How We Solved Western Consulting Firm’s Phone Number Nightmare

Source: Dev.to

The Problem

It all started with a simple question…

The CRM system strictly demanded +8801670309328.

When the phone number was saved, the welcome SMS, email sequences, WhatsApp follow‑ups, and auto‑assignments were supposed to trigger. Because of the format mismatch, the workflow froze. SMS messages weren’t delivered, and lead nurturing never started. We were seeing 30‑40 corrupted entries daily, wasting 2‑3 hours on manual correction and causing delayed responses to hot leads.

We realized a fundamental truth: you cannot change user behavior; you must adapt the system.

Our Solution

We implemented a backend normalization protocol (a pure prompt‑level solution, no heavy coding) that:

• Accepts Everything – Handles inputs starting with 01X, 8801X, +8801X, including dashes, spaces, and Bangla digits.
• Normalizes – Cleans and converts the data into the +8801XXXXXXXXX format for CRM storage.
• Confirms – Replies to the user using their original input (e.g., “Saved 01670-309-328”) so the interaction feels human and natural.

Results

A seemingly small field like a phone number can break your entire value chain. Ensuring data quality is essential for automation success.