If you run an AV, lighting, sound, or event business, you probably work with a lot of different people. Production companies, agencies, freelance planners, venues and in-house event teams all send work your way. The same planner might book you for three different clients in a year, and one agency might send jobs through four different project managers.
Your rental or inventory software can tell you where every piece of equipment went. What it probably can't tell you is which planners have stopped calling.
A CRM can help with that. In this guide, we'll look at how to keep track of repeat clients across lots of planners and agencies, keep a job history for every client, and spot the accounts that have gone quiet. For a wider look at CRMs across the events industry, see our guide to CRM for event companies.
What a CRM does and doesn't do for a rental company
It's worth being honest about this up front. Capsule isn't rental or inventory software. It won't track equipment availability, stock levels, maintenance, or delivery schedules, so if you already have a system for that, keep using it.
What a CRM does is look after the people side of the business: who rents your equipment, what they've booked before, and when you should get back in touch. The two work well side by side.
Keep track of repeat clients across many planners and agencies
In event rental, the relationship is usually with a person, but the work comes from lots of different companies. A freelance planner who loved working with you last year might be booking through a different agency this year. If your records are organized by job or invoice, it's easy to miss that it's the same person sending you work.
Capsule links people to the organizations they work with, so you can open a planner's record and see every company they've booked through, or open an agency and see every planner who works there. When a planner moves to a new agency, update their record and their history moves with them. That's not a lost contact; it's a way in to a new account.
It also helps to tag each organization by type, such as production company, agency, venue, in-house team or freelance planner, so you can see where your work really comes from.
Keep a job history for every client
Before you call a client, it helps to know what you supplied last time, which venue it was at and how it went. Track each job as an opportunity in your pipeline, and once it's won, it stays on the client's record as part of their history.
Add a quick note after each job with anything worth remembering, like a tricky load-in or an equipment change they asked for. Emails from Gmail or Outlook are saved to the same record, so anyone on the team can pick up the conversation if the usual contact is out on a job. And if your contact at an agency moves on, their replacement doesn't have to start from scratch.
Spot the accounts that have gone quiet
Regular clients rarely disappear overnight. They book a little less often, then stop altogether, and by the time someone notices, they're using another supplier.
To catch this early, add a custom field for how often each regular client usually books, then filter for anyone who hasn't booked in a while. Checking that list once a month gives you a short list of people worth calling, and it's often where the easiest new work comes from.
It's also worth setting a task to check in after each job, timed for when the client is likely to book again. Tracks let you save your usual post-job steps, such as a thank-you email, a feedback call and a rebooking check-in, and apply them in one click. On the Growth plan, Workflow Automation can create the follow-up for you when a job is marked as won. Find out more about follow-ups in Capsule.
How Capsule helps
You don't need a complicated sales tool built for a big sales team. Capsule is a simple CRM that keeps every planner, agency, and job in one place, and reminds you when it's time to get back in touch. The iOS and Android apps mean you can look up a client or add a note from a load-in. See how Capsule works for event companies.
Final thoughts
Your equipment might be what clients pay for, but it's the planners, agencies and production companies behind each booking who keep the work coming in, and they're much easier to lose track of. Use your rental system for the equipment and a CRM for the relationships.
For a step-by-step approach to winning back annual clients, read how to win repeat corporate event bookings. If rental requests are getting lost in inboxes, our guide to event inquiry management explains how to keep them in one list. And if you also book talent, see our guide to CRM for speaker bureaus.
Try Capsule free for 14 days, no credit card required. Or, if you'd rather start with a spreadsheet, download our free Corporate Client Rebooking Calendar.
Frequently Asked Questions
It's a CRM that AV, lighting, sound, and event rental companies use to manage their clients: planners, agencies, venues, job history, and follow-ups. It works alongside your rental or inventory software rather than replacing it.
No. Capsule manages your clients and inquiries. You'll still need your rental or inventory system for equipment availability and logistics.
Note how often each regular client usually books, then filter for anyone who hasn't booked recently. Checking that list once a month is usually enough.
