| |
Agent Office purchased from FNRES by Emphasys Software!
Posted at 7:19 AM, Nov. 17, 2008
Well it's official! While Fidelity National Real Estate Solutions (FNRES) is still "taking care of business" until everything is transitioned over, as of October 29th, Emphasys Software is now at the helm of Agent Office! Emphasys is a Real Estate management, financial and compliance software solutions company. It offers a long list of Real Estate related software solutions.
Personally, I'm happy about the potential for this move, obviously pending seeing what happens. Emphasys is a Software company, as opposed to a Title company. Their interest in having Agent Office is to actually make money by making the product better, and selling it. Without getting into specifics, I'll just say that FNRES has not exactly been the best thing that ever happened to the Agent Office software application. If you have followed events during their tenure of ownership, you have an idea what I'm talking about.
Moving forward, having spoken with a representative from Emphasys, I'm optimistic that this will be a good thing. They have plans to make significant improvements to the product, which will be a long overdue development when it happens.
Agent Office has been around since 1992, and this will now be it's 4th owner. For those of you who have it, the road ahead should be interesting, and probably better.
Agent Office is currently in Version 10. It is still available through my Web site at a discounted price, in it's current version, new. If you want to upgrade from an older version, I can still do that for you as well. There will be no interruption in my ability to provide Agent Office software to you, as I will continue to be a reseller for it, when Emphasys takes over.
As always, if you have any questions about Real Estate specific contact management or CRM software, that is what I do. I am a broker/reseller for 32 different Real Estate specific Contact Management & CRM solutions.
OK _ I bought a CRM, now how do I get started?
Posted at 7:14 PM, Oct. 28, 2008
This is one of the most common questions I hear. Some Contact Managers and CRM (Customer Relationship Management) solutions have fairly good training materials. Some have great materials. Some have none. But what none of them really excel at, is a tutorial to take you through the basics, in a “Where do I start” format. Maybe I can propose a bit of a solution.
One of the issues making a starter tutorial problematic is that different people consider different things to be the basics, and the CRM’s themselves can be quite varied as to what it is they are capable of doing for you in the first place. So how about teaching yourself how to get started?
The very first thing you do is actually a no-brainer. In any of them, you get all your contact information in. Names, addresses, phone numbers, e-mail addresses, etc. Always have both a first and a last name for every contact. If all you know is Margeret, put that as both her first and last name until you get her last name. Which contacts go into it? ALL of them. I have seen some people recommend using one program for business, and one for personal, such as Top Producer for the former, and Outlook for the latter. My personal opinion is that I couldn’t disagree more. I have been using, teaching, and reviewing Contact Management and CRM in the Real Estate industry for over 20 years, and I just don’t see any benefit to that line of thinking. Why have those details of your life; contact information and scheduling information; in two places? It makes for duplication of effort, and confusion having to reference two sources for everything, not to mention that business and personal ofttimes overlap anyway. I have my business contacts; my friends; my Christmas list; my neighbors; I even have my daughter’s dog in my contacts. Why? Because I can track his birthday that way! I have a contact – First Name: Computer; Last Name: Tips. In the notes for that contact, I have various things I want to remember about little tricks I’ve learned over the years, and I even have them at my fingertips in my Blackberry, because the notes synch!
Remember the cardinal rule for contacts; always have a contact in at least one category. Otherwise, you end up with contacts for whom you have no clue whatsoever what they are, down the road. If you are using a CRM, and you are using Activity Plans of some sort, I recommend the following nine categories for a start:
- Buyer – Prospect
- Buyer – Active
- Buyer – Pending
- Buyer – Past
- Seller – Prospect
- Seller – Active
- Seller – Pending
- Seller – Past
- Closed – 20xx (x’s being the year they closed escrow)
So what’s next? If you had seen my Power Point Presentation on selecting a CRM, you would have created a list of what it was you wanted to accomplish with your CRM, in order to determine which one you wanted to invest your money, and more importantly – your time in. If you don’t have that list, create one now. It should contain things such as; Print Labels to ‘Sphere of Influence’; Export names and addresses for mailing, for calendar company; print ‘Just Listed’ post cards to geographic farm; Create activity plan to remind me to follow up with Internet leads; etc.
A good CRM will have some kind of training available to learn how to do each of these basic things. Your issue is that you don’t know where to start. OK – it’s a big job. It’s HUGE. It’s an elephant! Get over it! How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. No one is going to tell you where to start, or what’s most important, so you need to figure it out yourself. This is how you will do it.
- List what you want to accomplish, as above
- Prioritize it
- Use the available training to learn each of those things.
It really can be that simple! Now you have your start. Do you your list. Add things to it as you go. By that time, you will be getting a handle on the software, and the rest will naturally follow.
Now some people will do what I just said, and that will be the end of it. That’s OK! If that’s all you want out of it, fine. Others of you though, want to see what else this CRM can do for you. The only way you’re going to get a good feel for your CRM is by ‘playing’ with it. When you’re in a screen, click on the menu items, and follow them. You can’t hurt it, as long as you are backing up every day, and it can’t hurt you. If you are NOT backing up every day – you need to start. My choice for that is EazyBackup.
For more information about choosing a Contact Manager or CRM, you may want to check out:
CRM or PDA? Chicken or Egg?
Posted at 7:14 AM, Jul. 23, 2008
Someone recently asked:
I'm getting a 1st gen iPhone as a gift from my brother and am very excited to get going with it. Before I jump in I'm looking for suggestions, tips & ideas from the iPhone users out there:
1) What CRM solution are you using & how does it work with your iPhone?
This person may have no choice. She's getting the iPhone as a gift. What I've been running into a LOT lately, is people going out and getting an iPhone, and THEN asking me what CRM to get, that works with an iPhone. That's backwards. OK - I get it that the iPhone is the great new toy, but when it comes to which phone/PDA you should get, THAT choice SHOULD come AFTER you get your CRM solution. Your CRM solution is a far more important, complex, and long term choice than your PDA.
If all you're using is Outlook, go for it. iPhone will do just fine with it. If all you're using is Outlook however, you're going to have a much harder time doing well in this market, because you're not doing the kind of consistent follow-up, in volume, that you need to do in this market. Doing well in my mind is not doing 15 or 20 sides. You can do that kind of volume by simply working a lot of hours and doing a lot of manual follow-up - the hard way. I feel comfortable making that statement, because I not only survived, but prospered doing 40 - 50 sides, in the same kind of market, from 1988 through 1993. I know for a fact with myself, that the reason I prospered was because I had a program called "Real Estate Specialist" which allowed me to launch follow-up campaigns, which kept me on track with a large volume of "suspects".
