How Mobile CRM Helps Your MGOs

When your major gift officers end their meetings with major donors or prospects, what do you think is the first thing they do?

You probably guessed right. Your team member grabs his or her mobile device to check emails and social media. We live in a world that is all about on-demand information. Anything you want to know is readily available with a few taps of your fingers on your cell phone or tablet at any given moment.

Old School Major Donor Visits

Now, imagine: Your new major gift officer (MGO), Lucy, is starting her job with you today. One of the first things you want her to do is meet with some of your board members, major donors and prospects. Lucy dutifully schedules all of her appointments and like any good major gift person, she's looking to have as many back-to-back meetings as possible, so she can have productive time out of the office doing what she's paid to do.

In the old days, Lucy would have to prepare her material and do all of the research in the office. She would also have to make sure she carried with her all of the contact information for the people she would be visiting—just in case something happened along the way, such as a delay.

She would then go to her meetings. She would be a pro at connecting and engaging with the people she is meeting. Once each appointment was finished, as a professional MGO, she would make a couple of notes related to important things she learned during her conversations. She would also note any questions or particular items of interest for the donors she's meeting, so she can get back to them.

If you've done major gift fundraising, you know that if you're meeting people in quick succession, the information can blend and run together unless you're taking great notes after each meeting, which takes time.

Today’s MGO and Mobile CRM

Now imagine Lucy working in your office in today's world. Again, she schedules her meetings and prepares. But before Lucy begins her appointment rounds, she downloads an app onto her mobile device that allows her to have real-time access to the CRM. Lucy no longer has to create documents—often with confidential donor or prospect information—which she could easily lose or misplace.

And even more importantly, when she concludes each meeting, she will take a few moments to grab her mobile device and tap in the important and pertinent information relevant to each conversation. By using mobile CRM, she’s not going to wonder if the birthday she wanted to note or the program interest was related to the meeting she had with Mr. Jones three days ago or Ms. Smith yesterday.

Mobile CRM

Everyone knows the importance of data. And there’s an expression around it, “Garbage in, garbage out.” In other words, the information you place into your CRM has to be accurate. Mobile CRM allows your MGOs to do the following:

• Get real-time data and information about donors and prospects in your database.
• Because MGOs spend a lot of time out of the office, as they input key information into their mobile devices, other team members can have on-demand information and updates.
• Event registration, calendars, social media and email communication can be integrated.
• If a MGO is asked a financial question, which does happen in donor meetings, they can do quick ad-hoc reporting on the fly if appropriate.
• Tasks can be created if a MGO like Lucy has to get back to a donor on a request.

Mobile CRM has become an essential part of doing major gift fundraising in the digital world. If your major gift team does not yet have an app on their mobile device, make a phone call to your CRM provider and ask them what they're offering as a solution.