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Gary David Hall’s Trans-Plans Now Available on IXACT Contact
IXACT Contact Solutions Inc. announces the availability of Gary David Hall’s Trans-Plans on its real estate CRM. Trans-Plans are a set of unique listing and closing plans designed to help REALTORS® maximize their effectiveness in the process of listing and closing homes.
Contact Managers going separate ways
It’s been a while since I interviewed the CEO’s and developers of some of the Real Estate Contact Management and CRM programs. I’ve been re-interviewing them to see what kind of progress they have made since we last spoke when I developed my Contact Manager Comparison Matrix. I’ll let you know what I find out right here. A trend I am already seeing is that rather than all trying to be the same thing, they are developing into their own unique niche products. it’s getting interesting!
Tran-Plans now available for IXACTContact!
Announcment:
“Tran-Plans” are now ready for use with IXACTContact! Trans-Plans are listing and closing plans and campaigns that save you about a month of work by using them as a template instead of you trying to create it all on your own. Previously they have been released for use with Top Producer, Agent Office, AdvantageXi, & Active Agent for Outlook. They are also being worked on for use with RealFutureCRM and RealtyPromoterSoftware. For more information, please go tohttps://garydavidhall.com/planslanding.htm
The most important thing you need to know about choosing & implementing a CRM
It can all be summed up in one word – PATIENCE.
We live in a society that demands instant gratification, often no matter what the cost. In this case the cost is making an informed decision.
Everyone seems to think that because they are a very busy person (like they are the only one) they don’t have a lot of time to spend making a CRM decision. My advice is that until you have committed to spending the proper amount of time to invest in making a good decision and implementing it, don’t do it. It will inevitably be a waste of the little time you took.
I have counseled thousands of agents since 1988 in the context of choosing and implementing a contact manager or CRM (Customer Relationship Manager).
The following is advice for people who realize that a CRM is something that your entire business will revolve around. Most agents think that something that tracks their contacts and enables them to have some reminders is all they need. Maybe it is, if you don’t mind riding a bicycle to your goals instead of a Mazerati. I can say that with confidence because when I was more active I was doing 40-50 closings per year with an assistant and a buyer agent and I know what an agent should be doing if they’re smart. And then of course you can ask anyone who is running their business with one and ask them. Can you run a successful business the old fashioned way with paper checklists? Absolutely. It simply takes more time; facilitates more mistakes, lets things fall through the cracks, and it is more stressful by far.
The most common mistake people make is not giving the selection and implementation process enough time. If you want a CRM to help you grow your business as opposed to one to use as a glorified Rolodex, it is arguably one of the most important decisions you will make in your career.
Given that, should you not spend an appropriate amount of time researching and implementing that decision? Every day I counsel agents to help them pick the best CRM for them based on their aptitude, their current needs, and their future goals. Every day I see people spend an hour looking at the product I recommend based on their criteria only to hear from them again the next day saying that the product does not do what they need. You can not make that determination in that amount of time.
An example of how quickly people want to make the decision is that I follow up with an e-mail detailing what they need to do to properly evaluate their choice, including how to get answers from the vendor, and the best way to get that help. Many agents later call back with questions that were answered in that e-mail. A very small percentage of agents actually read that e-mail because “It is a lengthy e-mail”. That e-mail is about two pages long!
The vast majority of CRM developers spend a great deal of time, money, and effort promoting their product as being “easy to learn and use”. Why? Because that’s what agents want to hear. The irony is that the industry is trending to making CRMs that do not do as much as is needed so that they can sell it as easy to learn.
Many agents do not want to hear the truth. But the truth is that I can and do recommend CRMs that are the easiest to learn and use to those agents whom I can tell do not understand that using a more powerful one is a wiser choice. I know they will not make the time to implement a more powerful product. But the more powerful product is the one they need if they want to truly grow their business, while having more of a life, with less stress, with less mistakes, with better service, with less staff, with more compliments, with more referrals.
One of the most common comments I hear is “I don’t want something that does a lot of things I don’t want or need.” There are two problems with that statement. One is that you probably eventually will want and need them if you want to grow your business and be more efficient and effective. The other is that if you want to do more than just track your contact’s names and addresses, the CRM will undoubtedly also do things that you don’t need. It’s like saying “I want a Mercedes but I don’t want cruise control because I don’t use it.” If you want the Mercedes, you get the cruise control. Just don’t use it.
