From Search to Sale: How to Export Leads and Import into Your CRM

Why Proper Lead Management Matters

Generating high-quality B2B leads is only half the battle. If your leads sit in a CSV file on your desktop and never make it into your CRM, they are worthless. Effective lead management ensures every prospect is tracked, contacted, and followed up systematically.

This guide walks you through the entire process: exporting leads from PaulSpeaks Lead Generator, formatting them correctly, importing into popular CRMs, and setting up workflows to ensure nothing falls through the cracks.

Step 1: Export Your Leads from PaulSpeaks

PaulSpeaks Lead Generator offers two export formats:

Full Data Export

This includes all available information:

• Company Name
• Address (street, city, postcode)
• Phone Number
• Email Address
• Website URL
• Country

Use this format when you need complete records for CRM import, email campaigns, and multi-channel outreach.

Phone-Only Export (for Calling)

This simplified format includes only:

• Company Name
• Phone Number

Use this when you are focusing on phone outreach or feeding leads into an AI calling system. Learn more about phone-verified leads.

Step 2: Clean and Format Your CSV

Before importing into your CRM, spend a few minutes cleaning your data. This saves hours of work later.

Remove Duplicates

If you have run multiple searches or combined lead lists, you will have duplicates. In Excel or Google Sheets:

1. Select all data
2. Go to Data → Remove Duplicates
3. Choose "Phone Number" or "Company Name" as the unique identifier

Standardise Phone Formats

UK phone numbers can appear in multiple formats:

• 01234 567890
• +44 1234 567890
• (01234) 567890

Most CRMs prefer international format: +44 1234 567890. Use find-and-replace to add +44 and remove leading zeros if needed.

Validate Email Addresses

Check for obvious errors:

• Typos in domain names (gmial.com instead of gmail.com)
• Missing @ symbols
• Generic placeholders like "email@company.co.uk" that are not real addresses

For large lists, use an email verification service like NeverBounce or ZeroBounce to check deliverability before importing.

Add Lead Source

Create a new column called "Lead Source" and fill it with "PaulSpeaks - [Date]". This helps you track which campaigns are working when you analyse results later.

Step 3: Import into Your CRM

Each CRM has slightly different import processes, but the principles are the same.

HubSpot

1. Go to Contacts → Import
2. Select "Start an Import"
3. Choose "File from computer"
4. Upload your CSV
5. Map fields: Company Name → Company Name, Phone → Phone Number, Email → Email, etc.
6. Set import options: "Create new contacts" or "Update existing"
7. Import and review

HubSpot Tips:

• Use "Company" object for B2B leads, not "Contact" (unless you have named individuals)
• HubSpot allows up to 80,000 records on free plans, 1 million+ on paid plans
• Create a "Lead Source" custom property to track where leads came from

Salesforce

1. Go to Setup → Data Import Wizard
2. Choose "Accounts and Contacts" or "Leads"
3. Upload your CSV
4. Map fields: ensure mandatory fields (Company Name, Phone) are mapped
5. Choose matching criteria: "Match by Company Name" to avoid duplicates
6. Run import

Salesforce Tips:

• Salesforce is strict about data formats; test with a small batch first
• Use "Lead" object for new prospects, "Account" for known companies
• Salesforce charges per user, so ensure your team has appropriate licences

Pipedrive

1. Go to Settings → Import Data
2. Choose "Organizations" (for B2B companies)
3. Upload CSV
4. Map fields
5. Select encoding (usually UTF-8)
6. Import

Pipedrive Tips:

• Pipedrive is sales-focused; create a "New Lead" pipeline stage for fresh imports
• Use custom fields for "Lead Source" and "Industry"
• Pipedrive has excellent mobile apps for field sales teams

Monday.com

1. Open your CRM board
2. Click "Add Items" → "Import Items"
3. Upload CSV
4. Map columns to board fields
5. Import

Monday Tips:

• Create separate columns for "Status" (New, Contacted, Qualified, Closed)
• Use automations to assign leads to sales reps automatically
• Monday is highly visual -- great for teams that prefer Kanban-style workflows

Step 4: Set Up Lead Assignment

Once leads are in your CRM, assign them to sales reps systematically.