There are 25 different CRM solutions out there. Frankly, many of them are too new, or have too many holes (usually a function of being too new) to be the best choice, but out of 17 of them that I have interviewed and/or used, 5 of them will work with an iPhone, all of which require extra software to do it. Top Producer doesn't. Agent Office doesn't. Mark-It Advantage Xi only does if you first synch it with Outlook. Active Agent for Outlook does with additional software, as will All Clients. Many Web based solutions will be quick to jump and say they will work with it by going online with it. Sure, but you may as well open your laptop and do it that way. It's not truly practical.
My point - if you see both a new PDA and a new CRM solution decision in your near future, pick your CRM FIRST, and make what it will synch with part of your choice. Not a big part; just a part.
The Value of ‘Canned’ content in CRM’s
Posted at 12:21 PM, May. 8, 2008
On a fairly regular basis, I hear people comment that this person’s or that program’s form letters or fliers are bad/not for their market/hokey, you-fill-in-the-blank.
The value in ‘canned’ content is not necessarily in that you can take them as they are, and start using them. While it is true that there are some things, some times, that can be good they way they are, or pretty close, it is rare. The value is in the fact that the content, the concept, is already there for you, and pretty much done. What is left for you to do is to tweak it to your personality, and/or your market. The value is in not having to start from scratch. Starting form scratch takes a great deal of time. That’s where the value is; the time savings.
It’s literally impossible to create a body of letters, fliers, post cards, or activity plans, that are perfect, for everyone in every market. Different people have different ways of communicating, with different personalities. And the difference in markets is vast in some ways from one to another, with regards to terminology and procedure.
The point here is that once again, there is too much of a tendency to throw the baby out with the bath water when searching for a CRM solution. People hear; “Oh the form letters in that program are terrible”, and they discount the software on that basis alone. That’s a mistake. The form letters in all CRM solutions need to be tweaked. Granted, some more than others, but it’s necessary in all of them, for the reasons stated.
I liken CRM software to the purchase of a home, in that when purchasing a home, you are actually purchasing a parcel of land, and the improvements on it, the house. The lot can not be changed. It is where it is. It can’t be changed to any significant degree. The home however, can be added to, or raised for that matter, and built anew. CRM software also has two parts; the program itself, and the content. The program, for all intents and purposes, cannot be changed, whereas the content, can be added to, deleted, or modified.
When looking for a CRM solution, one of your decisions is which is more important for your needs. Is it the content, or is it a complete system to track prospects, track your history with those prospects, schedule to-do’s and reminders, create reports, manage your listings and closings, create mailing lists from the way you have categorized your contacts, and manage drip email campaigns. In my opinion, there is not one single CRM solution out there, that has the best of both, so keep this in mind when conducting your search.
Top Producer 8i - What's different from Top Producer 7i?
Posted at 1:45 PM, Mar. 24, 2008
Following is a list of the core differences, as communicated to me by Top Producer. If you have any questions about other things it may or may not do, feel free to e-mail me about them.
Technology:
Top Producer 7i is based on Microsoft Java technology which does not come installed on new computers. Microsoft's Internet Explorer is the only web browser supported, leaving users of Firefox, Safari, and other web browsers with no way to use the program.
Top Producer 8i is based on ASP.net and Ajax. It is compatible with a wider range of web browsers. Top Producer 8i also places a lighter demand on resources and responds faster.
Web Browser:
Top Producer 7i's interface disabled most web browser functions that normally appear across the top of the browser window. This included functions like the address bar, Back and Forward buttons, the Refresh button, multiple windows, tabs, and so on.
Top Producer 8i runs in a normal browser window with all of these features are available. The Top Producer 8i user will also be able to use the browser's print screen functionality to print off whatever anything in browser window. Users can now display any information they want, sort it how they like, and print it off.
Landing Pages:
A completely new feature to Top Producer 8i that allows users to go a landing page that provides a brief summary of stats for items like contacts, leads, referrals.
The Ne UI:
Top Producer 8i's main navigation is a departure from Top Producer 7i. The main features have been given their own buttons. When clicked, rather than simply displaying a list of possible functions, they will take the user to a landing page for that feature. These landing pages are a brand new function in Top Producer 8i, and make all of the commonly used functions available right away.
Screen Forms:
Top Producer 7i used multi-step wizard based interfaces for many of its workflows. In Top Producer 8i, these wizard based interfaces have been replaced with single-screen forms with necessary fields for activities such as contact entry or creation of listings or closings in a single window
Contact Look-Up:
The Contact Look-Up interface appears on the right side in every workflow that could require a contact record. The 8i user can drag and drop a contact's name into the appropriate spot on a form rather than typing out their name or performing a search as was required in Top Producer 7i.
Load Indicators:
Unlike Top Producer 7i, When Top Producer 8i is retrieving information from the server, it will display an indicator which will inform the user that the operation is still ongoing. This indicator will, in most cases, appear in the lower right hand corner of the browser window
Don’t make assumptions, when it comes to evaluating CRM’s
Posted at 12:09 PM, Mar. 24, 2008
Finding the right CRM (Customer Relationship Management - often called "Contact Management") solution, is getting more and more difficult all the time. There are literally dozens of choices. It takes hours to evaluate each one, to get only a cursory sense of how closely it matches your needs.
The biggest mistake I see people make on a regular basis, which ends up costing them more time in the long run, is to evaluate too many, too quickly. Because looking at one after another is so time consuming, people tend to discount each one too quickly if they don't see what they need right away. Some solutions are more intuitive (easier to understand and learn) than others. While that is an attribute, it is not necessarily the only factor to take into consideration. In some cases, some solutions are less intuitive, but contain more of the other attributes you require. Intuitive or not, it's very easy to 'assume' it does not do what you need, simply because you don't see it. Rather than eliminating one as a possible solution, and moving on to the next one, make a list of the things you want it to do, that you don't see, and send it to the provider, or me. That way you don't pass one by, that could actually be your best choice.
Once you find one that feels right, and has many of the attributes you need, spend more time with it, and give it a chance. And remember, if you have a great many needs, it's very unlikely you will find one solution which will do everything. One thing I hear from many people is that they have to have CMA capability, and the ability to interface with the MLS. Most CRM solutions do not have those capabilities, so most agents use their MLS' CMA feature, or a third party service such as Lightning CMA; Toolkit CMA; or Expert CMA.
