The CRM Cleanup Playbook

July 21, 2026

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A workflow that cleans up years of CRM technical debt by deduping company records and pruning unused custom fields without breaking active systems.

Anabel Arndt

How it works

Step 1: Audit the current state

Get a baseline count before deleting anything.

Pull the total custom field count across Company, Contact, and Deal objects.
Segment fields by fill rate: empty, low (<5%), medium (5-49%), high (50%+).
Flag legacy fields from previous CRM migrations as a separate group.

Step 2: Protect active systems

Lock down fields that must never be touched.

Identify every property tied to an active system:
- Sequencing and outbound tools
- Signals and awareness scoring
- Attribution and reporting tools
Add these to an explicit exclude list before any deletion

Step 3: Delete safe fields in bulk

Remove the fields with zero risk.

Delete all empty custom fields at 0% fill with 0 usages.
Delete all very low fill custom fields (<5%, 0 usages).
Delete legacy migration fields with <50% fill and no active workflow dependencies.

Step 4: Review medium-fill fields

Make case-by-case decisions on fields between 5-49% fill.

For each field, check:
- Is it being populated by an integration?
- Is it referenced in an active workflow?
Keep it if its active.

Step 5: Merge exact domain duplicates

Handle duplicates in bulk.

Find company pairs with identical company domain name values.
Pick the primary record using this order:
- Most associated deals
- Most associated contacts
- Highest fill rate on key custom fields
- Oldest create date
Merge in the CRM and all associated contacts, deals, activities, and notes carry forward automatically.

Step 6: Review same-name duplicates manually

Handle name duplicates one at a time.

For every same-name, different-domain pair, check branch indicators:
- Different city or state
- Different street address or phone number
- Already linked via Parent Company
- Name or domain includes a city or location identifier
If any indicator is true, keep the records separate and link via Parent Company.

Step 7: Apply the merge decision framework

Use one framework across every remaining edge case.

Exact domain match: merge with primary record rules.
Same name, same city, formatting artifact in domain: merge after confirming same address.
Same name, one record has no domain: research the correct domain, update, then merge.
Same name, domain has city or location in it: keep separate
Same name, same address different domain: check for redirects.

Step 8: Document the cleanup

Create a record so this doesn't happen again.

Log every deleted field and every merged record.
Publish a field creation governance doc so new fields get reviewed before creation.
Set a quarterly recurring audit to catch drift early.

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