PatronManager CRM

A 21st century solution for a growing arts organization

Commentaires : PatronManager CRM has helped us gain a more complete insight to our patron relationships, and is invaluable in recording details of our patrons, donors and members. We have used this information to grow our earned and contributed revenue. The tools provided by PatronManager have made several staff positions more productive, and more satisfied in their jobs.

Avantages :

We worked with Patron Technology to migrate 12 years of ticketing/membership/donation transactions to PatronManager CRM in 2015. The technical staff, many of whom have direct working experience in nonprofit arts organizations, understood our goals completely and tailored the application for our unique requirements. The support team is knowledgeable, responsive and dedicated to our success. The power of the Salesforce software platform is its flexibility, and we quickly learned how to create custom fields, build reports, and modify data entry screens to make the system a perfect fit for our staff and volunteers. PatronManager CRM extends the functionality typically available in these types of ticketing applications by supporting the installation of Salesforce apps and plug-ins. This was never possible using our previous ticketing software, and opened new doors of possibility for our organization. We now use PatronManager to sell about 30,000 tickets annually, for concerts, theater and movie screenings, about 70% of which is done online. We used features of the product extensively to manage a $1.5M capital campaign, including wealth screening and a successful Kickstarter campaign that raised $120,000. Our membership has grown to over 1,700 members who receive special benefits such as discounts, presales and more -- all delivered through the software. We give a lot of credit for this success to PatronManager CRM and their talented employees for making it possible.

Inconvénients :

PatronManager CRM requires a training investment by the staff and leadership to get the most out of the product. This is true of any new system -- but there is a terrific reward to making that investment of time. We offer a small number of arts education programs, and we wish PatronManager CRM had more extensive capabilities for student registration built into the native product. The system is updated with enhancements frequently and we understand this is part of the product roadmap.

We have been using PM for 2 years and learn something new everyday.

Commentaires : Increased sales. Online sales capabilities. Less human error in making reservations and a quick "checks and balances" with confirmation emails. No surprises at curtain of patrons being booked into the wrong night. Faster reservation making because there is no more handwriting. Much more accurate sales reporting. Sales that tie into our accounting figures.

Avantages :

We have seen our single tickets increase dramatically with online capabilities, which we didn't have until starting with PM. Support staff has been very responsive. Having the system has cleaned up a lot of previous human error as we took reservations on handwritten forms for the prior TWENTY NINE years. With VoIP phones and this cloud based ticketing system we have the ability to allow BO staff to work form home when needed - answering phones and making reservations as if they were sitting in the office.

Inconvénients :

Subscribers with flexible packages can not go online to make individual show reservations. That is very unfortunate for us with over 5,000 subscribers in non-traditional subscription packages. Reporting take a bit of time to get used to. We are still double checking each other's list pulls to be confident they are correct. I also find there are some traditionally standard BO operations that can't be done, which frustrates me. I don't think the system should dictate how we do business. I suggest you appoint or hire a systems administrator as your go to person on staff. They'll have a lot to learn, program and continue to maintain. Our Audience Services Manager dedicates, on average, 8 hours a week to system administration.

Incredibly poor customer care team, supporting a product they've never used (opinions my own)

Commentaires : PatronManager consumes almost 20% of ticket income, provides very little benefit over a non-integrated solution, and treats you like a criminal for encountering problems with the service (which are plentiful). I wouldn't recommend to anyone except small organizations who *NEED* an integrated CRM/ticketing solution.

Avantages :

It's the most robust integrated crm/ticketing solution for businesses below a certain sales threshold; the best of a bad lot.

Inconvénients :

Any customizations bring hidden fees. The software is only marginally accessible for blind users. The customer care team openly despises their customers, and has months-long turnaround times on business-critical issues - the company has lost sales totaling in the five figure range due to PatronManager's frequent errors and the customer care team's lackadaisical response times. It's frequently impossible to reach anyone at the company (no employee has publicly available contact information, so prepare to work on PatronManager's schedule). The system is rigid and inflexible. New features with limited application arrive with alarming regularity (and require significant investments of employee time to comply with), while desired features are continually pushed back to some nebulous "future release."

We've been using PatronManager for four years; the system has been nothing short of transformational

Commentaires : It has facilitated significant growth in ticket sales and fundraising by making it possible for us to have a 360 degree view of everyone in our database.

Avantages :

Comprehensiveness: We now conduct all our business through PatronManager including ticket sales, marketing, development, education, and a national tour. This has been transformational for our ability to segment our audience and communicate in a truly personalized way with all our patrons and donors. Flexibility: The system is endlessly customizable. We now have custom objects that allow all touring processes from the first contact through the performance to live in one spot, including fees, workshops, lodging requirements, venue specs, etc. (all of which is able to be pulled into custom reports) Responsiveness: The PatronManager product development team is always listening to their customers and constantly making the product better. The flexibility of the Salesforce platform allows these updates to be seamless rather than disruptive to our daily use. Reporting: The flexibility of the reporting capabilities allow me to access everything from high level dashboards to deep dive data in minutes.

Inconvénients :

Due to PatronManager's fast growth, there have been times when tech support response times have been extended. However, when that has happened, PatronManager has always moved quickly to make necessary changes and communicated with customers openly about the challenges and the timeline.

The best software! Makes my job much easier, with its ease of use and dependability.

Avantages :

Love that we can customize almost anything to meet our unique needs. Ease of reporting, either using pre-made reports that come built in, or by customizing our own for specific details. Features are constantly being added - a highlight of any month is reading through Release Notes! Because my department is so small, I have come to depend on PM to house institutional knowledge that would otherwise be lost if even one member of our team left the organization. Building and managing inventory could not be easier. Love that I can customize email templates - has made invoicing directly from PM so easy. Chatter makes communicating with our student staff a breeze, and I love that I am able to work from home using PatronManager when weather or school closings are an issue. Have wifi, will travel. HIGHLY RECOMMEND!

Inconvénients :

There definitely has to be someone on staff who can be an admin that is well versed in most of the smaller troubleshooting issues, so that you're not constantly relying on PM Support. However, the online training and help modules are so robust, that this is not a problem. There is always help available, either online, or through the fantastic client services department that handles support requests.