Round Robin

Distribute leads evenly across your team. Most CRMs support round-robin assignment rules: Lead 1 → Rep A, Lead 2 → Rep B, Lead 3 → Rep C, repeat.

Territory-Based

Assign leads by geography. If you have a London rep and a Manchester rep, route leads by postcode or city.

Industry-Based

If your reps specialise (e.g., one handles healthcare leads, another handles education), assign based on industry tags.

Skill-Based

Senior reps get high-value accounts, junior reps get smaller opportunities. Use company size or revenue as the routing criteria.

Step 5: Create Follow-Up Workflows

Do not rely on manual follow-up. Set up automated workflows to ensure leads are contacted promptly.

Email Sequence (HubSpot/Salesforce/Pipedrive)

1. Day 0 -- Lead imports, auto-send introduction email
2. Day 2 -- If no response, send follow-up email with case study
3. Day 5 -- If no response, send final value-offer email
4. Day 7 -- If no response, create task for sales rep to call

Call Task Automation

Create automatic tasks: "Call [Company Name] within 24 hours of import". Assign to the lead owner. Track completion rates.

Lead Scoring

Assign points based on engagement:

• +10 points for email open
• +20 points for link click
• +50 points for email reply
• +100 points for phone conversation

When a lead hits 50+ points, flag them as "Hot" and prioritise for immediate follow-up.

Step 6: Track and Measure Performance

The only way to improve your lead generation ROI is to measure what is working.

Key Metrics to Track

• Import volume -- how many leads added per week/month
• Contact rate -- % of leads successfully reached (by email or phone)
• Response rate -- % of leads that reply or engage
• Qualification rate -- % of leads that are genuinely interested
• Conversion rate -- % of leads that become customers
• Cost per lead -- total spend / number of leads
• Cost per customer -- total spend / number of customers acquired

Create a Lead Performance Dashboard

Most CRMs offer dashboards. Create a weekly report showing:

• Leads imported this week
• Leads contacted this week
• Leads qualified this week
• Deals closed this week
• Conversion funnel: Imported → Contacted → Qualified → Closed

Review this with your sales team weekly. Identify bottlenecks (e.g., high import volume but low contact rate suggests sales team capacity issues).

Common Import Mistakes to Avoid

1. Importing Without Deduplication

Duplicate records waste time and confuse your team. Always deduplicate before import.

2. Missing Lead Source Tags

If you do not tag where leads came from, you cannot measure ROI. Always add "Lead Source" during import.

3. Importing Unverified Phone Numbers

Phone numbers that are disconnected or wrong damage team morale. Consider using phone verification before importing large batches.

4. No Follow-Up Plan

Leads that sit uncontacted for a week go cold. Set up automated workflows to ensure every lead is touched within 24-48 hours.

5. Overloading Sales Reps

Importing 1,000 leads and assigning them all to one rep is a recipe for failure. Batch imports and assign realistic quotas (e.g., 20-30 new leads per rep per week).

Integrations to Consider

Maximise efficiency by connecting your CRM to other tools:

• Email verification -- NeverBounce, ZeroBounce (validate emails before sending)
• Email automation -- Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign (nurture sequences)
• Call tracking -- Aircall, Dialpad (log calls automatically)
• LinkedIn automation -- Phantombuster, Dux-Soup (connect with leads on LinkedIn)
• Calendar booking -- Calendly, Chili Piper (let leads self-book meetings)

Scaling Your Lead Import Process

Once you have a working process, scale systematically:

1. Week 1 -- Import 50 leads, test workflows, refine scripts
2. Week 2 -- Import 100 leads, measure contact and conversion rates
3. Week 3 -- If conversion is good, import 200 leads
4. Week 4+ -- Scale to your team's capacity (most reps can handle 30-50 active leads at once)

Do not import thousands of leads before you have proven your sales process works. Test, measure, refine, then scale.

Final Tips

Effective lead management is not glamorous, but it is the difference between chaos and consistent revenue. A well-organised CRM with clean data, automated workflows, and systematic follow-up will always outperform a talented sales team working from messy spreadsheets.

Start with high-quality leads from PaulSpeaks Lead Generator, import them systematically into your CRM, and execute disciplined follow-up. That is the recipe for sustainable B2B growth.

For more on lead generation strategies, see B2B Lead Generation in the UK and Fresh Leads vs Stale Data.

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