It’s all too easy to assume that CRM problems stem from a technological failure – i.e. if we only had the right system we would have no data management problem. It’s just as easy to assume that concerns around CRM should only affect art organisations that are working with a ticketing system. But are these assumptions really true?

Thinking Out of the Box, our recent CRM masterclass with Andrew Thomas of The Ticketing Institute, debunked these myths and many more, presenting a more accurate and rounded picture of CRM and facilitating a conversation that was equally relevant for ticketed and unticketed organisations, regardless of size or art form.

With thirty-six attendees from across Scotland, the event demonstrated that there’s a huge appetite for information around good practice as well as an enthusiasm for collaborative learning. Delegates learned about key sources of data, practical applications, the potential pitfalls of customer data management, effective strategies for data collection and engaged in a lively discussion around what systematic features are best to invest time and money in.

Everyone who registered was invited to participate in a pre-event survey on his/her current systems and skill level. It showed that amongst the respondents responsibility for CRM is spread across organisations. Although it is broadly concentrated in marketing teams it was also residing in ticketing, fundraising, operations and artistic programming teams. Most people agreed that though CRM was vital to their business they could be doing more to engage with their audiences. The largest challenges were seen to be in the quality of the data, training in data use and in the technology itself.

One stand-out finding from the survey was that when asked the question “If you have a supplier do they support you in improving your CRM tools, techniques and strategies” just over 50% of respondents answered ‘no’. This might in some way account for the enthusiasm that participants showed in collective solutions around shared learning, with many arts organisations feeling that they are not getting this support from their vendors.

The final session of the day asked participants to map out the areas on which they would like to do further work, and the following answers emerged:

• Changing management philosophy around CRM – generating greater support, greater buy-in and lobbying upward within organisations;
• Building networks across ticketed organisations – creating a standard of practice and sharing good practice for data collection and service;
• Sharing information around systems to make better choices when considering new suppliers;
• Managing customer information – focussing on access and equalities;
• Best practice/internal processes for effective data capture;
• Facilitation for mentoring between organisations – matching up system users with experience to new users;
• Providing benchmarks;
• How to capture data on tour;
• How to capture data for group sales;
• Back to basics – how to extract customer insight from data – what to do and how to use it;
• Social Media data capture – how to personalise, segment and connect social media information to CRM.

Of these, best practice and internal processes for effective data capture, building networks amongst ticketed organisations, and social media data capture emerged as the most popular areas for further work. We have taken this to heart and are currently working on a series of events that will respond to these needs. Watch this space for more information in the near future!