workspace better!

“Good leaders organize and align people around what the team needs to do. Great leaders motivate and inspire people with why they're doing it. That's purpose. And that's the key to achieving something truly transformational.”
– Marillyn Hewson

Comment below and share your thoughts, ideas, or questions about your love-hate relationship with data! Do you feel your data is well organized? Is it a tool that is being used, or a junk drawer that is being avoided? What tips or techniques can you share that have worked for you and your healthy business?

To learn more about this and other topics on B2b Sales & Marketing, visit our podcast website at The Bacon Podcast.