-----Original Message-----

Sent: Thursday, November 03, 2005 9:38 PM

To: RealTalk@InternetCrusade.com

Subject: RE: RealTalk: Contact Managers Comparison - REPOST (long)

I've recently been looking at various CRM software packages to find one that meet my needs best. I thought I'd share the results of my findings of each of the packages I looked at. I have no affiliation with any of these companies, and just downloaded trial software from each to give each a test spin. My findings are a result of my uses of the software, and you may see things differently. That's ok. That's why we each get choices.  The key points that I looked for and tried out are as follows:

Definable action plans with template e-mails
HTML e-mail capability
Network ability (multi-user)
Easy to use and learn
Retain data locally for backup purposes

Top Producer 7i:

In a nutshell: Expensive and slow, but has lots of features

Bottom Line: Top choice for online CRM

I subscribed to this program to give it a try. They only allow annual contracts, so I was out some $350 or so. This program is used on-line, as in on the internet. That is good benefit, as well as a detriment. The benefit is that you can use it wherever you can find a pc, such as a library, or in a coffee shop. The detriment of this is that you can't use it when you're on the road, such as in a client's house, or on the side of the street. They have a way around this now. One could purchase TP7i remote for an additional monthly fee and have access to the data on your laptop. One can also purchase for an additional monthly fee the ability to sync with a palm.

Now, more on this software. Being web-based has another disadvantage that is not readily apparent until you've used the software for a while. I don't know how many people use keyboard shortcuts, but I use them ALL the time in almost EVERY application. Weeelll, TP7i won't allow any keyboard shortcuts (at least I couldn't find a way). This means that even after filling in a form, one needs to use the mouse to click on OK (or continue or whatever) to get to the next screen. This is not an efficient way to navigate through the program. Another disadvantage is that I find the application is SLOW. Not like molasses, but not nearly as fast as other local applications such as Act or Agent Office. And, no it isn't my machine as my machine is very capable. Our local TP sales rep always blames my laptop though. My laptop is no slouch. I can run photoshop, golive, illustrator, and outlook at the same time (using dual monitors) with those apps consuming more than 500MB and they run just fine. But have nothing running, except TP7i in an internet explorer window, and it's slow as molasses.

The last drawback that I'll mention is this: Having your data under someone else's control may not be in your best interest. I think it is important to have and keep access to your data. I'm sure that for TP, if you don't pay your monthly bill, they'll shut off access to your data. Or, what if that company sold off TP, or went under? Would you have access to your data? Who knows. I will not chance my data to someone else. If I don't backup my data and my machine crashes, it's my problem, and it's my fault. But if they go under, or the server crashes, is it also my fault?

Act 2006:

In a nutshell: buggy. Crashed several times.

Bottom Line: Needs more stability

First of all, Act has been an industry staple for salespeople across various industries for many, many years. I remember seeing people use it in 1990, so it's been around for quite some time. This latest version, which I downloaded, looked pretty nice. It had the core features that I needed and looked like it would meet my criteria. Then I started to use it. Each time I tried to do something within act, no matter what it was, it crashed. Just try to send an e-mail, change a few options, paste some text, crash. Or try to create some documents, crash. Enter a new contact, crash.  That was enough for me to uninstall the program. Sorry Act, but you lose.

Goldmine 6.5:

In a nutshell: Complex, high learning curve

Bottom Line: Too high learning curve (for me)

This program seems geared toward managing a sales force. People say that it is Act on steroids, and it really is. But, unfortunately, it comes with a steep learning curve. I'm very software proficient coming from a software programming and testing background for over 10 years. I never did "get" this program. Maybe it was written before there were graphical / user interface standards, but it didn't flow well. I don't doubt that it is very capable, just that I couldn't make it work (that's saying a lot coming from me). So, I also uninstalled it. I'm sure one could purchase the training and get it running, and it could be very good, but I have other things I'd rather be doing than learning how to use a piece of software. Not to mention the time I'd have to spend training other people to use it (for those future assistants).

RealeSeller:

In a nutshell: low cost, integrates into outlook

Bottom Line: Missing key features

I really wanted Real eSeller to work. It looks nice, and it integrates into Outlook, something I already love and use. But there seems to be a few missing parts of this program. For one, if you set up an action plan to send an e-mail, I didn't find a way to put an e-mail template into the action plan. It seems as if you need to save all your e-mail templates separately and copy/paste them when it asks you to complete an activity. That means when an item shows up on your task list as an e-mail, you've got to go and find the e-mail you want to send, then paste it in and send it. This is cumbersome. Due to this limitation, I am not evaluating it further. They did reply to an e-mail and stated that something may be coming in a future release to address this issue.

