Free CRM program?

An agents contacts are their main source of income! If an agent is serious about being a good agent and making a good income, they MUST have a contact management program. No questions about that! They can try using Outlook (I did and became very frustrated) or they can spend a small amount (in comparison to other costs we encounter) and get a real estate specific program. I recommend Advantage xi. With the videos and excellent tech support they won't go wrong!

Cyndi McFarran

Gary,

I think there are many components to an agent's hesitation to use a CRM. First, until recently, we had so very few GOOD OPTIONS. TP has been for many years sort of the "default" program...around for so many years it has a huge database...but for all the versions I owned (admittedly none since 6i) it was so poorly structured and propriatary that a lot of agents who thought they "tried CRM" simply said it's just not worth the effort.

Then there are those who simply don't know what they don't know. It's like anything else that you don't know about...if you don't know the questions to ask, you don't get the answers you need. In addition, since the playing field was so limited, there weren't a lot of resources that really took a look at each of the alternatives and let people compare on a realistic basis. The more information like "did you know your CRM could do such and such for you" with some real detailed examples, the more enticing it could be. And SIMPLICITY is important too. Most agents are not techies....those of us who have ANY aptitude for it are in the vast minority. So the easier the software is to learn, the more intuitive its architecture, the better.

XI did something very smart, I think, by creating all those little tutorials. They took the "how do you eat an elephant?" question seriously...."one bite at a time". Most of the tutorials are just a couple of minutes long (bite size) complete with real time "here's what the screen looks like, here's where you click, and here's what happens when you do that" examples, with someone SHOWING YOU what to do and TALKING YOU THROUGH the process. I learned a TON and saved myself countless hours of self-teaching by watching the tutorials!

As far as "getting out of the business"...there will always be people who don't use the technology. That's not to say that SOMETHING ELSE is not what they're better suited for. They just need to understand NOT utilizing the better tools puts them at a disadvantage....and having a system to do a large chunk of the time consuming stuff for you is a huge time-saver!

JudiB

I would be excited to see the comparison of the contact management programs. Like Judi B, the last TP version I used was 6i and I still use as much of it as I can. I loved many of its features and know I used more than most other agents - because I could. I just don't want to be tethered to an internet connection with TP's latest iterations so, of course, if I want to upgrade I need to find another software. And now with my 'smart' phone, I could be smarter if I had the right software.

Questions I have about the software: who is developing it? And for whom is it being developed? The wired agent? The wireless agent? The agent's assistant? The broker?

Great topic, right time. THANKS!

Sandi

There are no shareware Real Estate specific CRM's of which I am aware.

I am part of SOCAL MLS in So California and we just added a contact management program to the MLS. I was part of the initial panel where Prospect from Cananda was introduced and I loved it then. It is now online and integrated with our MLS for NO additional cost to us the members and I think we call it MLS Word. I think it will do almost everything we could need. Hope to hear how others have made it work for them. Rhonda

Questions I have about the software: who is developing it?

Mostly agents who were dissappointed with what was available 5 -7 years ago.

And for whom is it being developed? The wired agent? The wireless agent? The agent's assistant? The broker?

Out of the 19 I've interviewed (7 left to go), it's mostly for wired agents, and some for brokers/teams.

Rhonda,

Prospects is a cool program. I spent 4 or 5 hours with the president, Charles Drouin, and he is a funny and driven guy. I really enjoyed working with him. As time goes by, it would be great to hear from you again about how you like it, after you use it for a while. They all have their niche, and Prospect's is the way it integerates with MLS'. The only problem for the time being is that they are only in Canadian and California MLS'. If you're in Canada or California, and you want a Web based solution - they're worth looking at. I'll be affiliating soon.

I've been through a number of programs over the years. Real Estate specific ones like Howard and Friends, PREP, On-Line Agent/Agent Office, TP 7i and now am using TP8i. TP really works wonderfully for us. Myself, 2 admin and a Buyer's Agent are all able to work on it at the same time and most of the database also resides on my Blackberry for mobile use. It is a well thought out program with lots of cool features and what I've found to be excellent Support.

I also interact with a number of agents in my marketplace on a frequent basis and am looking for additional resources to direct them to. I'll look into the 'Advantage xi' option.

Thanks.

Gary,

Glad to hear TP is now offering good support. Years ago it was abysmal...although they did do better with technical issues than with user issues and questions. When I'd call or email with a user question, I kept getting the same thing..."we don't do that". As a result, I created a Yahoo user group for TP which is still up and running today (since I haven't used TP in years, I've not monitored actiivty there).

Your situation is also one where there are certainly advantages to having your database online...where multiple people can access and add to content in real time, usable by multiple parties. I can certainly understand how that could be invaluable to teams or agents with staff who need that sort of capability. You could be at your office, and staff members could even work from home...but all using the same database, making entries, performing fuctions, etc.

This is why discussions like this are so useful (thanks again, Gary) because they expose people to a variety of alternatives where they can evaluate strengths and weaknesses in a host of products, get some sense of what each can really do, and determine what it is exactly they want a program to do for them ... the way they work ... and select the best product as a result.

Informed is empowered (at least "accurately" informed with good interpretation and application is .... LOL ... as we all know, lots of info does no good if you can't apply it or, worse, if it's wrong!)

JudiB