Building Customer Relationships with a Powerful CRM & Ticketing System

The Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF) were introduced to Spektrix in 2019 by TRG Arts, when they sought a system that would bring together ticketing, CRM, and development tools.

Wooden Piano Keyboard

Contemporary American Theater Festival logo

 
Contemporary American Theater Festival

duo tone map pin bordered icon

Shepherdstown, West Virginia

duo tone masks genre bordered icon

Theater Festival
Switched to Spektrix from Vendini in 2019

With an adventurous annual program managed by just six permanent team members and ambitious fundraising targets, it's vital for CATF to make the most of every customer relationship - from first time visitors through to major sponsors. 

Spektrix gave the team a customer relationship tool designed around the unique needs of arts organizations, with ticketing, marketing, CRM, and fundraising tools combined within a single, transformative system.

Cast members onstage at CATF, in costumes reminiscent of a medieval court
"Having this kind of control has helped us to offer customer service at a much better level, especially for our very important partners and donors."
Vicki Willman
Director of Development

Connect with donors

Vicki Willman has been Director of Development at CATF for several years, and much of her focus has been on creating a more professional, formalized development program. Responsible for the festival's relationship with every donor, from $5 gifts through to $1000 pledges, she's also the point of contact for major sponsors and senior stakeholders who play a vital role in the festival's success.

With so many relationships to manage, Spektrix enables smoother customer service workflows, helping her to keep personalized records for every individual.

"Being able to see my notes from a conversation that I had a year ago that they mentioned a husband, grandchildren, or a special group of friends that they come with - I really appreciate the ability to keep track of those connections." 

The marriage of ticketing, customer records, and development functions alongside the ease of processing transactions within Spektrix has helped Vicki support VIP patrons directly with ticket requests and changes. For the first time, she's confident enough using the system to make reservations directly, rather than running over to the box office for every change.

What's more, it's simple to hold tickets in the system and restrict access to certain users, so there are always seats available if a major donor calls; and it's easy to guide them towards the best seats with no risk of overbooking.

"It's been great for me to be able to start working with our major donors, our trustees, our honorary board, I try to take on all of those relationships and help them with their ticket selection."

 

"Sometimes I'll build an event two or three different ways and test it out to see what is going to be the easiest for our patrons, and for reporting. It's just such a robust, flexible tool that it really can be individualized to our company."
Gabrielle Tokach
Public Relations Manager

Personal connections

As Public Relations Manager, Gabrielle Tokach is responsible for setting up and ticketing CATF's events. She finds Spektrix so easy to use that it's possible to build and test different versions to find the best approach for both patrons and colleagues. 

Meanwhile, both Gabrielle and Vicki use reports and segmentation in Spektrix to manage more personalized communications, automate discounts based on memberships, zip code, and purchase history, and accurately measure success. The feature-rich system provides robust, efficient customer service for theater lovers and students at Shepherd University, the festival's home.

"Tags are my absolute favorite thing in the universe. That ability to talk to our audience in a very specific way has really changed what we're able to do and our relationship with our patrons."


This means, for example, that customers tagged with Access needs can now easily view and select accessible seats online, helping CATF meet the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and improving the ticket buying experience for every patron. Front of house teams also receive a bespoke attendance report, drawing on CRM data to flag access customers and VIP visitors, which helps seasonal team members welcome patrons on a more personal level.

"Having all of that information right on hand lets them know who they are talking to and provide the best customer service to that patron."

 

Within the first two years, the switch to Spektrix has already brought huge benefits to CATF by uniting ticketing and fundraising data in a single CRM system, improving patron experience, and providing better reporting for the team and their funders. Gabrielle's determined not to stop there - she's been regularly accessing on-demand training resources, available to every Spektrix user at no extra cost, which are designed to help organizations get the very best value from the system.

 

"It's just such a robust tool, and I am constantly learning, I'm constantly figuring out the best way for us to use the system."
Gabrielle Tokach
Public Relations Manager
Male and female performers in conversation in a stage set like a 1950s American kitchen

How to Choose the Best Arts CRM & Ticketing Software

A step-by-step guide to help you choose the right platform for your organization

How to choose a ticketing system

Fundraising in Spektrix

Learn more about the benefits of fundraising and ticketing tools that work in harmony.

Spektrix for Fundraising