Active Agent:

In a nutshell: Integrates within Outlook

Bottom Line: One of my top choices

There are a few advantages to AA, but also some disadvantages (no disrespect to Jack Bretcher, who is on this list). The main advantage is that it is integrated into Outlook, like RealeSeller. That means that you probably already know most of how it works, if you use Outlook. It's really easy to add new contacts, and to put them on an Action Plan, or Campaign as it's called in this product. Out of all of the apps, this would be one of my top choices.

Agent Office:

In a nutshell: easy to learn and use

Bottom Line: One of my top choices

I purchased this software for a super low price of $79 (I think it costs more now). Now that doesn't mean that the software is cheap, or not functional. In fact, it's just the opposite. It seems to have plenty of features and seems to always run well. There are a couple of items that Agent Office doesn't address. For instance, it still doesn't do HTML. The up-coming version due out in the short term is supposed to address this. Finally. The other couple of things I don't like are as follows: Keyboard shortcuts are inconsistent. Sometimes you can press the enter button as the equivalent of OK, but on other screens you can't. Sometimes one has to use the mouse to click on "yes" or "ok" rather than just pressing enter. You can only schedule Birthday and Anniversaries for 5 years. Once 5 years have past, it won't remind you again until you re-add the birthday and anniversary reminders. But you can set a reminder 4.5 years from now to remind you to do this, but you have to do so for every contact manually. Also, the word processor is nothing to write home about. MS-Word is infinitely better. But there are built-in Action Plans and new ones are easy to create. Also it's easy to assign the action plans to contacts, and groups of contacts are easy to search for. Out of all the apps, this is also one of my top choices.

Advantage Xi:

In a nutshell: Buggy

Bottom Line: Needs more stability

I downloaded this program last and tried it out for a few days. I tried to create some e-mails that could be scheduled to be automatically sent out. Unfortunately, it is difficult to create a template e-mail and save it. When you save it, that works, but you then can't exit the "new message" without specifying a contact, and sending out the e-mail. Then if you try to add the new message to the "action plan" which they call "task series spreadsheets" it crashes. Then I tried to e-mail a sample e-flyer to myself. That worked just fine. The only really cool thing I found was in the Task Series Spreadsheet module. There is a view, kind of like a Gantt chart where you can see where each contact is in the process of the action plan. It's more of a horizontal bar graph, but it works well. So with one glance, you can see the progress of each of the contacts. But that's not enough to make me purchase it. Also, keyboard shortcuts don't work appropriately, such as Alt-F4 should close the application, but on certain screens, it brings up the menu bar. What's going on?

Conclusion:

Out of all these, the only program that behaved as a normal windows program was Act. That is in terms of using standard dialog boxes, shortcut keys, etc. But, Act needs to grow up. There are way too many bugs for a released product.

Top Producer is a good choice for online CRM but the online disadvantages must be considered.

Advantage Xi, Agent Office, and Goldmine seem to be written by some "almost computer programmers" in the fact that they don't follow the "normal" or "standard" programming practices.

That leaves Real eSeller and Active Agent, both of which are Outlook "plugins." Real eSeller is missing a core feature (template e-mails) so I won't consider that one. 

My final word: The choice boils down to Active Agent, or Agent Office. I like Agent Office in the fact that it has been around a long time, and the program is very stable. But some of the features are really dated (word processor, no html yet (but coming soon), sort of clunky interface). And Active Agent is nicely integrated into Outlook. Choices, choices.

Steven Hong

A follow up to my summary of various CRM softwares:

After seeing what features are going to be added to Real eSeller, I may still consider that product, as it would meet my needs, and it seems like it may be more flexible than the other products. I've certainly gotten good responses from Michael Fordyce from RealeSeller. I did enjoy using the trial software, as there were features that were unique to RealeSeller.  I just need to do something today, and for today, it may just be using the copy of Agent Office that I already own, until the new RealeSeller comes out, as well as the new Agent Office, both due out before the end of the year.

By the way, I did hear from FNIS (Agent Office) and they did mention that the new version coming in the next couple of months will have the ability to add more than 5 years of reminders. I'm thinking 50 years ought to do it. I do plan on being in real estate more than 5 years, but probably not more than 50. And they are also adding HTML e-mails. So, if I purchase the latest version, I'll use it to send out campaign e-mails, and newsletters, but still use outlook for daily communication.

Steven Hong