When I work with clients, I ask about their requirements, workflows, pain points, integrations, reporting, segmentation, budget, and planned growth. All of those are important in choosing the right CRM and donor database.

But equally important is training staff to use the system effectively and efficiently. That’s why I create manuals and provide training that show how the business or nonprofit uses the database so data is input consistently and staff can get useful data to evaluate trends, produce metrics for annual reports, and segment donors and customers for outreach.

Often small businesses and nonprofits have only a few key people managing the CRM, and it’s ideal for those individuals to have a database mindset, particularly for reporting. How do you find the right person for that role? When interviewing, look for people who have advanced Excel knowledge and who love using pivot tables and vertical lookups. They naturally understand how databases work and have the best skill-set for managing and gathering data from a CRM.

Any other questions? Reach out. I can help you.