The amount of time it takes to learn a good CRM is analogous to learning a good word processor like Microsoft Word. How many of us know how to use MS Word to create a letter? How long did it take you to learn how to do that? Very little. Now consider how much more it is capable of. If you want to master many more of its capabilities, it takes more time. A good CRM is no different. Is running your business a simple process? No. It is a complex process that involves a great deal of detail with respect to prospecting, marketing, follow-up, e-mail, document management, managing the myriad of details associated with taking and maintaining a listing, advertising, financial management, managing a closing, tracking showings and following up with them, keeping the client informed about the transaction, maintaining a history of the transaction for risk reduction, and post closing follow-up. And you know that doesn’t cover nearly all of it. If you really want to run your business with a good CRM, there are many aspects you should be using. It takes time to implement that. A lot of time. To use an over used phrase – How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.
So why is it that we expect to be able to spend an hour looking at a CRM and determine that it is, or is not, what will do the job? It is literally impossible to properly evaluate a CRM in that amount of time. What ends up happening is that in short order you determine that it does not do this, that, or the other thing that you want it to do. The reality is that in many cases, if I recommended it to you it does do those things. It is simply not readily apparent that it does because you did not spend enough time or ask enough questions to ascertain that.
So what happens next, you move on to evaluating another product that may fit your needs, only to find it unsatisfactory as well. The end result is analysis paralysis, and never making the decision.
This is going to sound egotistical but it needs to be said. There is irony in that people routinely call me and say “I never realized how many different choices of CRM there until I saw your site. I don’t have the time to research all these different ones and I keep hearing that you are the guru on this subject so can I pick your brain about what would be the best one for me?” I then ask many detailed questions to determine which product best suits their needs, and recommend a product accordingly. Many then spend a very short amount of time reviewing that product, determining that it doesn’t do what they need, and rejecting it. If it did not do what they needed it to, I would not have recommended it in the first place. They called me because (and here is the part that sounds egotistical) after seeing my site all over the Internet at the top of the search engines, or being recommended by an associate, coach, or instructor, or after spending hours on my site, or because I wrote the book on Real Estate CRM, they determined that I know more about the topic than they do. They then determine in a very short period of time that what I recommended is not right for them. I am certainly not saying that I am never wrong. I am simply saying that it is impossible to determine that it is the wrong one without giving it the appropriate amount of time.
So without taking too much time to say it, I know – too late, you need to allot a significant amount of time to evaluate, choose, and then implement a good CRM. If you want it to do a lot for you, you have to spend a lot of time implementing it. There are no shortcuts.
Happy searching! Please make the time to make a good decision.
Is Google apps the answer?
It used to be Outlook. Now it is common to hear people saying Google apps will do the trick for CRM for Real Estate agents. I have no doubt that it is sufficient for some people, as is Outlook. My caveats for Google apps being sufficient are much the same as they have always been for Outlook in concert with MS Office products.
While Google apps has a nice array of features, it is still not real estate specific. This means it requires a significant amount of manipulation and customization so that it does more of what you need it to do. The vast majority of agents are not capable of that kind of customization. The ones who are able, are usually not willing to spend the amount of time necessary to do it. Of the ones who are both able and willing, very few will actually make the time do it. And if they do, they still have to use several different products and continue to rely on redundant data entry to get everything they need done.
If you are doing a so-so amount of business, and all you want to do is maintain the status-quo, Outlook or Google may suffice. However – if you want to grow your business, while having more of a life, with less stress, with less mistakes, with better service, with less staff, with more compliments, with more referrals, then they will prove to be inadequate. Been there – done that – got the t-shirt.
Besides having used many RE CRMs since 1988, starting with a DOS program called Real Estate Specialist, and having spent thousands of hours for the last decade evaluating them and speaking daily with users on a one-on-one basis, in seminars, conventions, user groups, CE classes, forums, list-servs, – you get the picture, I am an active agent. Granted I do a minimal amount of business by choice, but at one time I was doing 40-50 sides/yr. If Outlook with an add-on and MS Office or Google Apps were the best solution available, I would be using them. I am not. I am using Advantage Xi.
