“Did anyone follow up with that new donor who came to visit yesterday?”

“When should we reach out to the Johnsons next?”

“I just got a call from a Mrs. Smith, she said she was following up on our conversation at the gala. Does anyone remember who she is?”

If you’ve ever found yourself saying something like this, I highly recommend you look into using a CRM.

In case you’re not familiar with the term, a CRM is a piece of software that you can use to collect and organize data about the people you interact with on behalf of your organization, like potential donors or other kinds of prospects. 

Why bother with a CRM?

When an organization first starts out, there probably isn’t a lot to keep track of in terms of fundraising or recruiting. But as time goes on, things start to develop. Soon enough, they might be juggling hundreds if not thousands of contacts.

Once things reach a certain point, maybe they start using a spreadsheet to store their data. But a spreadsheet can get pretty clunky and tedious the more data you add and the more people are involved in editing or maintaining it.

What usually ends up happening is that recruiters, fundraisers and other outreach professionals have a huge store of knowledge of and experience with potential donors or students, but that knowledge stays personal. It’s not something the whole team has access to. This means that no one else can jump in to provide support if the primary recruiter isn’t available; if one of these employees leaves his or her job, that information leaves with them; and on top of this, there’s no way for them to be accountable for their decisions, since no one else knows enough to provide meaningful oversight.

In contrast, the beauty of a CRM is that though it keeps your data in one place, it doesn’t get unwieldy or messy, no matter how big it or your team grows. With a CRM, you can keep a record of every single interaction, so your team is able to check in and make sure they’re informed before they make contact with a donor or prospect. Their efforts are coordinated and synthesized, structured and focused, with less likelihood of anyone making a mistake because something, somewhere fell through the cracks.

This process is easier for your team, and it results in a higher quality experience for the people you interact with, too.

These records also provide insights that you can use to fine-tune your approach over the long term. The more knowledge you acquire about how people understand and respond to your pitch, the more effectively you can communicate. So, based on the real-time impressions that everyone now shares with each other, you can look for common themes regarding what’s working and what isn’t. Every success adds a new data point to diagram and analyze, as you search for patterns and trends to inform your future efforts.

How does it work?

Start by uploading your contact list, or perhaps several different contact lists for different categories of people. If anyone new is brought into the fold, add them to the list.

After that, there are two golden rules that make the CRM effective:

1. BEFORE you contact someone, review their file 

2. AFTER you contact someone, update their file.  

 * “Contact” could be a phone call, email, text message, or a happenstance meeting in the grocery store.

It’s as simple as that.

However, pulling it off takes a firm commitment from everyone involved. If the records aren’t updated and aren’t used, the whole thing falls apart.

If you’re serious about benefiting from the CRM, make sure everyone always enters information immediately, while it’s fresh in their minds. Encourage them to take their time and to be as clear and concise as possible, so everyone else will understand what they’ve written. Shorthand may save a minute now, but it will cost a lot more later.

Consider rewarding the team for good habits surrounding the CRM – you’ll encourage and lock in good behavior.

What kind of information goes into a CRM?

This terminology will differ according to the CRM program you choose to use. I’m relying on the categories you’ll find on HubSpot’s CRM, since that’s my preference, but you can easily adapt this to other systems.

Facts: Black and white details such as name, contact information, whom they’ve met with from your organization, etc.

Associations: If they’re linked with a particular organization, enter that here.

Notes: This is where you add some color, filling in the details of every interaction that takes place. Start with logging the date, time, medium and location, but don’t stop there. Include hobbies, family background, concerns, needs. These are subjects you can return to in later conversations, making it clear that you’ve been paying attention and that they’re in focused, capable hands.

Tasks: You can assign interactions to members of your staff, ensuring that they’re sent reminders to act on the appropriate date.

Deals: This refers to the various stages a prospect goes through in your relationship. For example, if you’re an educational institution using the CRM to track student recruitment, your deals might look like this:

• Expressed Initial Interest

• Applied 

• Interviewed 

• Has been accepted

• One-on-one phone call

• Enrolled in your program/Enrolled elsewhere

For a donor, maybe you’d use “deals” to track the progress of large gifts: initial proposal, ongoing discussion, donor expectations, next steps, etc.. 

Aside from making it easy to stay on top of prospects’ personal information, several of these tabs (associations, deals) offer you interesting ways to sort and review your list to see how your efforts are developing.

CRM programs are highly customizable, and as you become more comfortable, you’ll likely discover better ways to get things done. You can remove parameters and fields that prove irrelevant and add notes that make sense to you. Don’t hesitate to make adjustments.

There’s actually a lot more you can do with a CRM, including making and recording calls, sending emails, and tracking website visits directly from the interface. While these features are great, I’d suggest not worrying about them until the core implementation is solid. 

Which program is best?

If you want to get started using a CRM, I recommend locating someone to support your organization in setting it up. That way, you can be sure that you have a full understanding of the program and your ideal workflow. On the other hand, if you want to test the waters yourself first, HubSpot has a pretty simple free app that makes for a good entry point.

And hey, if you find someone who does a great job helping you get started, drop their contact info in the comments — I’m sure everyone else would appreciate the tip!