For more information about many of the various choices out there, take a look at my article - "A History of Contact Management Software in Real Estate".
Lead generation doesn't get any easier...Top Producer's "Market Builder®"
Posted at 1:59 PM, Oct. 2, 2007
If you started in this business in the late 80's or before, as did I, you appreciate the fact that there are now so many
tools available to generate new business, which never existed before. Some are good, and some are not so good, but it is
inarguable that there are many available. Cold calling, door knocking, and mailings with recipes and homeowner tips, have
been replaced with automated listing updates e-mailed to the prospect, automated drip campaigns, third party mailing
services, lead generating Web sites, and so much more. If one is willing to invest some money, there are tools available
that provide a tremendous ROI (return on investment).
After 20 years of first using technology in my own Real Estate career, and then working with thousands of licensees in the
context of technology, one thing has become crystal clear; the easier a technology tool is to learn and use, the more
readily we will adopt it. A significant majority of licensees do NOT have the patience, and/or the inclination to spend
time learning new tools, even when they know they will make them more money. That is probably the cornerstone of why I
like this new product from the Top Producer people so much, and why I think it is going to be very popular - especially
for agents who understand ROI.
Top Producer just launched a new product called "Market Builder®". It is an
exciting new adjunct to "Market Snapshot®". "Market
Snapshot®" was launched in September of '06, and has been justifiably well received. It provides prospects, or your SOI
(sphere of influence) up-to-the minute MLS graphical reports - automatically delivered and updated. For prospective
buyers, it's like IDX/Reciprocity (the ability for prospects to search, or receive search results of MLS listings) on
steroids. For sellers, it uses MLS data to provide current comparables in an interactive mapping format. One of the things
which makes it unique, other than the mapped format, is that it uses your MLS data, as opposed to courthouse records. Note
that MS/MB is not available in some markets, but is in many.
You can make "Market Snapshot®" available on your Web site, or via e-mail. "Market Builder®" takes the next step, and
incorporates automated post card campaigns, pointing people to "Market Snapshot®". You pick the street, pick a set of post
cards, and TP grabs the closest 400 people (owner occupied only), and starts a regular mailing to them 3 times each year.
40 homes per week, at market proven times of the year, with market proven post cards, and the post cards give the person a
Web page to go to. Once there, they key in their very own code to get their free "Market Snapshot®" specifically relevant
to their neighborhood. You of course get the name and e-mail address they key in, in order to receive the "Market
Snapshot®". And in keeping with the theme of "It doesn't get any easier"; the new prospect is automatically populated into
your TP7i account as a new lead!
What does one have to do to avail themselves of this service? What does the process look like? It's as easy as:
-
Pick a street name
-
Pick the post card set
-
Watch for new leads to come into your 7i
I have all the information about it on my site, on the following Web page. I invite you take a couple minutes and see if
you're as impressed as I am! https://garydavidhall.com/tpmarketbuilder.htm
Disclaimer: I am an authorized representative for Top Producer products. That said, those of you who know me or my
reputation, know I only speak highly of products in which I believe.
Top Producer 8i
Posted at 8:44 AM, Sep. 19, 2007
For those of you who
are curious to hear any new bit of information that's out
there on it, here are a few from TP's customer service manager,
from Real Talk.
"One of
the biggest benefits to the online version is going to be realized
by our subscribers again this year; upgrades and enhancements are
no additional charge. So, in a nutshell, the price will be the same
for subscribers who hold a 7i license prior to the 8i release.
Although official pricing has not been decided, there will likely
be a small increase for new 8i subscriptions. We haven't yet seen
an increase in price for an agent license since 7i
was released in 2002.
There
are many changes, most I will leave for our marketing
department to disclose, but the program has been reworked top to
bottom for functionality, workflow and features. The biggest
change, in my opinion, is that the software is moving away from the
Java platform. Eliminating the use of MS Java benefits
those who use Sun Java, or don't use Java at all, and will
make setup easier for new users or on new
workstations."
Top Producer Campus & Free Blogs with TP Web sites
Posted at 3:05 PM, Sep. 5, 2007
Courtesy of another user group I'm on:
Top Producer Campus Beta has now gone live and can be visited at
http://www.topproducercampus.com./
This is a free service that is intended to provide support for Top
Producer users as well as an opportunity for you to participate by
asking questions, giving feedback and sharing ideas and tips on how
to make the most out of your Top Producer.
There is a forum, as well as success stories from our clients
outlining what works best for them in their business. There are
polls for you to vote on different topics from time to time to help
us gauge what is most important to users, which will help our
product development decide what services we will provide in the
future.
The Top Producer Campus also features Frequently Asked Questions
and gives advice on how to get the type of help you may be looking
for as well as many other resources.
I hope you all get a chance to visit and find it useful and perhaps
give your valued feedback.
Top Producer Blogs are now included at no charge with your Top
Producer Website. Blogs are really proving to be an excellent way
to provide a resource that home buyers and sellers find useful that
is unique to you and your style that will set you apart from the
crowd. Blogs may keep them coming back to you as the local expert
and guru that consumers are looking for.
If you are interested in using a blog and you are not yet using one
of our websites, you may still do so.
You can request a free blog at http://blogsignup.realtor.com/Default.aspx.
AgentOffice Vista compatibility
Posted at 1:31 PM, Jul. 5, 2007
I have had people ask me what 'Vista' is, so I'll start out by saying it is the Windows Operating System (OS) which succeeds Windows XP.
AgentOffice has just released Version 10.0.
99.9% of the difference between Version 9.x and Version 10.0 is Vista compatibility. The other .1% is aesthetics. By the latter I mean the icons on the top of the screen are a different color and slightly different design. I wouldn't call them better, just a different look. You also have the option of choosing the background color, and/or placing an image in the background, like you can on your Windows desktop. That's it.
If you have Version 9.x, you are entitled to a free download of the "Upgrade" or "Version 10.0." If you have a version prior to 9.x, you must purchase the upgrade for $169, to have Vista compatibility. That price is a sale price, down from $229, and was supposed to end at the end of June, but has been extended through July.
The download is actually the entire program, as is all their upgrades. It is a 210MB file, which is quite large by anyone's standards. That said, with the slowest FIOS, it took me about 7 minutes to download it. With Cable or DSL, it would take a few minutes more.
There is not really any significant reason to download the upgrade, unless you have, or plan on getting, a Vista OS computer.
You will also need to call call FNF at 800.996.6546 to get an install code. The order in which you do it does not really matter, but you will need the install code to complete the installation of the upgrade.
