What Does Your Business Need? Fanfaire vs. CRMs
If you’re considering a CRM to manage customer data and communication, it’s important to ask: what does your business truly need? A CRM can help you keep track of client information, but for event decor businesses, traditional CRMs often fall short of meeting industry-specific needs. Here’s a closer look at how Fanfaire differs and whether it’s the better choice for you.
1. Managing Leads and Bookings
• CRM: A CRM expects you to manually manage each lead, requiring follow-up and manual bookings that turn you into the sales agent. Clients can’t book directly, and every inquiry demands your time, slowing down the process and opening the door for potential clients to look elsewhere.
• Fanfaire: With Fanfaire, your clients can explore, design, and book independently. The platform integrates pricing and booking seamlessly, reducing friction and allowing clients to commit on their terms.
2. Data Entry and Tracking
• CRM: Data entry in CRMs is often manual and time-consuming, and data decay is a common issue: up to 30% of CRM data becomes outdated each year. Plus, 40% of salespeople forget to enter key information, leading to missed follow-ups and disorganized records.
• Fanfaire: Fanfaire automates data collection, capturing lead info, booking history, and client interactions without manual input. Every interaction is organized, accessible, and ready for you to act on at any time.
3. Customer-Facing Interface
• CRM: Traditional CRMs don’t offer a front-end client interface, and any customer-facing forms typically require third-party integrations. Even then, lead forms are one-way, sending info to your backend without providing clients the experience they expect.
• Fanfaire: Fanfaire’s digital storefront is designed for today’s customers, allowing them to explore options, check real-time availability, and make design choices before they book. This two-way interaction meets modern expectations and reduces the back-and-forth of typical inquiry forms.
4. Mockups, Proposal Revisions, and Tool Integration
• CRM: CRMs don’t have capabilities for creating mockups or visual proposals, leaving you to handle design requests manually. Each request means more hours spent on revisions, often with little insight into what the client really wants. Additionally, you’re often relying on multiple tools—such as separate email, invoicing, and project management platforms—that require manual effort and don’t integrate with each other, leading to duplicate work.
• Fanfaire: Fanfaire is an all-in-one platform that enables clients to visualize their event setup and adjust details as they go. This eliminates the need for multiple proposal revisions and empowers clients to see exactly what they’ll get. By having everything in one place, Fanfaire removes the hassle of juggling multiple tools, significantly reducing manual work and simplifying your workflow.
5. Data Quality and Actionable Insights
• CRM: CRMs are only as good as the data entered, and with outdated information and inconsistent tracking, they can quickly become a burden. Pulling actionable insights from incomplete data is challenging, and you’re left with a system that feels more like a chore. CRMs also rely heavily on third-party data, which can be inaccurate or misaligned with your actual customer base.
• Fanfaire: Fanfaire collects first-party data—information directly reported by the customer or gathered from their actions within the platform, like selections made or designs saved. First-party data is typically more accurate and actionable than third-party data because it’s based on your actual client interactions rather than assumptions. With clean, direct data on what clients are actually doing, Fanfaire helps you make smarter business decisions.
The Takeaway: What Does Your Business Need?
If your goal is to create a smooth, client-driven experience, save time, and gain a competitive edge in the event decor industry, Fanfaire offers features that go beyond the capabilities of a standard CRM. While CRMs focus on organizing client information, Fanfaire is designed to convert leads, provide visual engagement, and streamline the booking process—all while minimizing manual work.
Consider what your business truly needs. Fanfaire might just be the platform to meet those needs and help you grow in a way a traditional CRM simply can’t.