That does not mean I think it is the right product for everyone. Different people have different aptitudes for software, different needs, and different goals. I recommend different CRMs to them accordingly when I evaluate their needs. I am simply going to point out what I like about this one, and you can decide for yourself if it is appropriate for you to take a look at it.
While there is no silver bullet CRM that does absolutely everything, there is not much that Advantage Xi does not do. It is not for the agent who wants a CRM with a limited number of features, and wants to be up and running in a couple days. It may be for you if power and flexibility are what you are looking for. If you are a power user who has tried many CRMs, you definitely want to take a look.
This product has been continuously improved by regularly implementing user suggestions since its inception in 1991. A list of the updates can be seen going all the way back to 2003. They typically come out two to four times each month, and are installed automatically by clicking the Update button. The agents who most consistently praise Advantage Xi as the best all around CRM are those who have used (not just trialed) many other CRMs, and who are the most demanding CRM users in Real Estate. Go to theYahoo user group and you will see all manner of comments, warts and all. Mostly you will hear agents who have used Google apps, Outlook with add-ons, Goldmine, ACT!, Agent Office, SalesForce, SugarCRM, Maximizer, Top Producer, WiseAgent, Realty Juggler, and many others say that after years of using many different products, they have finally stopped looking. Advantage is their holy grail of CRMs.
A recent post from the Yahoo user group by Judi Bryan makes my point succinctly, eloquently, and accurately. She said:
“I’m a big believer, particularly with CRM, in considering the Big Picture. Xi excels at about 90% of what I want a CRM to do. There is another 7-8% where it handles what I need. And, yes, there is about 2-3% where it could do a lot better (and much of that 2-3% is something that Xi cannot do by itself…it relies on other systems and services which are not themselves fully developed or capable). No doubt it is because I have used so many other CRM products that I’m such a huge fan of this one. I know the alternatives and on the whole, this beats the competition for what I want and need hands down – warts and all.”
The first and biggest component with regards to integration for efficiency is e-mail. It has its own e-mail client which has a similar look and feel to Outlook, but replaces it. All incoming and outgoing e-mails are stored with the contact automatically, if the contact is in the database. Multiple e-mail addresses can be stored for one person to insure automated association regardless of which e-mail address it is coming from. One e-mail can be sent to the primary and secondary contact at two different e-mails addresses at the same time.
Advanatge Xi uses a free Google account to synch e-mail, calendar and address book to virtually any phone. The end result is that I can receive an e-mail on my Droid X, reply to it, and then delete it from my phone. That deletion in turn deletes it from my Google inbox (keeping a copy in the trash folder), and from the Advantage Xi inbox. Both the received e-mail and the reply are automatically stored with the contact record in Advantage Xi. Once there, it can be acted upon with regards to replying, forwarding, etc. in fully functional HTML, including stationary, and attachments.
Using rules/filters, Advantage Xi’s e-mail will take any plain text e-mail lead and act on it with any combination of From, To, CC, Subject, or keywords in the body of the e-mail, auto populating the lead as a contact, categorizing it, and launching a follow up drip campaign or action plan based on those qualifications. You can even run a macro from the rule!
Any e-mail, letter, post card, or flier can be delivered to any category of contacts, very simply without doing a search. The categories just drop down in the address book. Or you can do an advanced search with the most powerful search function in the industry, and send to those people. Here is the only real hole in the product. It does not come with much at all in the way of templated e-mails, letters, or action plans. Both the Dave Beson products and my Trans-Plans for Listings and Closings can be purchased for installation as an add-on or you can create your own.
E-mails, letters or post cards that are generated by drip campaigns and action plans, that are due out that day are sent automatically, or with one click, or can be acted upon individually.
The contact screen and property screen allow you to add or delete any tabs that you want. If you don’t want the Employment tab, simply delete it. Pick which tab is the default to be displayed when opening a contact by double clicking on the tab. My default is the notes tab.
The contact screen: click here for a screen shot.
