For a long time, we’ve been looking for the right CRM (customer relationship management) software to use at Collegewise. We needed something that would allow anyone in our office to look up a student from a central database and find out things like:
What is this student’s email address?
What is his parent’s phone number?
When is his next appointment?
Who will be meeting with him?
What's the agenda for that appointment?
What is his homework that needs to be completed before that date?
Did he show up for his appointment?
Was the homework done?
What's his next step?
So in January, Breanne in our Irvine office took on the task to not just compare different options, but also to actually make a decision and implement it. Thanks to Breanne, we’re now using Highrise by 37Signals.
Some of the key features that sold us on Highrise were:
- We can search easily
- We can customize fields (we added “Class of,” “Referred by,” “Counselor,” etc.)
- We can upload an image
- We can enter a contact when they meet with us for an introductory meeting, then move them to a “Customer” when they enroll.
- We can write notes on each contact, such as "to do" lists or follow-up items
- We can add “tasks” and “cases,” which can be used to track each student's different applications. That will let us set up a case for each student; then each college he applies to and each application he sends will be stored in that case.
- We can keep all of our emails and communications about a student in one place.
- There’s no software to install—it’s all web based.
- It’s pay as you go ($24 per month for up to six users, $49 per month for up to 15 users) and there’s no long-term contract.
Breanne also wrote a short how-to guideline so we can all get started using it. We think it’s going to be the perfect tool to do just what we need it to do. And as we learn even better ways to use it, I’ll share them here.
Heidi Wright says
I was so pleased to see your post on Highrise’s CRM software. I’m a private tutor and I’ve been looking for an effective way to keep track of clients and share info virtually with my administrative assistant. What are your thoughts after a month of using it? Also, out of curiosity, do you use an online calendar for scheduling students — if so, does it sync with Highrise?
Wanted to also pass on to you my favorite famous person response when asked by Time magazine (“Should SATs matter?”) what she got on her SATs: “Nail polish” (Jennifer Lopez)
Despite my profession, I like the way she (and Collegewise) encourage keeping the test in perspective 🙂 Love your blog!
Kevin McMullin says
@Heidi-
We use Google Apps for business for all our online scheduling. It doesn’t entirely synch with Highrise, but Highrise will let you pull “tasks” onto the calendar. You might be interested in this from their blog about how a test prep company uses their products:
http://productblogarchive.37signals.com/products/2011/01/top-test-prep-boosts-conversion-rates-with-highrise-and-tracks-progress-with-basecamp.html