If you would like a CD, which contains the same thing, you can order it for $29.95 plus S & H.
Exporting Notes & Types from TP6i
Posted at 10:00 AM, Jun. 19, 2007
I just saw a post from someone who was using Top Producer 6i, and bought Agent Office. They were unaware that you can get Top Producer's “Types” or the ‘notes’ to transfer to Agent Office. So…..here's how to do it.
While in TP 6i, click on ‘Setup’, ‘Export Data’, ‘Send to Top Producer 6i’, ‘Display all contact’, ‘Select all’, ‘Export Source’ should be ‘Top Producer 6i’.
Note that at this point, all the fields are in the ‘Fields to export’ column. They include TYPES and NOTES. You want to highlight and ‘Remove’ fields that you do not use, before exporting, so you do not have to ‘Map’ them on the Agent Office import. Click on ‘Export’, and then give it a ‘File name’, and location.
Now you have a file to use to import the data into Agent Office.
Go to ‘Start’, ‘All Programs’, ‘Agent Office’, ‘Import’, ‘Yes’, ‘Top Producer System 6 (Windows)’,
This line of instruction puts everyone in the import into the ‘Category’ ‘TP Import’ in Agent Office. That way, if the import doesn’t go the way you want it, you can delete the import contacts. It will also give you a future reference for who was in your “Old” database.
‘Set Defaults’, ‘Categories’, ‘Add’, ‘TP Import’, ‘OK’, ‘TP import’, ‘Include’, ‘OK’, ‘OK’,
Continuing – Click on ‘Choose file’, find the file you exported from TP 6i. Click on ‘Import’. You’re done!
Top Producer & Agent Office News!
Posted at 1:57 PM, Jun. 4, 2007
Regardless of what software company it is, you should never hold your breath waiting for a software release, based upon when it was supposed to come out. They make their best projections, and sometimes it happens; sometimes it doesn’t.
You should also, as a general rule of thumb, not install upgrades for any kind of software until they have been out for a while. It’s always a good idea to let the people who do not subscribe to this 'rule of thumb', be the guinea pigs. The caveat to that is if you really need what the upgrade offers right now. Wanting to get Agent Office but having a Vista OS would be a perfect example J Having Agent Office and needing to upgrade to Vista, would be another. Sometimes it's unavoidable.
That said, Agent Office is scheduled to release it's Vista compatible version, Version 10.0, on July 2nd for download, and a week or two later on a CD. Aside from a few cosmetic changes, the only significant difference will be compatibility with Vista. So what does that mean? Yes it is called Version 10.0. No it is not beneficial to get the upgrade unless you are planning on upgrading, or have upgraded, to Vista.
1) If you bought Agent Office, or the upgrade, after July of last year, you are entitled to a free download of the ‘patch’ that is Version 10.0 from their Web site, when it is released – projected to be July 2nd.
2) If you would like a CD of the upgrade, which you do not need, it will cost $29.95 for materials and shipping.
An interesting outgrowth of this patch being made available online for download, is that from that date forward, I will be able to fill your orders for Agent Office or the upgrade, as a download, as opposed to being shipped a CD. The price will remain the same at $329 for the download, but there would be no shipping costs or taxes, and you would not have to wait to receive it.
Top Producer recently announced the ability to synch with Windows and Blackberry based PDA's. Although the ability to synch with the PDAs exists, there are some carriers that did not afford the ability to do so. One was Bell Mobility. Official confirmation has been received from Bell Mobility that they now support direct TCP and therefore Bell customers are now supported with the Top Producer for BlackBerry product.
Top Producer's Outlook Connector (TPOC) is an add-in component for your desktop version of Microsoft Outlook. The TPOC allows you to use Outlook rather than My Email as your primary email application while maintaining the ability of creating connections between email messages and contact records (that is, maintaining email messages in a contact's history).
TPOC had been limited to use with Outlook 2003. Top Producer has just announced that Outlook Connector now works with Outlook 2007.
|
Q: What is the price of the TPOC?
|
Retail Price: $149.00 (one time fee)
|
|
Q: Is there a cost associated with the upgrade?
|
No.
|
|
Q: Do existing customers need to upgrade to the new version of the TPOC?
|
No. However if a customer is running Microsoft Vista or upgrades to Outlook 2007, they will be required to download and install the latest version of the TPOC.
|
|
Q: Will the old and new version of the TPOC be available going forward?
|
No. Only the latest version of the TPOC will be available for download going forward. The latest version of the TPOC supports all the same versions as before in addition to MS Vista and Outlook 2007.
|
Do an export NOW if you have Top Producer 6i
Posted at 9:11 AM, May. 25, 2007
For those of you who have not yet made a decision on what to move to if you have TP6i, you need to do this now!
If you are going to move to Top Producer 7i prior to the end of the month when support ends for 6i, you’re fine. If you are going to continue to use 6i beyond the end of May 2007, you need to do an EXPORT, not a backup, now!
If your TP6i crashes after the end of this month, or your hard drive crashes, or your computer is stolen, your backup is useless. All your data will be inaccessible because the backup is only good if you can restore it to your TP6i software, or give it to Top Producer to convert it into 7i.
Now don’t go getting all upset at Top Producer. A backup, as opposed to an export, is usable only in the program it was created from, and would be true of Agent Office or any other proprietary software.
If you decide not to go with TP7i, you’ll need this export, so you can import it into whatever program you decide to use. If you have an export in an ASCII, CSV, or TXT format, that data can be imported into any other database program. That’s why you need to keep a current export, as well as a current backup.
To do an export from TP6i:
Click on - Setup, Export Data, ASCII file export, Display all contacts, Select all, Export contacts, Click on ‘Add’ for every field, Export, Key in a file name ending in “.csv” ( no parenthesis), pick a “Folder” to save it into, click OK.
Keep this export current, and no matter which program you move to, you’ll have your data ready for import.
With regards to what program you are going to move to, keep in mind that TP7i will be able to import almost ALL of your data from TP6i, they do it for you, for free, and they are currently running a promotion which is for a $60 credit to upgrade to 7i. You can order 7i on my site at http://GaryDavidHall.com/topproducer.htm
Using the export of the 6i data for import into another program is limited to the fields you will see when you are clicking on “Add” when you are doing the export from 6i.