…includes the ability to have any number of customized types of notes. Unlimited multiple addresses, with a check box to determine which is the mailing address. All transaction and properties are tied to the contact and linked. Demographics tab with customizable fields to store, hobbies, favorite wine, college, etc., as well as user defined fields. Family tab for family members with automated reminders for birthday, transaction anniversary, and wedding anniversary. Notes can be viewed in two different formats, and can include HTML. Connections tab allows for links to other people in your database affiliated with this contact. Contacts can be both a Type such as Personal versus Client in a broad descriptive field known as Contact Type, while the finer description of the contact is done in the Classification field, which you would probably normally think of as categories. The Social Media tab enables you to add the contact’s Facebook or Twitter account o be viewed right from the contact screen. Referrals trees reflect who referred whom both incoming and outgoing, relationally linked, displaying not only who referred whom, but a dollar value of the referred business from that contact, with again the most powerful referral tracking in the industry. Link to a map of the contact’s address or directions to it online using your choice of Google or Yahoo maps from the contact screen.
A Record Owner field allows for administrator assignment of which users can see which contacts, as well as restrictions as to deletion of e-mails or notes.
Document and photo tabs allow for storage as a path to a local drive or server, or as a URL to an online document storage service, in the contact screen, or in the property transaction screen.
Action plans/drip campaigns/task series can be created for prospect follow-up, transaction management, or post closing follow-up with again, the most powerful and flexible task management/action plans in the Real Estate specific CRM industry. Having created Trans-Plans for Listings and Closings for Top Producer, Agent Office, Active Agent for Outlook, Advantage Xi, and coming soon for IXACTContact, I know a little about action plan capabilities in CRMs. Nothing else comes close to Xi for the flexibility and power of what they call “Task Series”.
The calendar displays whoever is logged on as the default. Other users’ calendars can be displayed, with a drop down, or all users at once. Tasks can be assigned to multiple users at once, or to Staff Positions as opposed to users. For the color coding fanatics, the calendar has it.
The Today screen groups types of tasks on the left such as Phone Calls, To-Do’s, Appointments, E-mail Due out, Letters Due Out, and displays the selected group of tasks individually on the right. Each task has links to the task itself, the contact, document, or e-mail, and a drop down allows for many options such as completing it, deleting it, etc.
The Property Browser is where all your properties, listings and closings are located. If you are tracking your own showings, with a single click you can send a template e-mail to all showing agents for a price reduction or any other information you want to share with them. Parties can be affiliated with a transaction and can be selectively e-mailed with one click, say to notify them of a closing date and time, etc. Do you specialize in Short Sales, Foreclosures, REO’s, Commercial Real Estate, Rentals, etc. If the screens available do not reflect the data you need to record, you can create your own screen to include text fields, drop downs, and more, and add that as a tab in the contact screen or property screen. Link to a map of the property or directions online using your choice of Google or Yahoo maps from the property screen.
The Real Estate Tab also includes amortization schedules, sales volume report, estimated proceeds and estimated price range functions.
You can also add and customize the tab layouts. I have a tab which has a number of commonly used links, such as the MLS, NAR, Realtor.com, etc. You don’t even have to go outside of the program to get to your favorite sites.
Reports are 100% customizable or you can create one from scratch.Client reports automatically created by completing action plans can be included for automatic delivery in e-mail or print.
Are you a list person? The List of Lists section allows you to create lists with fields like start date, completion date, etc.
There is a powerful internal word processor with which to create letters, as well as a desktop publishing utility. If they are not to your liking, you can link to MS Word or Publisher to do your mail merges from within Advantage Xi. The
Task Series Spreadsheet allows you to see all of your active action plans in one screen, displaying what is done and needs to be done for each contact or property, color coded. If you want to look at all of your listings for example, it displays the property and client in the first column, and then all the tasks across the top. In the columns are the dates due, and each task can be acted upon from that screen.
If you currently have Agent Office, you may or may not be aware that the export utility is woefully lacking. All it essentially exports is the contact data, but does not export categories or notes. Advantage Xi has a built in utility that uses the Agent Office data folder instead of the export file, and gets the categories and notes, as well as Activity Plans, Calendar Items, some property information, and sometimes the letter library depending upon your version.
There is also an import utility for Top Producer that makes the transition much easier. Although Top Producer does export 235 fields, Advantage Xi is not capable of importing all of it due to field mapping issues.
Believe it or not, there are still many many more features I have not listed here. Over 20 years of agent suggestions have made this program what it is. It really is amazing. Is it perfect? Nope! Are there bugs here and there that will tick you off at times? Yup! But they are extremely responsive to any problems that may arise.
