Glendale Heights, IL Adopts CRM Software to Track Citizen Communications
Glendale Heights, IL is a village in the greater Chicago metro area. Self-dubbed a proud and progressive Village for all people, Glendale Heights strives to improve the quality of life for the more than 30,000 people who call it home. As part of its commitment to providing a high standard of services and programs through the cooperative efforts of its residents, businesses, employees and elected officials, the Village decided earlier in 2022 that it needed assistance with tracking its communications with citizens.
“We received direction from our Village Board to look into a better way to track resident concerns and complaints, as well as general contact that we have with our residents, just so we’re all on the same page for communication’s sake,” says David Genty, Public Affairs Coordinator for the Village. “That way we can have better dialogue with residents and hold our staff accountable.”
Image courtesy Village of Glendale Heights
Out with the Old, In with the New
Prior to adopting a CRM software solution, Glendale Heights made do with pen and paper and a collection of internal processes. “We had some systems in place that were more bandaid systems to start out with,” Genty says. “We had a couple options on our website to report a concern, but it was more of a quick email system that would go out to multiple people. Moving forward with a CRM solution really helped to take that bandaid off and create a more permanent solution for us. Now we have a more efficient record to look back at and reference moving forward.”
With between 200-300 employees, depending on the season, Glendale Heights really needed a way to streamline communications in a way that allowed everyone to be on the same page. This was especially important for the Village’s elected officials, who wanted the ability to provide their constituents with updates on concerns or complaints they had reported. “Our biggest priority was the ability to track everything,” says Genty. “That way if a resident asks any of our board members to follow up on something, it’s easy to reference back and say ‘This is where it’s at. We already have a staff person looking into the matter.’”
When setting up the Village staff in the system, Glendale Heights made sure to give the Village Board secretary access to the software’s backend, allowing her the ability to log in and look up the status of specific complaints on behalf of the board’s elected officials.
Getting the Word Out with PR Initiatives
One of the struggles some municipalities face when implementing new CRM software is educating residents on the availability of the new resource. To get the word out, Glendale Heights employed several tactics. “A lot of the awareness was social media driven, but the timing also worked out perfectly because we had a newsletter going out right after implementation,” Genty says. “We dedicated an entire page to explaining the process and showing residents we have a new system in place to report a concern.”
To a certain extent, the Village also experienced a “if you build it, they will come” effect. In today’s tech-driven world, using digital methods for customer service is not only normalized but expected. After implementing their new software, Genty says that many of the Village’s residents took to it on their own. “In today’s world we have so many people who are technologically driven that as soon as they land on our website and see the sidebar on there with the Report a Concern tool, they know immediately what to do.”
Glendale Heights uses its new CRM/311 software to better keep track of communications with citizens. Image courtesy Village of Glendale Heights.
Streamlining Complaints into a Single Service
Post-implementation, one of Glendale Heights’ bigger initiatives has been making sure everything is funneled through their new CRM. “We want a record of everything so that we can have a reference point for the future. So when people still use all of these different channels to communicate with us – social media, website, phone calls, even when people come to our front counter with a complaint – we still ask our staff members to submit the complaint through Comcate, even if it’s something really simple. That way, we at least have a record that someone expressed a concern or had a question and that someone already talked to them about it. It shows there was a dialogue.”
Why Choose Comcate?
When the Village internally decided to move forward with adopting a CRM solution, Comcate was already on their mind. “Comcate was a system that we knew was out there and had heard good things about,” Genty says. “Once we heard the pitch and saw how it fit for what we wanted, it seemed like a perfect match.”
Genty describes the implementation process as “about as smooth as it gets,” and the in-person training as especially beneficial for staff.
“So many times, especially over the last couple of years with everything going via Zoom, we see people turn off their cameras, mute their mics and kind of check out. Having Paige come out, to put a face to a name and work directly with our staff who would be using it on a regular basis, was really beneficial, for both staff and our elected officials. She was even willing to jump on a Zoom call for our Village Board meeting the day after she had gone home to explain the software publicly not just to our board but to all our residents who were watching as well.”
From staff to residents, the new CRM system has been integrated seamlessly into the Village’s everyday workings. “It’s been really well received across the board and we are really happy with how residents and staff have been utilizing it to bridge that gap for communication and reporting concerns,” Genty says. “From the mobile version to the desktop version everything has been very seamless and has added a nice touch to our Village website as well. Kudos to our staff, who were willing to be flexible on learning the program, and also our leadership for pushing us in this direction.”
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