Keeping your business running smoothly can feel overwhelming. Between managing tasks, staying organized, and planning for unforeseen events, keeping up with client relationships without disrupting timelines or missing deadlines can be difficult.

So, how can you manage your business without leaving important tasks on the back burner? It’s simple: You need customer relationship management (CRM) tools to get the job done. From managing leads to sending professional invoices, you can manage every interaction with just a few clicks to scale and streamline your business.

Ready to make your CRM for event management work for you? Here’s everything you need to know to streamline, manage, and grow your business with modern CRM solutions.

What is a CRM tool?

A customer relationship management (CRM) tool is designed to manage and track the progress of customer relationships. In other words, a CRM tool stores information concerning customers and leads. This way, business owners can plan precise follow-ups with customers and clients to stay on top of important tasks.

In event management, a CRM can help event professionals optimize data management related to event attendees and clients. At the same time, CRMs support the entire event lifecycle by optimizing marketing campaigns, managing reservations, and even measuring the performance of your events.

CRM software for event management makes your daily life easier. Whether you’re looking to automate some tasks, track sales and pricing, or maintain relationships with customers, a CRM paired with event management software provides all of the tools you need in one spot to manage your business with ease.

Are you looking for an all-in-one solution for your event business? 

Planning Pod offers everything you need in one platform to plan, manage, and grow your event business, from client management and event planning to invoicing and signing contracts. No switching between programs or using clunky APIs to piece together third-party modules. Get started with Planning Pod and enjoy advanced CRM and business management tools designed specifically for event businesses and event professionals. 

How a CRM for event management tool can scale and streamline your business

Customer relationship management is the tool you need to organize your business your way, all in one place. With tools ranging from attendee management to workflow automations, CRM and event management software is an asset for any event business. But with a variety of CRMs to choose from, such as Salesforce, Cvent, or Zoho CRM, it’s important to choose the right CRM system for your business.

Still trying to figure out where to start? Some key features of modern CRM tools that would best serve event professionals include:

• Intuitive attendee management. A CRM system can help you keep track of attendees and their information. By collecting data on attendees, you can create targeted marketing campaigns and personalized communications. In turn, you’ll drive higher attendance rates and greater engagement during the event. Plus, with a CRM tool, you can easily track RSVPs and send reminders to those who haven’t responded yet.
• Simplified event planning. A comprehensive event management CRM tool can also help you manage event logistics. With the right tool, you can keep track of every detail—from the event venue and catering plans to the audiovisual equipment. You can also assign tasks to team members and set deadlines to ensure everything is completed on time. You can use your event management CRM to create a schedule for the event, including session times and speaker information, which can be easily shared with others to keep everyone informed and on schedule.
• Key insights and data analysis. When you collect data on attendees and their behavior, you can gain valuable insights into what worked and what didn’t. For example, by analyzing attendee feedback from in-person events, you can identify areas for improvement and make changes for future events. Additionally, you can track attendance rates and revenue generated to measure the success of the event and make data-driven decisions moving forward.

Whether you’re a festival organizer, corporate planner, or event venue manager, Planning Pod’s advanced event CRM tool integrates with other business tools to save time and effort in managing your business. One centralized dashboard provides a comprehensive overview of upcoming, waiting, and overdue tasks, along with key account activities, allowing event professionals to take event management and client relationship management into their own hands.

Click here to find out how Shaun Gray Events uses Planning Pod to streamline & grow his business!

Easily track client information

As an event professional, you already know that staying organized is key to creating successful events. With a CRM system at your side, you’ll be able to store all client information in one place for easy access. This means you won’t have to search through multiple spreadsheets to find key details about third-party vendors, catering plans, or contact information.

Instead, you can quickly access all client information in one central location. This includes contact information, event details, and any notes or comments you’ve made about the client. For simplified organization, you can create profiles for each contact, including phone numbers, documents, and tags, for easy searching. You can even attach invoices and email exchanges to track your communications.

Ultimately, when you know more about potential clients and leads, you’ll be able to craft personalized marketing campaigns and communications, which can make all the difference in the success of your event and your business. 

Communicate with vendors

Contrary to popular belief, CRM software isn’t just for client management. Event organizers can also use CRMs for contact management of third-party vendors, service providers, event venues, and more. The best event management solutions make it easy for event planners to track notes, pricing, packages, and files for contracts. In addition, you should be able to track entire accounts for companies, including all of the people and items related to them.

Planning Pod’s all-inclusive event management platform provides tools to share floor plans, automate invoices, send BEOs, and share to-do lists. In turn, you’ll streamline the planning process and make sure everyone knows what’s expected of them. At the same time, staying updated with vendors can help you maintain important relationships and prevent potential miscommunications regarding key event details.

With highly functional communications tools, event professionals can integrate personal or business emails to send, receive, and monitor emails. You’ll also have the option to create and customize email templates and assign those templates to different items in the system. This way, users can receive notifications when new leads are added, invitations to collaborate, and more.

Create intuitive client workspaces

When you use a CRM platform, you can keep track of all of your client interactions in one place. In other words, you’ll be able to view a history of every email, phone call, and meeting you’ve had with each client. You can also keep track of important details like their contact information, preferences, and purchase history.