Support is obtained a number of ways. There is the Online Help Desk which is linked to from within the program. It is live chat, and if it is more expedient for them to help you by going online and accessing your computer remotely to do it for you, they will do so, including help with your import.
There is also a support ticket system. Do you have a quick how-to that you don’t need the answer to immediately? Post it there and get an answer within a few business hours. This is also where you would submit suggestions to improve the product as well, and if it’s an easy one, don’t be surprised if it is in the next update a week or two later. I proposed the Facebook and Twitter interface on a Monday and it was in the updates two weeks later.
There is a text Knowledge Base to look up error codes on the rare occasion that you may get them.
There is a video tutorial library comprised of over 130 tutorials.
There is a very active Yahoo user group where several hundred users share ideas. You can see what people say about the support there. You will find high praise the vast majority of the time.
Advantage Xi is a desktop software application with a one time fee of $315 (my discounted price) for one computer license, $415 (my discounted price) for a 3 computer license, with additional licenses costing $75. It can be used whether or not you are online. If you want to share the data between home and office through the Internet (which includes e-mail), or with remote users, an annual fee of $120 enables automated synching of the hosted database with all users. It is essentially like having Outlook exchange to share your database with everyone.
If you would like a live online demonstration of Advantage Xi, or any one of the other 30 Real Estate CRMs I have for sale, just give me a ring or drop me an e-mail.
Do you send a HUD-1 Letter/E-mail to your clients?
This is not a new or unique idea, but if you have never heard of it, you may want to consider doing it.
Each year, at the very beginning of the year, I send an e-mail to everyone who bought or sold a home through me. That e-mail basically says “If you need a copy of your HUD-1, I’ll be happy to get one to you”. This is part of my closing plan drip campaign in my Trans-Plans.
It is a value added touch opportunity that is appreciated, even though it is rare that you actually need to send them the HUD-1. It’s just the offering of the service that gets you some brownie points with your past clients.
First I created a “form e-mail/letter” called the “HUD-1 Letter”. That can go something like:
_____________________________
Hello Bob and Mary,
Hope your holidays were memorable, and that this letter finds you in good health and spirits.
My services don’t stop the minute closing is over. Please think of me as your resource for all things Real Estate. An example would be that if you would like a copy of your “HUD-1” or “settlement sheet”, please give me a call, or shoot me an e-mail. You may need it come tax time to make sure you get all the deductions to which you are entitled. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to give me a call. I’m not an accountant, but I’ll help in any way I can.
As always, please remember that my favorite source of new business is referrals from satisfied past clients and customers. So if I can help a friend, relative, or business associate, please give them my card. Better yet, give me a call and I will call them, and very briefly introduce myself. You can be assured I will give them the most professional and courteous service!
Warm regards,
_____________________________
Throughout the year when I close a transaction, I have several “Categories” I apply to my clients that come in handy for this. The ones I use for the HUD-1 letter are – “Settled 20xx”. “Past Buyer”, and “Past Seller”. So now I do a search and get everyone who is a past buyer or seller from 2010, and then do an e-mail merge to them all using the above template. I actually used to just mail them all out, but that was a lot more work, and most people didn’t really need them anyway.
After you do this the first year and have the form letter, and have the clients categorized, it takes all of 5 minutes to do the whole thing. It’s an efficient effective way to stay in front of your past clients in a value added way!
Happy holidays!
Best Practices: Adding properties
To add or not to add – that is the question! Do you need to record property information in your CRM? You already have to key the property info into the MLS, and probably your Web site as well. Now the CRM too? Whether or not you do is one question, and if you decide to, the next question is how much information you are going to key into it. It depends upon what information you are actually going to need and use from within the CRM.
One type of information you want in there is information that is commonly referenced by you or your team. This is information that either you now have to go into the MLS for, or for which you have to find the file. The idea is that if you fairly commonly need the information, you key it in to the CRM, because long term, it is quicker to key it in once and then reference it in the CRM, than it is to go into the MLS or find the file. Another reason is that if you have a team, and the information is in a file, you may not have access to it, or the access will take unnecessary time. The obvious fields to always complete are things like sale price, listing date, expiration date, executory agreement of sale date, closing date, etc.
