How do you manage your constituent data?

We like paper We like Excel We like the database

Select an answer to the left

(left in terms of relative position, not necessarily in terms of political leaning)

What is CRMS?

Even if you've never heard the term "CRMS" before, but you have run for public office, you have had to keep some semblance of records about who is supporting your campaign.

In the business world, CRMS refers to a Customer Relationship Management System. But in the political realm, we call this a Constituent Relationship Manage System. That may sound a little more daunting than it is. Basically, a CRMS is a tool used to organize constituent data: names, addresses, phone numbers, interests, and in many cases, contributions. A CRMS can vary in complexity from a basic address book to a set of spreadsheets on a computer, to a concise relational database with a good user interface.

The options at the left are to help us gauge where you and your campaign are along the spectrum of constituent management.

Paper.

“It's tried and true, and tangible. It's not locked up somewhere with a bunch of scrambled electrons waiting for a hard drive failure. It's the way our parents and our parents' parents kept track of constituents. What's wrong with that?”

Click here to see our thoughts on this traditional record keeping practice.

Excel.

“It's digital and relatively easy to use. It can sort our data for us. We all have Microsoft Office installed on our computers. Besides, we don't have time to design, develop or pay to learn some more difficult means of record keeping. Isn't that good enough?”

Every program has its place.

Click here to find out why we think there's a better way.

Database.

“We know how to organize data using the appropriate technological tool. We add, update and sort all day, every day. We are power users and can find everything we need thanks to our database. Top that.”

Congratulations! You are definitely ahead of the curve. But we have one more twist you may not have considered.

Click here to find out how we advance constituent management
into the 21st century.