The Great Spreadsheet Migration: Moving Your RIA to Salesforce Without Losing Your Mind

Understanding the Building Blocks of Your New Client Database

You know that moment when you're on a client call and need to find their risk tolerance score? You minimize the video, open Excel, wait for it to load, scroll through tabs, and hope you're looking at the latest version. By the time you find it, you've lost the flow of the conversation.

Today, we're showing you exactly how your client spreadsheet transforms into Salesforce. Not the fancy features yet, just the foundation: turning your columns and rows into a real database that won't let you down.

Your Starting Point: That Familiar Client Spreadsheet

Open your main client spreadsheet. It probably has columns like:

• Client Name, Email, Phone
• Account Type (IRA, Joint, Trust)
• Current AUM
• Risk Tolerance
• Last Review Date
• Notes (where everything else goes)

This spreadsheet runs your practice today. Let's see how it transforms into Salesforce.

The Big Picture: Spreadsheet to Salesforce

Here's the simplest way to think about it:

Your client spreadsheet becomes a Contact object

• Each row (Bob Smith, Jane Johnson) becomes a Contact record
• Each column becomes a field on that Contact
• But unlike Excel, these fields are smart: dates stay dates, dollars stay dollars, and nobody can accidentally type "maybe" in your AUM column

Sales Cloud Contacts vs. Financial Services Cloud Person Accounts: Which Do You Need?

Before we go further, let's clear this up. Salesforce offers two ways to store client data:

Sales Cloud: Contact Object

What it is: Your basic client record. Simple, clean, straightforward.

Perfect for RIAs who:

• Want to get started quickly
• Manage clients as individuals
• Need basic household grouping
• Have a smaller budget

Daily experience: Click on Bob Smith, see all his information, manually link him to his spouse's record if needed.

Financial Services Cloud: Person Account

What it is: A supercharged client record designed specifically for financial services.

Perfect for RIAs who:

• Need sophisticated household views
• Want automatic relationship mapping
• Require built-in compliance tools
• Plan to scale significantly

Daily experience: Click on Bob Smith, automatically see his entire household's aggregated AUM, all family relationships, and rolled-up account values.

For this guide, we'll use Contacts (simpler to start), but the concepts apply to both.

Building Your Contact Object: Start Simple, Add Later

Phase 1: The Essentials (Week 1)

Start with just the fields you absolutely need to run your practice:

Already Built Into Contacts:

• Name, Email, Phone (standard fields)
• Mailing Address
• These map directly from your spreadsheet

Custom Fields You'll Add:

• Total AUM (Currency): Your client balances will always calculate correctly
• Risk Tolerance (Picklist): Choose from Conservative, Moderate, Aggressive (no more "Mod" vs "Moderate")
• Management Fee (Percent): Automatic fee calculations

That's it for Phase 1. Get these working first.

Phase 2: Compliance & Service (Week 2)

Once Phase 1 is stable, add:

• Client Since Date: Know relationship length at a glance
• Last/Next Review Dates: Never miss a review again
• Service Tier: Platinum, Gold, Silver (if you segment clients)

Phase 3: Advanced Features (Month 2)

After you're comfortable:

• Household Role: Primary, Spouse, Dependent
• Compliance Tracking: ADV delivery, privacy notices
• Investment Objectives: Growth, Income, Preservation

See the pattern? Start simple. Add complexity only when you need it.

Moving Your Data: The Real Import Process

Here's what actually happens when you import your spreadsheet:

Pre-Import Prep

1. Clean your data: Fix obvious errors, remove duplicates
2. Save a backup: Keep your original spreadsheet safe
3. Create a test file: Copy just 10 clients for your first attempt

Test Import (Do This First!)

1. Import your 10-client test file
2. Check every field mapped correctly
3. Fix any issues in your spreadsheet
4. Delete test records and proceed

Full Import

1. Use Salesforce Data Import Wizard
2. Map your columns to Contact fields:
   • "Client Name" → First Name, Last Name
   • "AUM" → Total_AUM__c
   • "Risk Score" → Risk_Tolerance__c
3. Run import (takes minutes for hundreds of records)

Post-Import Reality Check

• Some data won't import perfectly (that's normal)
• Phone numbers might need reformatting
• You'll find duplicates you didn't know existed
• Budget 2-3 hours for cleanup

What Your Daily Experience Actually Looks Like

Forget the technical details. Here's what changes for you on Monday morning:

Finding Information

Before: Open Excel, scroll through tabs, Ctrl+F to search, hope you're in the right file

After: Type client name in global search, click, see everything in one screen

Viewing Clients

Before: Rows and columns in a grid, side-scrolling to see all data

After: Contact Page Layout shows organized sections: Profile at top, Financial Details below, Activities on the right, all without scrolling horizontally

Working with Lists

Before: Sort and filter in Excel, lose your place, accidentally overwrite formulas

After: List Views that look like spreadsheets but better. Create a "High Risk Clients" view once, click it anytime to see that filtered list. Sort without fear.

Running Reports

Before: Pivot tables that break, VLOOKUP formulas, manual calculations

After: Drag and drop Report Builder. "Show me all clients over 70 with IRAs" takes 30 seconds to build, saves forever.

Common Worries (and Why They're Overblown)

"I'll miss my spreadsheet view" List Views ARE spreadsheet views, just better. You can even edit multiple records inline, just like Excel.

"This seems like a lot of setup" Phase 1 takes a few hours. You don't need everything perfect on day one. Your spreadsheet wasn't built in a day either.

"What if I map fields wrong?" That's why you test with 10 records first. Mistakes are fixable. Your data isn't gone, it's just in the wrong field. Move it and carry on.

"My team won't adapt" Show them List Views first (looks like Excel). Once they see they can't accidentally delete data and everything saves automatically, they'll never go back.

Your Next Move

Your spreadsheet has served you well, but it's time for a foundation that won't crack as you grow. Start with Phase 1: import your basic client data into Contacts. Don't overthink it. Don't add every field possible. Just get your client names and AUM into Salesforce.

Once that's working, once you can click a name and see their information, once you realize the data won't disappear or corrupt, then you'll understand why this foundation matters.

Everything else, the automation, the workflows, the fancy features, they all build on this simple foundation: your client spreadsheet, transformed into Contact records, safe and structured in Salesforce.

Next week: We'll explore Accounts and household relationships. How to link spouses, children, and trusts together so you can see total household AUM with one click instead of calculator gymnastics across multiple spreadsheets.

Ready to import your first 10 clients? YOU CAN DO IT. If you need help we are just an email away: hello@future-state.ai.