For years – decades even – associations have managed their customers using an Association Management System. Vendors rightly saw a niche audience and built proprietary tools to address the specific needs of a membership organization, which was great. Associations do have specific needs. And with over 20,000 associations in the US alone, there’s a rich market for companies to serve those needs.
But technology has come a long way since the first AMS was built. And associations have too. While associations benefit from doing mission-driven work to serve their members, the public, and the common good, they’re also running a business. The common phrase “non-profit is a tax status, not a business model” has become more relevant than ever, with the increasingly common expectation from members to receive the same customer experience they get in their everyday life. Associations want to deliver that and more.
That’s where a CRM comes in. Let’s break that down.”
Customer – You serve members. And that member is consuming a product or service that you produce. And you want to track things about that customer. Contact information. Demographic information.
Relationship – Does your member work for an organization? Does your member belong to committees? Your member doesn’t exist in a vacuum. You want to know how your members relate to you, each other, and the products and services you provide.
Management – Whether someone is joining, buying, or registering, you want to manage that experience. You want to keep track of it for fulfillment and reporting and serving that customer.
The real benefit is what happens when you put that all together. Customer Relationship Management is greater than the sum of its parts. Because a CRM is built to use more than just what you’ve been told, it’s designed to give you context, to analyze those interactions with your members, predict trends, personalize content, and seamlessly connect to how you talk to your members.
A CRM puts the member first – and recognizes that the member’s experience is a journey. One that you hope to nurture for a lifetime. And a CRM is built to be by your side through it all.
Altai Systems is also by your side. We bring the CRM to you – without sacrificing those AMS-specific features that make you unique. Altai has the AMS functionality and the CRM functionality – all built within the Microsoft Dynamics Platform. We know CRMs. You should too. Let us show you what our platform can do for you.
