If you’re bringing your existing data into the CRM, it’s important to make sure everything is clean, organized, and ready to go. This guide will walk you through what to do before uploading your data, and how to avoid common issues.
Before you begin, take a look at the following resources to help you understand the process:
Not comfortable doing it yourself? No problem — we work with trusted data migration partners who can handle it for you. Reach out to your Account Manager for details.
Step 1: Export Your Data
First, you’ll need to pull your data from wherever it currently lives — whether that’s a spreadsheet, another CRM, or somewhere else. Save each set of data as a .CSV file (you can do this from Excel).
To keep things organized, split your data into the following categories — each in their own file — and upload them in this order:
1. Contacts & Companies
2. Properties
3. Spaces/Units
4. Deal Pipeline
5. Comps
6. Activities (Tasks & Events)
Again, the order of operations is critical. For example, if you upload properties before uploading contacts and companies, the properties won’t be connected to their owners. And unfortunately, there’s no simple fix for that besides redoing the import.
Step 2: Organize Your Data
Open the import template and line up your columns to match the fields in Rethink. Think of each column as a field you’d see on a record in your CRM — like name, email, or property address.
If you’ve created any custom fields in your Rethink setup, make sure those are added as columns too.
Heads up: Any column name shown in red in the import template means that field is required — without it, your upload won’t work.
Tips for Each Data Type
Contacts & Companies
Contacts and Companies can be imported together in the same spreadsheet. Make sure the column names match the fields you use in Rethink. If anything in your spreadsheet doesn’t match, you’ll just need to manually map it during the upload. Anything left unmapped will be skipped.
📌 Red columns = required
📷 See example screenshot below
Properties
If you want to connect a property to its owner (the contact), make sure you include both the first and last name of the contact in the Property Owner (Contact) column.
Make sure not to leave the ownership fields blank — if you do, the properties won’t be linked to their owners.
📌 Red columns = required
📷 See example screenshot below
Spaces/Units
To link a space/unit to a property, make sure the Property Name is filled in under the Property column.
To connect a tenant to a space/unit, fill in both the Tenant (the company) and Tenant Contact columns.
📌 Red columns = required
📷 See example screenshot below
Step 3: Import Your Data
Once your data is cleaned up, organized into separate files, and saved as CSVs, you’re ready to start importing. The process is straightforward, and we’ve linked a step-by-step article below to guide you through it.