A History & Partial Listing of Contact Management Tools in Real Estate - Part 3 of 3
Posted at 7:53 AM, May. 25, 2007
Believe it or not, there are many more out there! I spend much of my time asking people specific questions to determine their needs, and then recommending the solution that best suits their needs. Let me please make one thing clear. There is NO one program/application that is THE BEST! Which one is the best depends upon you. I have my opinions about which ones are the best, generally speaking, for most agents, but I don't believe any one of them is clearly 'the best'. It all depends upon your level of comfort with technology, your current needs, and your future needs. When listening to opinions from others, be aware that many people 'love the one they're with', or if they don't love it, they'll still tell you it's the best one. My question is, 'How can they say that if they have not used more than one program, in depth, for a good length of time?" No one has USED all of the major ones out there. Some people have used several of them, but those individuals are far and few between. Remember that when someone is telling you that one is better, ask them how long they have USED the other one. Reviewing it, studying it, or doing a trial period is far from having used both.
I just had someone buy Agent Office, and he hated doing it. He had been using a product that he absolutely loved. (I won't mention the name here, because I don't like to knock companies in public. It can be devastating to a company, and by the time you read this, they could have turned their act around. That is not to say I will not share my honest opinions about all products with you one-on-one.) He had been through many of the Contact Management tools I mentioned here, and loved this one. He bought Agent Office because he considered it to be the next best one for him after this one that he loved. Why the move? As great as it was, he was spending 4 - 5 hours a week with tech-support, resolving problems. He simply couldn't afford to continue investing that kind of time.
Where is it going? It's anyone's guess. There are one heckuva lot of Real Estate agents out there, and more and more are beginning to realize that SOME kind of Contact Management tool has become a necessity. There are a lot ice cream flavors available, and while some are certainly more popular than others, the less popular ones still have a market. Will the smaller markets be able to support so many different kinds of Contact Management tools? Time will tell.
In the interim, how do you choose? One consideration is how much pain you're willing to go through. If you go with one of the market leaders, you're less likely to have to switch down the road. Then again, there are some solutions out there now that are very interesting, and if they last, could turn out to be a terrific solution; but will they last? If not, that's where the pain comes in. The pain of learning one, having it go down the tubes, and then having to switch to another and endure a new learning curve. That process can be worth it, but if you're going to take that risk, I would advise that you take it with a product that easily exports a great many fields. That way at least, you won't lose a lot of your data in the transition.
Another consideration. All of these Contact Management tools have many things in common, one of them being the goal of eliminating the need to enter information more than once, by using ‘merge fields'. By that I mean creating a contact record, and then being able to simply click on ‘Write', ‘Letter', and that person's name and address, is automatically put into the letter. With the advent of ‘Online Transaction Management Platforms' (OTMP's - see one of my other posts), CRM's and OTMP's are currently mostly two separate programs. This makes duplication of data entry necessary. It may be that some of the players that will grow the most, will be the ones that merge the two best.
One of the age old problems with using technology in Real Estate has been that there is no ‘Silver Bullet'. There is no single program that does everything you need it to do. On the surface, it would seem that if there were, that would be the one everyone would gravitate towards. Not likely. Why? Because it would be an incredibly complex program with a huge learning curve, one which the majority of agents would neither be capable of, nor willing to embrace. The trick is to find the one that does the most things you need it to, and live with what it will not do.
No matter which one you choose, go into it with your eyes wide open. It takes a serious investment of your time to truly benefit from these tools. How many of us have spent literally many hundreds of hours USING, and thereby learning, Outlook and MS Word, and getting a little bit better, and learning a little more all the time. We accept as a matter of course that we need to learn it, and we spend the time to do so. How long have we spent playing with, and learning MS Publisher and Power Point, Excel, etc. MS Office is a "Suite" that is incredibly robust, and takes a great deal of time to learn. The sophisticated CRM tools that we use are also "Suites". Top Producer is a powerful and extensive program which by definition makes it time consuming to learn. So are Agent Office, and most of the other full featured CRM tools out there. A very significant number of people buying them do not understand the investment of time required to become proficient with them, and often are not willing to spend the time to learn how to use them. They then throw up their hands in frustration, saying it's the software's fault. It is NOT the fault of the provider. It is a lack of commitment. When I bought Quickbooks, I paid someone to teach me how to use it, and then invested the time necessary to learn it. That's what it takes. I ALWAYS advise people NOT to buy these programs unless they are willing to invest the time necessary to benefit from the money investment. I advise that people commit to one hour a day, 5 days a week, FIRST thing in the morning, before your day gets into crisis mode, for at LEAST 2 to 4 weeks, depending upon the person's aptitude for software. That should get you a healthy start. Then you need to continue using it regularly, and you will continue to learn more and more of it's uses. Is that unreasonable? No. Difficult - yes. But not impossible if you make a commitment and stick with it. I was an agent doing 40 some sides a year. I had the same problem with making the time as anybody would, but I did. It's not a matter of 'getting the time', it's a matter of 'making the time'.
So what's left? Resign yourself to the fact that this ongoing menagerie of technology solutions will never end. Decide what you want to accomplish with the help of technology. Make a list. Prioritize the list. Start eating the elephant one bite at a time. 
If you need help figuring out which one is best for you, I know a little something about the subject. Contact me for a free unbiased, consultation.
A History & Partial Listing of Contact Management Tools in Real Estate - Part 2 of 3
Posted at 1:45 PM, Apr. 26, 2007
The first part of this three part series dealt primarily with the very first Real Estate specific contact managers, and then Top Producer and Agent Office. This second part talks about some of the many others that have come out since those.
What else is out there? In the RES (Real Estate Specific) arena, there are 2 programs that are based in FileMaker, which is a highly respected database platform. Agent Business Builder is one of them, that started in 1995, and has a fairly significant user base as a result. Then there is REST, a relative newcomer with what I think to be some very good potential. Based in Filemaker, these two have some flexibility with respect to report generation, using a readily available group of programmers as a third party to generate them for you. Another interesting thing about them is that they are MAC compatible. Yet another with REST, is that with an additional license, it can be accessed remotely over the Internet, on it's own port, increasing speed, and without a monthly fee. Like all the other's, it has it's own idiosyncrasies, making it more suitable for some agents than others. Most notably, they are not yet capable of 'receiving' email directly into them, yet. The workaround being to copy and paste the emails into the notes field.
Someone vying to compete with Top Producer Is 360Agent. It has the potential to be Top Producer on steroids. But as they are also new kids on the block, we'll just have to wait and see.
