Stay away from the pain points with a 'Great Event Management CRM'
The brilliant amalgamation of imagination and planning- that is the job of an event planner. The stellar events are always a thing of amazement but the planning process behind is stressful. The pain points faced by the event managers are countless and erratic. Though the ‘multitasking skill’ is the x-factor that differentiates the successful event managers from the rest, a dedicated state-of-the-art CRM for event planners will certainly be an apt technological boon in the digital era.
CRM: A luxury or necessity?
In today’s business world, organizing various types of events is considered one of the most effective marketing strategies. Such get-togethers provide a great opportunity to connect with the existing and potential customers most reliably. Earlier, the event planners used to bank on event technologies to deal with the chaos from the huge pile of event-related data. Gradually they sensed a gap between the events and the business and realized that event management is not all about managing the event data alone.
It is this gap, which led to the recognition that CRM event management software which can engage the customers daily enjoying all the benefits of data analytics feature, will be a much more effective solution. Now, as everything is moving to virtual, statistics show that 93% of event professionals plan to invest in virtual events while moving forward. Naturally, there is a quest for the best CRM for event management, which can meet the challenges of the digital world.
CRM selection: A stitch in time saves nine.
As far as the event planners are considered, zeroing down to the best CRM by analysing the diverse features is a tedious process.
We are narrowing down the most desirable feature set based on the most annoying pain points here:
1. Data management
As the first step in the event management process, you are stepping into a pool of unorganized data from various departments. A parallel data tracking with multiple tools on the registration, ticketing, invoicing, lead management, and no-shows seems to be a mammoth task. If you are adroit at the art of data management, you can make rational decisions out of the same data during shorter lead times.
Event manager CRM allows you to collect all the data and monitor the data flow in each entry. This CRM ensures a proper digital record of the attendee check-in, feedback, and even the no-shows. In the future, these data management tools can aid your lead management in exceptional ways by serving more customers in less time.
2. Budget management
Hidden charges are always a headache to the event planners. Dealing with the pricing strategy of the venue, drop-out charges, guest accommodation and prolonged meeting times are painstaking. Many times, overspending on trivial tracking systems and logistical requirements also could pause unexpected challenges.
Tackling the budget in the most adverse circumstances is not easy. Event management CRMs are great tools for industry newcomers. The budget-monitoring feature in these CRMs helps to cut corners. All the expenditures that may occur in every step of the event planning will be identified by the CRM. Hence it ensures that even the minute and remotely possible expenses will get included in your budget.
3. Emergency management
All the event planners might have gone through their greatest nightmare- the emergencies, at least once in their career. They are expected to be accustomed to any sudden changes in the event content in most professional ways. If they are not ready with a plan B, the whole event may end up in distress and it may put a full stop to their career.
The best event planners' CRMs are always equipped with powerful dashboards. Any real-time changes updated in this dashboard can be synced across different platforms and make sure that the attendees are well aware of the latest event updates.
4. Attendee retention
The attendees are the show stoppers of an event. Gifting them with the utmost benefits of an event only will help you to retain them. Outdated event formats will no longer satisfy the attendees and the upshot will be poor attendee ROI. Of course, it calls for all the innovative ideas out there, that too within the budget.
The up-to-the-minute event management CRMs are taking care of these aspects in the most enjoyable ways. The gamification in CRM is the most sought-after method of client retention with their proven records. It provides a novel and fun experience of networking and mingling to the attendees. By including proper game instructions in your CRM, along with some rewards, you can make your attendees engaged for the full event.
5. Post-event attendee management
Maintaining the business relationship with the attendees calls for utmost care. In that aspect, event data can do wonders for your future business. But the pain point you might face here will be the significant data collection in effective formats.
To handle post-event communications, most of the CRM event management software comes with separate messaging tools. If you want to thank attendees, collect their feedback, or just want to send the updates of your next event make use of the SMS or email messaging tools. The CRM software will keep a record of all the details of these interactions.
Final thoughts
Multifunctional Event manager CRMs are an inevitable part of the event planning industry. They define another level of customer experience by handling the minute pain points of the event managers. Right from the database compilation, budget management, agility, communication tools; they serve the purpose of an adept event manager without any time constraints. Relying on such great and easy-to-use CRM software will grow your business with great professionalism.