Top Producer, Gold Mine, ACT or Something Else... Which One Do You Use?
I've been looking for a good lead organization system. I've had Top Producer before, and it was good, but very complex and it had many features I really did not need.
A friend of mine uses Gold Mine, but it also seems very complex; a little too complicated for me.
Several people have mentioned ACT, but I've not heard that many good things about it and I am not familiar with it.
I just need something simple, just a bare-bones system to keep on top of my leads. Does anyone use a free and easy version that works well?
Your input is much appreciated!
Your Myrtle Beach Connection, Mirela Monte
http://www.myrtlebeachhomes.us/
M&M, I wish I could give you a great answer. I have been looking for the same thing as well. Somepeople are happy with Outlook ( for pc users) There is also a patch that you can download from the internet that enhances Outlook that makes it better for real estate. I looked at it but didnt agree.
I had Act before but it is just as big as Top Producer. Those type of programs make you a slave to the program.
Similar is Howard and Friends which used to be a fabulous program before the Internet is now just like the others.
So I will park here for a while and hopefully someone will come to yours and my aid.
I believe that the system that BY REFERRAL ONLY uses is the best I have seen.... hands down. Well worth the money.
To your success!
Susan
When I started in real estate, I used Outlook to manage my data base. It was Ok for what I needed at the time; a place to manage my contacts, calendar for appointments along with reminders of what I needed to do on what date, etc. but then I learned about Top Producer 7i. I have been using it for the past 4 years and I couldn't do my job without it. It has so many great features and really helps keep me on track, especially my calendar and "My todays business" page. I check it first thing and it tells me who I need to call, what appointments I have, what I need to do for my listings, mailings that need to go out, etc. And then there are all the forms, letters, flyers, etc, that's built into the system. Yes, like everything else, there is a learning curve. It takes some time to learn the features, but it's well worth the effort and saves me lots of time. Too many features to mention here, but it's worth the time it takes to learn. The newest version, 8i, is being beta tested by a number of agents in my office and should be out by June. I highly recommend it.
Thank you all very much for your advice!
Kevin: Outlook is what I am presently using. I forgot to mention in my blog, I'm sorry. It's just not enough at this point.
Elaine, Sam and Al: All roads seem to be pointing to Top Producer. 8i is currently available in the web version, according to their website. The fact that I can have TopProducer in my blackberry appeals to me a great deal. 8i gives me that access. It's only $ 40 per month, and I might just get it. I need to look into the tutorial for it. Any ideas there?
Susan: Thank you very much for that tip! I will check it out in just a moment.
Jonelle: Thank you for your input!
Herb: Just click on the "notify me of new comments" and view them on your "home" page for more answers. Thank you for contributing such a candid point of view!
Outlook is great. Yes, you can really get crazy and customize it. I think that most of us simply do not have the time to be spending on tweaking our applications to best meet our needs. That being said though the time spent making our tools our own allow us to make better use of the time we have left to spend. I am currently in the process of setting up outlook 07 to better serve my needs. I will be updating my blog on occasion with my progress. Please feel free to check it out.
Best,
Scott
If you sign up for Top Producer now you get 8i. I have been using MS Outlook for sometime and I am in the process of switching to TP 8i. There is a learning curve if you are switching to TP. TP is offering some free training classes for the new TP 8i; check out this website:
http://topproducer.com/Training/QuickStart-Training/Default.aspx?utm_source=TES&utm_medium=QuickStart-Email&utm_term=Thomas%20Mangelsdorf&utm_content=QuickStart&utm_campaign=QuickStart-Email&sid=tmangelsdorf
to see if there are classes in your neck of the woods. ;-)
You guys have been great in sharing here! Thank you!
I did find exactly what I needed via another blog: "Two Gifts For One Favor". It's called RealFuture.Com, it's free and very easy to use. Check it out! You'll love it!
Ralph and Wendy: thank you! Apparently a lot of you are using TP.
I use Respond which is a program that fits on top of Outlook; it's produced by Pat Zaby. I'm very happy with it. They also have a Marketing Campaign Module, which can be set up to produce different types of campaigns for your clients.
Since this system fits on top of Outlook, the learning curve is pretty easy.
At this point I just got all of my contacts categorized and put into the database. It's great to print off labels for specific categories of clients; vs. having to pick out names one by one. They also offer some online Webinars; which can be very helpful. If you want any more info on it, let me know.
http://activerain.com/blogsview/62112/Outlook-and-Real-Estate
Here is a link to a blog about using the Respond system. Thank you very much Kathy for your input. I've heard a lot about it and I will check it out.
Misty: Thank you for your input! TP and Outlook with Respond seem to be the way to go.
In the meantime, I've discovered a program that was right under my nose, literally! It is the Paragon program in our MLS. It is outstanding and does EVERYTHING for me, now that I learnt how to use it. I will also check out the outlook respond, because I use both systems and they work well together. Goodbye TP, Goldmine and all the others. Hello old faithfuls!