Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your role in the Community?
In the community, I aim to share practical solutions and insights that have enhanced my use of DemandTools. My contributions have included RegEx formulas and tips on integrating tools such as Visual Studio, Salesforce CLI, and Python for effective data preparation that might not be possible with DemandTools alone.
Generally, I'll share tips that will help others with the problems I've come across, ensuring that my posts are thorough enough to be useful both to others and to myself when revisiting similar tasks in the future.
How long have you been using DemandTools, and what initially drew you to it?
I've been using DemandTools, and its former sibling PeopleImport, since at least 2013, based on the scenarios I have archived.
I initially adopted it when hired by a New York firm that needed to dedupe around 40,000 existing Salesforce contacts and match them with an external database of over 450,000 contacts. Using DemandTools, I eliminated thousands of duplicates and significantly enhanced the accuracy of contact information, adding approximately 15,000 target prospects. This improved the assignment of sales territories and increased the quality of prospects available to each sales team.
How does DemandTools help you be successful at what you do or what challenges does it help you overcome?
DemandTools is pivotal to my consulting business, which I launched in 2017 to serve clients focused on financial advisors based in the US. Most of my clients use a common third-party data provider, offering contact details for over 600,000 financial advisors and 30,000 associated firms. Many providers charge hefty subscription fees for integrating these contacts directly into Salesforce. However, I can use DemandTools to match and import these lists, coupled with some data preparation in Tableau. This approach has saved several of my clients upwards of $10,000 annually in subscription costs.
What features of DemandTools do you use the most, and why?
The "Import with Upsert" is the tool I use most, primarily to import conference attendee lists.
I nearly always utilize the matching capabilities in one scenario to match Campaign Members, Contacts, and Leads in Salesforce with a two pass process. The first pass matches existing contacts or creates new leads with a global update to add all matches to a campaign, and then the second pass inserts relevant conference notes into a custom Campaign Member Info text field.
I can turn around most conference lists in under an hour, but some do take longer. But my sales users greatly value the quick matching and upserting of these lists, despite the limited details and inconsistencies many of these lists have, as it enables them to promptly send follow-up emails, make calls, and track future sales opportunities for each event.
For someone who is new to DemandTools, what advice would you give to get started and make the most of it?
Admittedly, DemandTools can be overwhelming for newcomers, but I recommend starting by tackling your most pressing business problem. For example, if you need to manage list imports, focus on mastering the 'Import with Upsert' feature.
If duplicate records are your main concern, concentrate on learning how to deduplicate data. Understanding deduping and matching rules is beneficial because this knowledge also applies to import matching rules and the 'Match' tool.
If you have issues with data standardization, use the 'Modify' feature to clean up addresses and phone numbers. And don't miss the greatest admin feature, which is to use it to copy data from one field to another!
As you'll notice I haven’t covered all the tools, because I don't use all of them for my needs but just be sure to prioritize learning what you specifically need. Begin with the basics through introductory videos, help articles, recorded webinars, and by engaging with the community.
What do you love the most about the Validity Community?
I highly value the responsiveness of Validity's internal experts within the community. Their insights are instrumental in addressing many of my questions. As the community grows and more users engage, I'm sure the responses from others will end up being just as valuable.