Speaking of new kids on the block, that's the state of the industry. More Contact Management tools keep popping up all the time. One called AOS started out as an online listing appointment tracking solution, and has morphed somewhat into a Contact Management solution as well. I am not exaggerating when I say I have someone contact me at least every other month, wanting to pick my brain about the what would make a good product. Most of them are programmers without Real Estate experience, which puts them at significant disadvantage to begin with.
Another called Realty Juggler is strictly for use on Palms.
"All Client's" niche is for those that are very seriously into intricate referral tracking.
THEN we get into the ‘Add-ons'. Creating add-on software to enhance the capabilities of Outlook has been getting popular for the last several years. ‘Active Agent for Outlook' is the one that most resembles good ol' Outlook, and it makes doing mail merges, and using activity plans, among other things, easier. Obviously it integrates with Microsoft products, which appeals to some. It's still not as easy as RES software to do the daily tasks that agents have to do on a daily basis, but there are a good many agents that are tired of dealing with ‘proprietary' software, which is basically ‘my way or the highway stuff', and lacks the ‘power' of MS products.
The other two most popular Outlook add-ons are Pat Zaby's Respond, and another called RealeSeller. The former boasting volumes of letters and publisher pieces; the latter trying to put a friendlier face on Outlook.
One way to pick a tool is to evaluate what kind of 'user' you will be. I've worked with thousands of agents over the years, in the context of CRM. Agents fall into two categories in the following respect:
1) You are capable of, meaning you have a deep enough understanding of, how software works and interacts. You pick up software very easily and enjoy 'playing' with it. You have the imagination to be creative with it. You will enjoy investing the time into tailoring the program to be just the way you want it.
2) You should really have something that may not be quite as flexible, but that lesser flexibility makes it easier to learn because it comes already tailored to the needs of the vast majority of users.
My experience tells me that the vast majority of agents fall into the latter category.
While none of these can be so easily pigeonholed into one type, and it is certainly not my intent to say any of them are totally inflexible, the above solutions tend to be more for category number 2 people. The following solutions fit more into category number 1:
We can't finish the list without letting ACT!, which I personally used for a year myself, get into the 'act'. There have been several add-ons created for it, but unfortunately I've yet to hear a kind word spoken of them. Then ACT! itself came out with ‘ACT! for Real Estate'. I haven't personally looked at it yet, but the general consensus from the dozen or so people I've spoken with that used it, is that it is a lackluster effort, falling short in true functionality. In case you're considering hiring someone to customize ACT! to fit your needs, you may want to know this. I've had far and away more people purchase RES software from me that had just given up doing just that, than any other CRM tool in my experience. They had spent many hours, and a lot of money having it customized, and eventually gave up, because they got tired of dealing with it. Before you ACT! users, and I know there are a number category ones out there, start crucifying me, I didn't say ALL, simply more, than any other program. Some other comments...
GoldMine! There are definitely some die-hard GoldMine users that have downloaded the add-on for that, and swear it's the best thing since sliced bread. We are talking POWER now though. GoldMine is industrial strength, and not for the average Real Estate agent, who is being dragged kicking and screaming into using a Contact Management tool to begin with.
Another one I just recently took a hard look at is Maximizer. This is a powerful tool along the lines of GoldMine and ACT!, but in some respects has even more. It interfaces directly with Outlook and MS Word as do GoldMine and ACT!, which will pique many people's interest. It is very flexible in and of itself. A Real Estate add-on is available, but, as with many add-ons, for the most part all it does is label many of the user defined fields with Real Estate terms, add some letter templates and checklists, and add seven "Action Plans". The program itself I definitely like. The add-on does make it more Real Estate specific, but is really just OK.
Part three deals with different qualifying questions you need to ask yourself, in order to better hone in on what CRM tool best suits your individual needs.
A History & Partial Listing of Contact Management Tools in Real Estate
Posted at 12:46 PM, Apr. 9, 2007
They're coming out of the woodwork! It all started back in the mid '80's with Howard & Friends. I know many of you loved it, but waiting for "Blinky to gather my contacts" was a tad too silly for this transplant from computer operations to Real Estate guy...
During Howard & Friends tenuous tenure, another Real Estate Specific (RES) program came out called, interestingly enough, RES - Real Estate Specialist. I loved that program, but it never made it to Windows. As reticent as agents are now to invest the time into learning Contact Management or CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tools, can you imagine how small the market was back in the late '80's?!
Then along came Top Producer in 1989 and Online Agent in 1992, later to be renamed Agent Office in 2002. Agent Office has also been 'branded' by various franchises over the years as 'RE/MAX Agent 2000', 'Agent Office for RE/MAX', 'Century 21 Power Pack', and Realty Executives' 'Executive Agent'. They were exactly the same program, except that the franchise logo was displayed in the upper left hand corner of the screen. Those two were pretty much the only games in town for years, in the context of market share, and boast the lion's share to this day. Top Producer was always far heavier into marketing than was Agent Office, hence the leading market share for Top Producer.
The two continued to expand and improve over the years, but the first big change came about in 2003. Top Producer went online with Version 7i. Version 6i was the last offline version to be produced by Top Producer, and is now no longer available, and support will end in May of 2007. Agent Office remains an 'offline' solution, meaning it is software you load on your computer, as opposed to being available online with any Internet connection, as is Top Producer. While there are third party solutions available, such as eServer, that enable Agent Office to be 'served' or accessed, 'online', it does not have some of the same functionality as does Top Producer. That said, if you are already using Agent Office, there is much to be said for not having to go through a whole new learning curve, and migrating only a part of your database to a new system.
As Top Producer and Agent Office own the lion's share of the market, it's been interesting to see my client's migration from one to the other, and the reasoning being given as to why. I have a steady stream of agents purchasing Agent Office from me, who are Top Producer 6i users. The three most common justifications being given:
"I don't want my database online. If the company goes out of business, I could lose my database"
"I don't want my database at risk of being compromised."
"I have enough monthly bills. I don't want another one"
Responding to the first; you have the capability of exporting the vast majority of the fields, and the export is done very quickly and easily. Importing that data into another CRM tool can be somewhat tricky if you have no clue what you're doing with databases. I have articles to help on my Agent Office Tips & Top Producer Tips pages.
A far as "If the company goes out of business...", Top Producer is more likely to stay in business than ANY other Real Estate specific CRM solution on the market today.