Part of what you are responsible to produce are property fliers, just-listed cards, just sold cards, open house fliers, brokers open fliers, price reduction fliers or post cards, and anything else of the kind. You can either task a third party with it, or you create them in-house. If you have a staff, it is generally more cost effective and more expedient to have them do it. There are many factors involved in the decision, but creating them in-house should not be discounted out-of-hand without a significant evaluation. If the decision is to create them in-house, then they should be done from within the CRM. That defines yet another set of information that needs to be keyed into the property module, as you will be drawing on that information for merge fields required for the publisher pieces.
CRM Best Practices – Sources of business
A good CRM allows you to record essentially two sets of ways someone who did business with you, found you. One set is that they were a personal referral, made by an individual, such as another agent, or by a non-agent such as someone in your sphere of influence. If they came from one of these two sources, you should record that persons name in the contact’s record. A good CRM will give you a specific place to store that information so you can look at someones contact record and clearly see how many people they referred to you, and if that person should be treated especially well if they have bee a good source of business. An even better CRM will actually have a field in which to record that persons name in a relational field, which will then be displayed in what is called a Referral Tree. It is so called because when someone refers someone to you, and that person refers someone to you, and so on, when you look at that progression, it starts to look like branches of a tree. Using a referral tree as a visual is a great way to see how referrals have been generated from the in ital source of the first referral. One CRM with which I am affiliated actually also displays the commission dollars associated with each referral. The end result is that not only can you see all the people someone referred to you, but also how much that translates to in a dollar amount for each referral, and and a total for the person at the top of the tree.
The second set of ways people find you is from sources other than personal referrals. You need to record the source from which they came, such as ad calls. Note that Ad call is not a good way to record the source of that business. You want to be more specific than that. Rather than just Ad call you should record it as Homes and Land ad call. Some people even like to track which home was in the ad. Other sources include open house, walk-in, my Web site lead, office Web site lead, blog, church, friend, SBA, etc.
Be specific about the source. The goal recording these statistics is that in a good CRM, at the end of the year, you want to generate a report to show you where your business came from. This is one instance of what is meant when people say to run your business like a business. If you know exactly where your business is coming from, it allows you to identify your strengths and weaknesses so you can adjust your marketing business plan accordingly. Even more practically, you can see which advertising money is giving you a good return on your investment, and which is not. You can then make a more informed decision as to where to spend your advertising money. Granted that some advertising is done simply to be seen. That’s fine, but at least you will be able to identify that that is what you are doing. If cutbacks become warranted, you’ll know which is more practical to cut.
CRM Best Practices – Categories
How do you best organize your contacts? Each software has it’s own term for how they group the contacts. One of the primary functions of a CRM is to be able to select a certain group of contacts with which to work. You may want to contact a certain group of people to call them to follow up, send a form letter or e-mail to that group, a post card, etc. In order to accomplish that, the contacts need to be categorized or grouped.
After about 12 years of trial and error, some of the categories I recommend to my clients for grouping their prospects are the following:
Buyer Past
Buyer Active
Buyer Pending
Buyer Prospect
Seller Past
Seller Pending
Seller Active
Seller Prospect
Settled 200X(X = year settled).
Be aware that using categories to this degree of detail is extremely tough, if not impossible, to remember to change consistently. The best way to accomplish that is to use your activity plans to remind you to change the category of the contact, as that contact progresses from status to status.
Use categories for everyone. Every contact in your database must be in at least one category. Otherwise you end up five years down the road, having no clue who uncategorized people in your database are.
One more hint I would like to pass on is this. How many times have you wanted to find a Home Inspector, Attorney or Title Company, and could not remember the name? Since, when you entered that contact, you categorized them by what they were, you could do a search and find them that way. Want a quicker way? When entering John Smith, of ABC Home Inspections, enter him this way. First Name Field: John Smith Last Name Field: Home Inspector Company Name Field: ABC Home Inspectors. Now when you can’t find that home inspector, simply go to your last name lookup, start keying the word HOME, and it will take you right to your list of Home Inspectors. This also comes in handy for doing a lookup on your PDA. It’s much faster than doing a search of your home inspectors, and isn’t efficiency what all this is about anyway?