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selecting prefix and recording gender

Kathleen Smith
$organization

Hi everyone,

 

A general question for you all – how concerned are you with selecting a prefix and recording a gender on a customer’s account?  I’m talking about your everyday normal patrons, not ones special to Development.  Do you automatically add Mr/Ms, ask if a customer has a preference, or only record it if a patron requests it?  There’s some internal debate over whether to automatically add Mr/Ms, and while it feels ‘off’ to me to add a prefix automatically, I said I would ask what everyone else does!

 

Cheers,

Kathleen

  • $organization
    Hi Kathleen, We don't record them unless they are requested/offered voluntarily-- full stop. Now that said, we use the very informal "Dear Firstname" for the majority of our salutations, so you might feel differently if you use a more formal salutation. Cheers, Sheila
  • $organization
    Kathleen, We try to include Mr./Ms./Mrs. whenever we can just because of how our salutations are put together; not having a title feels really informal for the outside salutations. However, I will admit to not adding a title in the case of patrons we don't know as well (never or rarely seen in person to associate with the name) who have gender-neutral names, just to avoid being incorrect in assumptions about a title. Thank you, Brian
  • Former Member
    Former Member $organization

    In the box office we only add a prefix if the patron requests it. We used to record gender but are moving away from that to avoid making incorrect assumptions, and because it really doesn’t seem necessary. Our development crew keeps close tabs on their patrons and customizes their salutations.

     

    JUDY ANDERSON | ASSOCIATE BOX OFFICE MANAGER | GUTHRIE THEATER

    818 South 2nd Street, Minneapolis, MN 55415 | guthrietheater.org

    Direct: 612.225.6197 | Box Office: 612.377.2224 | Administration: 612.225.6000

     

     

    From: Tessitura Marketing Forum [mailto:forums-marketing@tessituranetwork.com] On Behalf Of Kathleen Smith
    Sent: Thursday, January 26, 2017 8:35 AM
    To: Anderson, Judy
    Subject: [Tessitura Marketing Forum] selecting prefix and recording gender

     

    Hi everyone,

     

    A general question for you all – how concerned are you with selecting a prefix and recording a gender on a customer’s account?  I’m talking about your everyday normal patrons, not ones special to Development.  Do you automatically add Mr/Ms, ask if a customer has a preference, or only record it if a patron requests it?  There’s some internal debate over whether to automatically add Mr/Ms, and while it feels ‘off’ to me to add a prefix automatically, I said I would ask what everyone else does!

     

    Cheers,

    Kathleen

     

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  • $organization
    Here at NIDA we're moving away from formal salutations and so we use Dear . Titles/Prefixes are only normally recorded for people like Dr, Professor, etc Martin