PatronManager

Today’s blog post is written by Kathryn Schmitt, Data Project Coordinator, PatronManager. 

The overall value of a comprehensive Customer Relationship Management system is simple and obvious: more information about your patrons allows you to forge stronger relationships with them, leading to increased customer loyalty and increased revenue (both of significant value for any organization)! But a strong CRM system does more than just make money; it can also make you a happier, healthier, and more effective employee by supporting some key components of personal wellness. After all, an organization is only as healthy as the team behind it — so a well-oiled human machine is imperative for success.

Read on to find out how ditching the spreadsheets and utilizing a CRM system can not only strengthen your patron relationships, but also improve your well-being by helping you and your colleagues work smarter, not harder!

Organization

The selling point of a good CRM is that it keeps everything you need in one place. When you cut down on multiple sources and systems, you can see relationship histories without making the sacrifices a regular spreadsheet might cause. You’ll also be able to clear your head of the stress of duties and details since your follow-up tasks will be incorporated into the same system. Without piles of paper, reports that don’t talk to one another, and standalone to-do lists, you’ll be much more organized.

Our brains actually organize information similarly to a good, healthy database. Information, memories, and sensory experiences are classified and stored; and they all work symbiotically, without one supervisor in charge but instead a whole team at play. Based on this alone, it makes sense that a similar structure in our workday would make our brains happy campers. But, being organized has an even more significant impact on an individual. Neuroscientific research shows that disorganization can create an unsettling feeling of chaos, whereas organization generates a sense of peace and calm. And a calm arts administrator will surely work more effectively than a disorganized, unsettled one!

Efficiency

Working quickly, seamlessly, and accurately is vital to the health of any organization. We know how important managing relationships is, and the more you know about your patrons, the better you can serve them. A CRM system stores every customer interaction, allowing for those strong patron relationships to be built upon. Efficiency is the ability to accomplish tasks and achieve maximum productivity with minimal time and effort. Having to cross-reference multiple databases or spreadsheets wastes time and risks inaccuracy. What your organization needs to run efficiently is a central location to house all information, accessible by all members of your team. A reliable single source leads to consistency, whereas having multiple data sources can lead to disaster.

Research proves that multi-tasking, which in this case is akin to leaping from source to source for information, is terrible for your brain. Brains don’t naturally multi-task; instead, the attempt leads the brain to skip rapidly from one task to the next, which hinders our ability to focus on any one thing. When our attention is divided in such a way, we become less efficient. Studies also show that a key component of job satisfaction is the ability to operate efficiently within a reliable process with a little bit of freedom. A CRM system encompasses that perfectly by being inherently organized and efficient, but also allowing for flexibility and customization. CRM systems are the key to efficiency, and efficiency is the key to a satisfied administrator.

Collaboration

Relationships — not just with patrons, but with teammates — are also crucial to the health of an organization and its employees. With so many moving parts in an arts organization, it’s important to have strong relationships with your colleagues so you can work interdependently and effectively. With one CRM database, multiple employees can be logged in and collaborating at the same time. It’s also important to be privy to the same customer information: when patrons call, they expect that speaking to one person is like speaking to everyone at your organization, so it’s important that all information is easily accessible and that everyone is on the same page. With shared spreadsheets, you risk overwriting important data; and with multiple people inputting information, there will always be a lack of consistency. Having one central location for people to collaborate uniformly and effectively makes for less work stress and stronger interpersonal relationships with less conflict and more cooperation. 

Having a system that allows for so much teamwork and collaboration is good for us, too. Participating in group collaboration is proven to benefit us mentally, emotionally, and socially. It allows us to take more risks, build connections, and succeed as an organization. Well-connected and successful employees are happy and healthy employees, and a CRM is the fastest way to get there.

By taking a look at the assets of a CRM system, we see how clearly they connect with the key components of mental well-being in the workplace. It is always crucial to consider the health of team members because for better or worse it will drastically impact the success of your organization. A CRM clearly supports all of the components of a thriving organization, and it turns out that we can back up its advantages with neuroscientific fact! And who can argue with science?

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