In a nutshell…
- Marketing Automation
Squirrel Business Solutions implemented Zoho CRM for Righteous Pups and digitised all their manual processes, including the completion of application forms and the storage of important records. They also installed two-way SMS integration. As a result, the administrative burden on their small team has been greatly reduced. This has relieved anxiety and enabled them to improve their communications and services, increase their reach and raise awareness of their work.
Righteous Pups
Righteous Pups is a NFP organisation that breeds and trains assistance dogs for people with autism and other disabilities. They also train dogs in the local community and run a volunteer program for local and exchange students wishing to learn to train dogs.
The brief
As a NFP organisation, Righteous Pups depend entirely on donations. To reduce costs, they had not updated their administration systems for some time and their data was dispersed across four different systems – including an outdated database, spreadsheets and manilla folders. They were also sending out 30-page-long paper application forms to families applying for assistance dogs, and to any medical practitioners involved, by post. In addition, they were using their email contact list as a directory.
With their resources already overstretched, Righteous Pups had no budget for marketing, and therefore limited means of reaching out and attracting potential donors to their website, or building a list.
Righteous Pups’ manual processes were so time-consuming that they were struggling to stay on top of their day-to-day administrative tasks, meet the different requirements of the three arms of their business and promote their work. This was becoming a source of anxiety for their small team. On the advice of their business mentor, they called on Squirrel Business Solutions for help.
“We are a small charity and had a real deficit in the admin area. There was lots of stuff to be done in the back office and we were working all hours but couldn’t make a dent. It was just taking for ever to get back to people. We knew we had to do something but were naive about what systems we needed or what was available,” explains Joanne Baker, Managing Director, Righteous Pups.
The solution
- 2-way SMS Integration
- WordPress
- Zoho CRM
Squirrel’s CRM consultants met with the team at Righteous Pups to gain a clear understanding of how their business works and their existing systems, requirements, pain points and goals.
After a period of detailed planning and further consultation, Squirrel carried out the following implementations and integrations for Righteous Pups:
Zoho CRM
The first step was to implement Zoho CRM. Squirrel then customised the system to meet Righteous Pups’ requirements and suggested some relatively simple ways in which Righteous Pups could improve their efficiency straight away. These included:
- Cleansing and consolidating all data, much of which existed only on paper, in the CRM.
- Storing email correspondence in the relevant contact record in the CRM.
- Creating several workflows and automations, for example reminders to make vet appointments.
- Tracking all donations in the CRM and providing the ability to send a receipt for the donation.
- Sending ‘thank-you emails’ and receipts to donors from the CRM with one click.
- Storing all the information required by auditors in the CRM or as PDFs in the CRM.
- Creating a custom ‘Our dogs’ module to record the genealogy of the dogs they breed. To make it easier to capture this information in the CRM, Squirrel created a web page with the same structure as the Word document Righteous Pups were using. When the form is submitted, the information is pushed directly into the CRM, and fields including parents and grandparents in the dog’s record are automatically updated. Information on great-grandparents is stored in a PDF and can easily be printed off when needed.
- Creating report cards for dogs undergoing training in the CRM and emailing them to their owners from the CRM with just a few clicks, instead of manually.
Web integration
To replace the paper version of the assistance application form, Squirrel created a web form with the following features and advantages:
- Applications can now be completed online by everyone involved in the process, including families and medical practitioners.
- Partially completed forms can be saved and completed later, with information saved in the CRM each time a page is finished.
- If the form is not modified for a certain number of days, Righteous Pups get a notification and can contact the applicant to offer assistance.
- At the end of the submission, applicants can download the form as a PDF for their records.
- The completed application is attached to the opportunity record in the CRM.
- Any attachments, such as completed permission slips allowing medical practitioners to share information, are also attached to the opportunity record.
SMS integration
Squirrel then enabled the CRM with SMS capability, enabling Righteous Pups to communicate with their contacts simply and directly by SMS. This has allowed them to send, for example, a bulk SMS message inviting potential donors to make donations before the end of the financial year. Previously, they had had no way of doing this.
Website, social media and marketing
To help Righteous Pups raise awareness of their work, Squirrel set up a blog on their website and enabled them to share their posts on their Facebook page.
Squirrel also updated the ‘Donate’ page on Righteous Pups’ website, making it easier for donors to pay using Paypal.
“We now have the capacity to do what we’re supposed to do. We’ve been able to run great campaigns, just like the big charities, through the CRM at very little cost. The first time we shared a blog post on Facebook, we received twelve new enquiries!
The CRM has become the extra person we couldn’t afford to hire and taken away our anxiety,” continues Jo.
The benefits
- One centralised, up-to-date database for clients, donors, volunteers and dogs.
- Efficient, streamlined processes.
- Significantly reduced paperwork.
- Online applications.
- Centralised document management and ease of collaboration.
- Significantly reduced administration time, allowing Righteous Pups to make best use of their limited resources and focus on other aspects of the business, including marketing.
- Improved communications with donors, clients and volunteers.
- Ability to engage regularly with community through multiple channels, and remain front of mind at a low cost.
- Better service and enhanced professional image.
- Increased awareness of Righteous Pups’ work.
- A secure and readily accessible means of storing completed applications.
- Accurate, easily accessible records for auditors.
- Report cards created and sent to dog owners almost instantly, rather than manually.
I would recommend Squirrel to any business that is not using a CRM. What they are exceptional at doing is listening to your story, getting under the skin of your organisation, understanding its heartbeat and then designing a system that fits like a glove. They analysed our business and brought in a suite of tools and strategies that were transformative for us.
Kerryn was extremely professional, approachable, contactable and responsive and went over things until we understood them or sent me a quick video. We were always treated with empathy and respect and never felt judged, even though we had little idea about technology. They’re nice people and just get it.
Joanne Baker
Managing Director
Righteous Pups
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Squirrel Business Solutions implements and integrates CRM and other cloud-based systems, and provides training and support, for small and medium-sized businesses all over Australia, including Melbourne, Bendigo, regional Victoria, Tasmania, Sydney and Brisbane. This empowers them to automate their processes and improve their efficiency.
Elizabeth is our resident customer engagement lady. She checks in with our clients regularly to help the team at Squirrel efficiently deliver what’s important. She’s a bit of a wordsmith too!