Be very aware that once you get into ANY CRM program, if you leave it to go to another one, things like your contact's record of e-mails, to-do's, appointments, phone calls, etc., will not be exportable, or importable into another program. The way these records are kept is unique to each and every program, so they will not transfer from one to another. The same can even be said of Outlook. Another thing that does not export from these tools is the letter library, without significant intervention. If you use merge fields in ANY program, including MS Word, they are different for each program. So no matter which one you use, they will not be usable in another program without editing all the merge fields. The only way to have ANY universality with e-mails or letters is to stay with Microsoft products. But then you lose all the benefits of the other programs, and they are MANY. There are more and more companies out there promoting the use of Microsoft Office suite, but compared to the relatively rapid expansion of the Real Estate specific CRM tools, you will be missing a great deal. More and more of them are interfacing with products like Zip Forms, SureClose, Relay, ArchTel, and many template Web sites. Those relationships do not exist with MS products, with rare exceptions. Active Agent for Outlook is one of them, as it interfaces with Settlement Room.
To the second; Consider that the company with whom you have your database generates their entire income from their product. To allow the data to be compromised would be financial suicide. Could it happen? Never say never, but I don't see it being very likely at all.
Lastly; What can be said? It's more costly right? Or is it? If you take the initial cost of an 'offline' software as the only cost, you're not looking at the whole picture. After the initial cost comes the cost of the upgrades, IF you choose to buy them. Note that with Agent Office, you can skip as many upgrades as you want, then buy the current upgrade, and it will include all the ones you skipped, for the same price. There is also the cost of tech-support on an annual basis. The online solutions usually include upgrades and tech-support in the monthly cost. Long term, yes online solutions will be more costly than offline, but you do need to take the whole picture into consideration to best evaluate them both. When the cost becomes the biggest issue with the monthly solutions, is when you are a team, and growing, and you need more and more "licenses". Then the cost can get to be significant. That said, if you are doing that well, the additional cost simply becomes a factor of doing business on that scale.
Then there are the people that are coming to me that have Agent Office, and buy Top Producer. Their needs are such that they need to be online. There are an ever increasing number of agents that have assistants, or buyer agents, who are not in the same physical location, and need remote/Internet access to their Contact Management tool. As previously stated, Agent Office can be 'served' online, but it's analogous to using a Real Estate specific add-on; it improves the capabilities, but falls short of a tool designed specifically for that use.
Next time - Part 2 - What else is out there? A significant, yet still partial list of other leading CRM solutions that lend them themselves to use by real Estate agents.
Transaction Management Platforms
Posted at 2:23 PM, Oct. 24, 2006
It is inevitable that Online Transaction Management Platforms will be pervasive in the Real Estate industry at some point in the relatively near future. I've heard numbers from agents saying that it saves them 30% of their time per transaction. It saves agents, ancillary service providers, and consumers, time. That said, more players are jumping into the game...
Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending upon your point of view, that means more choices, and more research to determine which one best suits you. A comment was made to my last post asking me to help "understand our options better". Would that it were that easy!
The list of Online Transaction Management Platforms(let's call them OTMP's) actually was far greater several years ago, but among other reasons, the business models were poor for many, and they failed. Another reason being it was simply too soon for the industry to embrace them. Now the list has started to grow again. Some are; SettlementRoom (one that was there years ago and continues to be strong), a new player - NAR's 'Relay', Fidelity's 'Transaction Point' (which they are in the process of making a major push with), Stewart Title's 'Sureclose', Gurunet, and there are others.
Let me make it clear that my forte is Contact Management, and Transaction Management within those tools. I'll try to make that more clear in what follows. As Contact Management Software/Services (also known as CRM's - Customer Relationship Management) and OTMP's become more and more intertwined, I continue to invest time expanding my expertise on the latter topic.
One point I would like to make before talking about OTMP's is not to confuse them with CRM's. While they are merging more all the time, generally speaking, the latter deals primarily with tracking contacts, lead generation and follow-up, while the former is more geared towards dealing with those contacts from the point of listing the home and/or from the executory agreement of sale date.
While most Real Estate specific CRM tools, such as Top Producer, Agent Office, REST, Active Agent for Outlook, and others, provide very good Transaction Management tools, the primary differences of OTMP's are the inherent advantages of being online, and the sharing and distribution of documents.
Until relatively recently, OTMP's have not focused on integrating a truly robust CRM tool with their platforms, and CRM tools, have not integrated a viable online solution to enable sharing of documents. That has been changing. I think it's simply been a matter of each trying to become the best at what they do, before taking on the momentous task of trying to be both.
That said, the integration of the two has been moving forward to greater and lesser degrees with different products. I am most certainly not familiar with all the OTMP's, so I am undoubtedly leaving some out, and more than likely short-changing some with respect to their advancements in CRM.
Two of which I am aware that are making moves towards integration are:
SettlementRoom is one of the OTMP's that has been around the longest, and is now integrated with Sonoma Enterprise's Active Agent for Outlook - known as SR Producer. The two are also very close to a product that will provide integration for Outlook (independent of the Active Agent for Outlook add-in) with SR. (As it is not yet ready I can't put up the link. If you would like me to provide you with information when it becomes available, just e-mail me.)
Transaction Point has limited sharing with Agent Office, with further integration possible down the road.
If you're trying to decide which product, or which combination of products is best for you, you need to determine what your CRM needs are, and if any of the OTMP's will provide enough in that respect. Some agents don't do all that much networking; lead generation & follow-up; and mail merging. As those functions are typically the strength of the CRM tools, maybe you lean towards an OTMP with sufficient CRM strength. If you need the CRM strengths, maybe you you don't have too long of a wait to find an OTMP with strong CRM tools. Maybe it's out there now. If you are using one, please by all means, share it with us here!
So whatever happened to just listing and selling Real Estate the good ol' fashioned way, without having to do so much research to find good tools? I guess the same thing that happened to being able to pick out a pair of jeans in 5 minutes?
AgentOffice vs. Top Producer
Posted at 6:07 PM, Aug. 21, 2006
Disclosure. I am a reseller for Agent Office. I have tried to affiliate with TP in the past, as I believe it can be a more appropriate choice, depending upon one's needs, but was denied due to my affiliation with AO. That said, those of you that know me and my site, know that I am a reseller for several other CRM tools, and make a list of yet many others readily available for comparison. I try to fit the person/team with the tool that will best meet their specific needs and preferences.
It's been a while since I asked the following question, which is why I am now asking again. I would like to hear from anyone that has used BOTH Agent Office, at least as current as version 7.0, AND Top Producer 7i, for at least 6 months each. There are probably not very many of you, so if you are one of them, PLEASE post, or e-mail me off-list, or I may not get any ;-)
I realize there are many people that "love the one they're with", and I appreciate that. I know there are many people that are using something else, and that's great. The research I'm doing though, only pertains to AO & TP users that have used both. I know the upsides and downsides of the following, so I don't need to hear about them.
