PUR Taps Dazos CRM to Increase Alumni Engagement and Track Marketing ROI

Vero Beach, Fla.-based PUR Health, a provider of mental health, recovery, and wellness services, was founded in 2018. Before purchasing the Dazos software platform, PUR relied on pen, paper, and spreadsheets to track the productivity of its business development team, marketing and revenue. 

A 2023 Forrester Research report on the customer relationship management market noted that 70 percent of organizations have adopted CRMs for customer service, yet overall satisfaction remains low. CRMs can help you manage contacts and campaigns, track leads and generate reports, say behavioral health professionals who have used them. But, many CRMs are generic and not made for behavioral health workflows that track a facility's intake process, insurance reimbursements and people between multiple systems as they go from patients to alumni.

“Since 2024, we’ve used Dazos CRM, IQ, and iCampaign products to manage admissions, revenue, and alumni programs,” says Matt Beckwith, chief operations officer at PUR.

Before joining PUR, Beckwith knew Dazos co-founders David Farache and Louis Devaleix when they were owner-operators of a multi-state mental health treatment provider. The Dazos co-founders developed the early stages of Dazos software while growing their business because they, too, struggled with the lack of accountability and transparency in their operations, feeling like they were running the business blindly. When Farache initially explained his vision for a CRM tailored for behavioral health, Beckwith didn’t think it was possible because of the complexity of documenting and reimbursing for treatment. 

In Beckwith’s experience, nobody had accurately projected financials for a behavioral health agency, in part, because of the complexity and delays with EOBs. A billing company, he says, can give an agency spreadsheets--and put an army of accountants on it to fine tune EOBs and lead sources--but he never saw anyone arrive at a workable solution. 

Farache and Devaleix applied their know-how of software development and behavioral health operations to create the Dazos solution. Beckwith saw how the initial version of the system tracked admissions, marketing, and revenue and didn’t require more staff to do it. 

Challenges

Fast forward a few years. Beckwith joined PUR Health. At PUR, Beckwith says he had an incomplete picture of the state of the business. He could track underpayments and overpayments. But he could never hold an insurance company accountable. His billing company would miss insurer shortfalls on individual clients. There was no way to tell revenue sources with any clarity.

“There was a lot of guesswork,” recalls Beckwith. 

About the time he was evaluating CRMs, Beckwith had three FTEs for admissions. His alumni relations staff were “good at initiating contact.” But PUR’s process for consistently reaching out and tracking outcomes was lacking. Admissions staff took about 15 minutes to draft a single communication for leads and alumni, then clean it up with AI tools, review it in meetings, and send it to business development reps for further edits. Beckwith says it wasn’t unusual to waste hours every time a communication had to go out, hampering regular contact with partners, leads, and alumni.

About this time, one admissions employee left and soon a second, leaving Beckwith one. Communication with clients and leads was falling off because of the lack of staff. Beckwith and his remaining admissions person knew they were forgetting things. Losing the other employees helped Beckwith focus on choosing a CRM. 

Solutions

Beckwith contacted Farache and Devaleix who had by this time launched Dazos in Boca Raton, Fla. Dazos provided software designed to solve Beckwith’s admissions challenges as well as recover lost revenue and streamline operations.

The Dazos platform is a CRM along with its IQ and iCampaign tools. Unlike CRMs built to be everything for everyone, Dazos’ founders say its CRM has customizable dashboards and industry-specific tools to increase a facility’s intake, revenue, and quality of care. Dazos IQ improves billing inefficiency with AI, insights, and automation to recover revenue. Dazos iCampaign software helps treatment centers and behavioral health facilities automate marketing programs. The automated programs focus on high-performing referral sources, engage alumni, and pinpoint the number of admissions and amount of revenue stemming from email and SMS campaigns.

“I sent one of our staff into Dazos who’s never worked in admissions or used a CRM, and in three days, he was using the software like a pro,” recalls Beckwith. “At other places I’ve worked, it’s taken three weeks to get people proficient with the functionality in these big-name CRMs.” 

“The other CRMs are confusing, bulky and come with tools for employers who sell pieces and parts; they’re not helping people create new lives for themselves,” adds Beckwith. 

Beckwith says iCampaign enables PUR’s staff to check in regularly — even daily — with alumni to learn if they’re struggling and keep an open line of communication. His admissions rep can create personalized emails based on notes staff add to alumni files. 

“Dazos helps PUR have conversations with alumni instead of making them feel like a number in a program,” Beckwith says. 

Results

“We are doing four times the work at PUR with 25 percent of the staff we originally employed, and we have 70 admissions per month,” says Beckwith. “We now handle admissions with one person; other organizations like ours are spending thousands of dollars more in overhead.” 

Through Dazos’ data, Beckwith’s team looks up lost leads and pursues them as potential admissions. PUR’s staff puts their marketing information into IQ and also sees the ROI per campaign source. Beckwith can narrow down the ROI to referral source, insurance provider, and more to make immediate, informed decisions about referral sources. He says there’s now a clear way to project a financial path. IQ also pinpoints payments on each client and whether insurers paid adequately.

With data from CRM, IQ, and iCampaign, Beckwith can determine whether a business development representative or contractor is impacting the growth of the business, rather than judging productivity solely by the volume of new clients. This allows him to evaluate opportunities based on annualized, or lifetime value, and compare acquisition cost with expected revenue.

According to Beckwith, iCampaign has really helped PUR stay engaged with alumni, and make sure they have a place to go if they need additional help.

“Relapse is an unfortunate reality, but iCampaign's tools keep us in closer contact with our alumni, and we've seen a 25 percent increase in the number of alumni we are able to help get back into our care who might have otherwise gone somewhere else or, worse, gotten no help,” Beckwith adds. 

According to Beckwith, his staff no longer feel compelled to copy him on texts or emails to let him know they are staying in touch with alumni.

“Without Dazos, I had to base my marketing spend on gut instinct. Now, I have financial insight,” Beckswith says. “I can run my company from an iPhone with Dazos CRM, IQ, and iCampaign.”