Intuitive Design, Navigability, and Learning Curve – Part 3

Learning Curve: Somewhere along the line this poor phrase has gotten a really bad reputation. A learning curve is neither good nor bad. It just is. How long it takes to learn a CRM is directly related to how many features it has. If the CRM has very few features, the learning curve is short. If it has a lot of features, the learning curve is longer. I hear the following statement on a regular basis: “I want a CRM that does (and the list goes on forever) but I don’t want a long learning curve.” That’s like saying “I want to be the best, most knowledgeable real estate agent in my county, but I don’t want to spend too long learning how to do it.”

In the first post in this series I spoke of whether a CRM is very intuitive. Certainly the learning curve can be effected by how easy it is to figure out, but most of the better CRMs are getting to the point where they are intuitive enough that it doesn’t make much of a difference.

If you want a CRM that only helps you track your contacts and stay in touch with them, the learning curve will be relatively short. Each feature you add, adds time to the learning curve. Drip campaigns. Add time. Marketing Materials. Add time. Track Listings. Add time. Track Closings. Add time. Generate reports. Add time. It’s really that simple. If you want a bare bones CRM, your learning curve to get over the hump will be days or weeks. If you want more, it can be weeks to months. Since I believe agents should run as much of their business with a CRM as possible, short learning curves are not something to look at as a good thing because you are probably considering what is effectively a glorified Rolodex. How much will that help your business?

So any time you hear someone complain about a CRM having a long learning curve, it’s very likely that what they really mean is that it does more than they want their CRM to do. They want a bare bones CRM and the one they are looking at is a more comprehensive CRM, not a bad one.

“I don’t want to pay for features I won’t use.” This is a little off the topic but still relevant.  I just feel that it’s always good to reiterate it once in a while. Someone says “I want it to do A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L and M. But I don’t want to pay for N because I won’t use it.” That’s like getting a Mercedes with all it’s standard bells and whistles and saying you don’t want cruise control. Guess what? You’re getting it. If you don’t want it, don’t use it. Or better yet, it’s there because their users asked for it. You may find that it can help. Speaking of which – hope this helped!