Page 31 - Voices November 2016
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PUBLIC RELATIONS
Be a Genius – Use CRM to Convert
Guests to Members
by Phyllis Harmon, DTM—District 7 Public Relations Manager
Your guest book is a treasure trove of with your meeting notes,
information about past visitors. Every visitor is entered into the online
listed could be converted to a member with just CRM, which forms the backdrop for all ongoing
a little bit of work. If you think about it, your communication.
guest book, while limited in scope, is nothing Yes, ongoing communication is highly
more than an old-fashioned, manual version recommended. After all - public relations
of a customer relationship management (CRM) is all about creating relationships with the
system. public. Unless you are very good at guest
Sales professionals have conversions during the initial
used CRMs for several years to visit, nurturing relationships
build and maintain strong, loyal is the best way to increase
relationships with customers membership.
and prospects. Last year, The sales motto, “people
Toastmasters International buy from people they like”
adopted a CRM to capture new applies as well to guests
club prospects and share them converting to members.
with district leaders. In 2011, I Creating connections through
introduced CRM to District 7 to communication fosters
track prospective club activities. likeability. CRMs put reminder
Every division director had prompts, email functionality,
record access so they could keep up to date on and report capabilities at your club’s fingertips.
communications with the prospective clubs Use reminders to schedule follow-up notes,
in their divisions. We successfully started 13 email to answer questions and share information,
new clubs using CRM, resulting in District 7 and reports to determine visitor mix trends for
becoming a distinguished district for the first targeting your message.
time in several years. An additional benefit was A customer relationship management system
that new club start activities were available to should be part of your club’s public relations
the subsequent Club Growth Directors who had campaign. There are several free, online
all the information they needed to carry on the programs for you to consider. Choose one that
mission of the District. is easy to use and provides unlimited contacts,
Using a CRM for your club’s public relations users, and storage. Look for one that can be
campaign is pure genius. It’s an easy way to store customized to capture the data you want to track.
and manage visitor contact information and Decide what type of reports you may want to
interactions in one central location. Ultimately run, and add customized data fields accordingly.
a CRM solution keeps you in touch with every Information that should be captured includes
guest who steps through your door. It gives date of visit, last name, first name, home address,
you all the information you need to form email address, phone number, career field,
relationships with your visitors and convert reason for visiting the club, how they found out
them to members. about your club, and what skills do they want
Your campaign begins with gathering to improve.
consistent information from guests. This can be Using a customer relationship management
accomplished easily with a standardized, fill-in system to grow your club is pure genius. Be a
form handed to visitors when they arrive and genius. Be extraordinary.
collected when you meet with them following
the meeting. All the information gathered, along
VOLUME 3 ISSUE 5 NOVEMBER, 2016 31
