Top Los Angeles PR Firm Realizes New Efficiency, Enhanced Client Communications
COMPANY PROFILE
In business for 33 years, Carl Terzian Associates (CTA) is one of Los Angeles' oldest and most successful public relations firms. Led by its impassioned founder Carl Terzian, the 10-person firm provides a range of services such as media and crisis relations, and special event planning for clients in the law, accounting and banking
industries. Yet CTA is best known for the value-added service it offers to clients and the community at large by coordinating special networking events - to the tune of 800 per year - to connect L.A. executives with business and community service opportunities. It's a practice that CTA has found benefits its own business, its clients and the community at large.
BUSINESS NEED
Like a matchmaker, CTA helps create countless links among L.A.'s business and nonprofit professionals - resulting in more than $30 million in transactions annually. Because the firm specializes in coordinating events to introduce its many contacts to one another, it's essential that CTA keep track of a variety of professional and personal details on each person to bring together those with similar interests. In his lengthy career, Carl Terzian has always kept such details in his exceptional memory, and on 3x5 cards kept in a library card-style filing system. But as the firm grew, so did its contact list. It became challenging to quickly look up a specific contact, and coordinate guest lists for hundreds of events annually. With all contacts stored in a hardcopy format, the staff found itself photocopying index cards to create guest lists, which was quite time consuming and increased the risk of losing critical information.
CTA needed a contact manager to organize the many details it keeps about its contacts, simplify the process of scheduling events, expedite the dissemination of media releases and improve staff communication when servicing clients. Yet it didn't want technology to compromise its proven practices or the high level of personalized service for which the firm has become known.