Planning Pod’s comprehensive client portal takes it a step further, allowing event organizers to create client workspaces. Simply put, this functionality empowers clients to proactively interact with a centralized place where they can monitor events and take action. 

By giving clients access to Planning Pod, you’ll be able to send information and collaboration tools to a dedicated platform for clients to offer a more client-friendly experience. Through the client portal, clients can mark tasks off personalized to-do lists, review floor plans, update RVSPs, and more straight from their phones, computers, or tablets.

Whether you’re planning hybrid events or corporate conferences, merging event relations and event management is the key to a smoother business process. You’ll also reduce the amount of back-and-forth communication needed, so you can save time and focus on the more important aspects of your event.

Collect signatures and payments

Collecting client signatures and payments can be incredibly time-consuming, but it doesn’t have to be. With Planning Pod’s intuitive CRM platform, you can send custom proposals and invoices with customized templates for every client. The client will receive, review, and sign off electronically, keeping the process smooth and effortless on both ends.  

Payments are also easier with Planning Pod’s CRM tool. Instead of waiting for clients to send payments, you can offer convenient options for them to pay online or save time by setting up an automatic payment schedule. Our CRM also offers functionality to set up auto-reminders for payment due dates, upcoming payments, and late payments. This way, Planning Pod can follow up with clients regarding unpaid invoices, and you can focus on project management.

Overall, digital invoicing and e-signatures reduce paperwork and time tracking down clients for signatures, approvals, and payments—all while boosting client satisfaction by offering simplified signatures, proposals, and payment options through Stripe, Square, and Quickbooks.

Even after the event ends, you can use your CRM tool to keep the conversation going by asking for attendee feedback. Post-event surveys help event organizers maintain relationships with attendees and provide key insights for future events. With customizable forms, you can also collect feedback to use in testimonials for your next event marketing campaign.

With Planning Pod, event planners can set reminders to send follow-up communications, such as anniversary emails, loyalty program notifications, news, and promotions. By keeping your business top of mind with a built-in sales team, you’ll fill your sales pipeline with repeat clients to help your business thrive.

The best CRM software for event management also features reporting and analytics, with data filters for attendees, registration orders, and more. In addition, real-time dashboards for mobile app check-ins, registrations, and other key event information can help you maximize attendee engagement by gaining insights into attendees’ interests, behaviors, and preferences.

Stay in sync with the entire team

When it comes to event management, communication is essential. Instead of defaulting to email and text communications with programs like Gmail and Outlook, you deserve a solid event CRM software solution with added communication functionality. 

For example, Planning Pod offers cloud-based sharing so that you can update your CRM live to keep everyone up-to-date on the latest information—whether you’re working from the office, at home on your laptop, or on the go from your phone.

Planning Pod also features updated calendar sharing, with color-coded calendars that show everything from event bookings and showings to room reservations. With cloud-based sharing, you can update your calendar on the go and share essential information with staff so everyone has the latest updates. You’ll also have the option to sync your calendar one way to another electronic calendar, such as Google, Yahoo, or Apple calendars, for added productivity.

Set up automatic email tracking

Along with cloud-based sharing, you can also set up automatic email tracking to attach notes and conversations to a specific contact or event. In other words, when someone emails you about an important date change for an upcoming event, it won’t get lost in your inbox. Plus, everyone on that account can view the change and pick up where you left off.

Event organizers can also compose/reply to email messages with specific leads and events, attach documents, edit batch emails, and use pre-built email templates for streamlined email communication. Planning Pod features default templates, where you can edit customized default messages before sending them to contacts to send a personalized message. With email tools at your fingertips, you’ll be able to keep your entire team updated—all while creating a valuable history record of event information for easier event management. 

Upgrade your marketing campaigns

The best CRM tools offer effective tools to improve your marketing strategy, from marketing automation to social media integrations. Planning Pod’s CRM offers simplified tools for event organizers to send emails to attendees. You can also pair it with your email marketing platform to create marketing automations like drip campaigns and email marketing autoresponders to ensure you deliver the right information to event attendees throughout the event lifecycle.

A modern CRM tool can also streamline your event marketing strategy across multiple channels, like text messaging, social media, and event websites. Social media integrations are especially important for attracting leads if you’re hosting webinars, virtual events, or hybrid events that align with online marketing efforts.

Meanwhile, website integrations can help you keep event attendees updated with the latest event information, details about event registration, and more. From customized landing pages to contact forms, you’ll have all the tools you need to inform attendees about your next event and encourage them to take action.

Looking for inspiration? Click here to read about the 8 influencers every event pro should be following on social media!

Ready to make your CRM for event management tool work for you?

When you’re ready to save time and effort with event management, we’re here to help. At Planning Pod, our extensive CRM solution helps event professionals seamlessly manage their events, venues, and clients with wide-ranging tools for event management. From nonprofits to networking events, our tools offer high functionality to consolidate and streamline business processes. Contact Planning Pod today to set up the best CRM event management tool for your business.