Database Detox - Getting Your Database into Shape

By Saleem Deane

I’ve been doing a lot of research reading books and blogs that are “Best Sellers” and have helped changed “Millions of Lives”. There is some amazing information and astounding stories of the people who have accomplished all sorts of things. So why isn’t it working for me?

People often look for instant gratification – myself included. Unfortunately this isn’t always realistic. You don’t expect to do 50 crunches and have 6 pack abs, so why would it be different for anything else? What I have found though, the best blogs and books that have been written for people like me are the ones that have steps you can put into action right away. It’s nice to have that end goal, but all that preplanning beforehand often seems to be put off until tomorrow because it’s such a big task to start.

What I need is something easy that I can start with and continue to carry on so I can work my way up to that master plan. Getting that initial start with something that I can do right away gives me some instant gratification, gets me hooked, and drives me to finish what I started.

The same can be said for companies and databases. I’m sure there are times when you’ve sat down and opened up that spreadsheet with a list of names written down with no apparent flow or coherency at all and asked yourself ‘Where do I start?’. Trust me, you’re not alone. Don’t try doing 1000 crunches in one day, overworking and injuring yourself and then not doing another crunch for 6 months. Similarly, don’t try and take on the whole database in one day, get frustrated, give up and don’t end up revisiting it for another 6 months.

The easiest thing to do is to take it one step at a time. Think about what you want to achieve from this list – do you want to be able to personalize your marketing material to your customers more efficiently? Do you want to start being able to segment your data into categories so you can send different offers to different groups? Maybe you just want to organize it so that you can finally determine whether you’re spending money on mail outs to addresses or people that don’t exist anymore.

Figuring out your objectives will help you figure out where to start with your data. It’ll help you figure out what sort of information you need to start collecting from your customers too.

If this is too big of a task to start right now, take it down a notch. Just open up your spreadsheet right now and look at it. Do you have headings? Is there any sort of categorical breakdown? Even simpler, is it all located in one central place or scattered across multiple spreadsheets and pieces of paper. Identify the small tasks that can be done right away and you’ll get a little piece of that instant gratification.

It’s going to take some time to reach that end goal, but taking it day by day will help you build up to that master plan and eventually you’ll have the 6 pack abs of databases!

Comments

Interesting post. From experience I can say that slowly building your database to the point where you are able to navigate it easily and use it in the most efficient way is worth it. The key is organization, organization can ultimately make or break the way you utilize your database and can reflect how effective it is for you and your company.
Like you said you can't get a 6 pack over night, but determination and consistent dedication will help you achieve that 6 pack faster than you would expect.

Posted by: Christina
Thu February 02, 2012, 16:23:01

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