- Cost analysis - monthly & free tech support & upgrades, vs. one time fee and pay for tech support & upgrades as you decide you want them
- Backups done automatically for you vs. having to back up
- Online access vs. not
What I would like to hear is comments about:
- Features that one has that the other does not
- Stability - which one works better with no functional glitches. Does it work all the time without freezing, giving you a blue screen, or simply not doing what it's supposed to do.
- Usability - Moving from screen to screen; finding what you want quickly; doing what you want without too many key strokes.
- Ease of learning - compare one to the other in that regard. Which one was easier for you to pick up?
- Flexibility - If it doesn't already do what you want, can you usually devise a work-around to accomplish it?
- Which company was better at listening to you when it comes to implementing suggestions, if you ever officially made any.
- Tech support - good bad or indifferent for each.
ANYTHING else you care to comment on.
Please remember. I'm asking for comparisons from users of both. Not comparisons from research that was done, or from experimenting with them for a trial period. There is some value in research, but it has very little compared to someone that has actually used both in a production environment. If you didn't use both for at least 6 months, AO 7.0 or newer, and TP 7i, please state as much, so people here can weight it accordingly, and so I know whether or not to include it on my site.
My AO versus TP page has gotten a great deal of traffic over the years. Thousands of people have read posts about favoring one over the other. Your posts here on this subject will help many of you now, and in the future, make your own decisions. So if you could take a few minutes, you will be doing me a favor, but also thousands of other agents around the world that go to that page for information. Thanks!
Combining Activities in Activity Plans
Posted at 4:43 PM, Aug. 9, 2006
I used "Activity Plans' or 'Campaigns' in Real Estate specific software when I was an agent, when the software became available in 1989. (DOS program :-) Since then, I've worked with many agents/teams since 1996. expanding/developing 'Activity Plans' in Agent Office and a few in 'Top Producer' in my 'Tech-Speed' program.
Efficiency is obviously the desired end result - BUT - with regards to 'combining activities', I would say be cautious. There are different qualifications to use when deciding whether or not to combine them.
Keep in mind that 'Activity Plans' should always be constructed with the long term goal in mind that they will be used by other members of a team, whether you have one now or not.
No activity plan can hope to take every detail into account. Every transaction is unique. That said, a good activity plan can take the VAST majority of the transaction's details into account, as the vast majority of transactions are the same to a GREAT extent. The assistant/s take care of the plan items. The agent takes care of the unique items.
1) If the activities will ALWAYS be accomplished together, whether you are interrupted or not, then you MAY want to combine them. i.e.; Erect Yard Sign/ Affix Lockbox. If they are ALWAYS done together, then make them one activity. If not, then don't. That sounds obvious, but note that I said 'MAY'.
2) Why MAY?. Because if you are sending out 'Client Listing Reports', to the Seller/s, then you want that report to be as long as possible, to give the Seller/s the perception that you ARE doing a lot of work for them. Combining activities shortens the list, and lessens the perception. A few extra clicks to complete the activities is a small price to pay to strengthen that perception.
3) In some offices, a listing file cannot be submitted to the front office unless it 'complete'. If that is the case in your office, then there is no need to have each form being submitted as a separate activity. UNLESS, once again, you want the Seller/s to be impressed with that long list.
If your office does not mandate a complete file, then they should be separate activities. One of the points of the plans is to NOT let things fall through the cracks. Separate activities ensure that. What takes more time; backpedaling when a form is forgotten, or a couple extra clicks to complete the activity?
4) One of the goals with activity plans is to have EVERY single detail (to-do, letter, call) in the plan, anticipating the day when you either hire an assistant, or have to replace one. Every detail that is 'in someone's head' becomes a liability, a potentially overlooked detail, and a learning curve, for the replacement - hence a loss of time to you, in that you have to communicate that detail to the new assistant, and/or do the backpedaling for them.
5) No detail should be on a paper list. (See Bill Luke's letter for emphasis on that point, by a team that was big 'paper list' users.) Paper lists get lost. Paper lists can only be in one file, on one desk, at a time Those same details, when in 'the plan', can be viewed by anyone at any time, without having to waste time locating it. All participants in the transaction, can see all the details of the transaction from their computer. No more walking to someone else's desk or file cabinet. No more need for sticky notes, voice mails, etc.
And if the agent wants to walk out of the office and review the progress of a transaction, it can be printed out, and every detail is in the report. Nothing is in anyone's head. Nothing is on a separate paper list.
If you do not have an assistant, and you ask someone to step in for you for a day, 2, or more; everything is there.
6) The 'Notes' in the activity plans should be used as a 'Dynamic Operations Manual'. They describe in detail, what the activity is about, for the benefit of the 'new 'assistant'. This eliminates a tremendous about of training time, and the 'Notes' can be changed at any time, to reflect changes in the nature of that activity, as your business changes.
Agent Office Version 9.0 is coming!
Posted at 7:00 AM, Jun. 16, 2006
FNIS has just announced an upgrade to Version 9.0 now. It will start shipping on July 5th. Until a few days ago, none of us had a clue when it would be. If you bought Version 8.5 on June 6th or after, you will get a free upgrade. You'll just have to pay about $25 for the cost of S & H.
If you like you can order it now for $229, pre-release.
What's in it?
Several "Activity" Updates, including:
The ability to Mass Re-Assign Activities from one user to another.
A "View All" Feature. View all users calendars at once.
Referrals Tab:
Manage your referrals in a multi-level environment. Who referred this contact? Who did this contact refer you to?
Document Manager:
Store Document Files connected to any Contact, Listing or Transaction Record. You no longer need to keep separate folders on your hard drive.
Contact Import:
Duplicate Record Check
Import Multiple e-Mail Addresses
Import Categories
Associate Contacts to existing Categories.
Zip Forms & Winforms compatible - Create your Zipforms paperwork by automatically populating all your contact information into them from AO, and then store the forms in AO.
It's a very good upgrade. They never have everything I would like to see, but this is a good one. The next one won't be out for quite some time. More upgrade information
NEXT ONLINE INTERACTIVE AO CLASS STARTS SOON REGISTER NOW! - More info
Agent Office Activity Plans & Letters by Gary David Hall
|
|
RSS Blog Feed
View more entries tagged with: Agent Office, Real Estate Contact Management Software, Real Estate Crm Software, Emphasys Software