On a fairly regular basis, I hear people comment that this person’s or that program’s form letters or fliers are bad/not for their market/hokey, you-fill-in-the-blank.

The value in ‘canned’ content is not necessarily in that you can take them as they are, and start using them. While it is true that there are some things, some times, that can be good they way they are, or pretty close, it is rare. The value is in the fact that the content, the concept, is already there for you, and pretty much done. What is left for you to do is to tweak it to your personality, and/or your market. The value is in not having to start from scratch. Starting form scratch takes a great deal of time. That’s where the value is; the time savings.

Following is a list of the core differences, as communicated to me by Top Producer. If you have any questions about other things it may or may not do, feel free to e-mail me about them.

Technology:

Top Producer 7i is based on Microsoft Java technology which does not come installed on new computers. Microsoft's Internet Explorer is the only web browser supported, leaving users of Firefox, Safari, and other web browsers with no way to use the program.

Top Producer 8i is based on ASP.net and Ajax. It is compatible with a wider range of web browsers. Top Producer 8i also places a lighter demand on resources and responds faster.

Web Browser:

Finding the right CRM (Customer Relationship Management – often called “Contact Management”) solution, is getting more and more difficult all the time. There are literally dozens of choices. It takes hours to evaluate each one, to get only a cursory sense of how closely it matches your needs.

By ignorant, I mean someone who has never "gotten burned" by not having a backup. You will never find a more devoted "backer-upperer" than someone who has lost hundreds of hours of work, and/or their "people inventory" - their contacts. It's one of the most painful lessons you will ever learn in your life. In this article, I hope to save a few people from having to learn it the hard way.

If you started in this business in the late 80's or before, as did I, you appreciate the fact that there are now so many tools available to generate new business, which never existed before. Some are good, and some are not so good, but it is inarguable that there are many available. Cold calling, door knocking, and mailings with recipes and homeowner tips, have been replaced with automated listing updates e-mailed to the prospect, automated drip campaigns, third party mailing services, lead generating Web sites, and so much more. If one is willing to invest some money, there are tools available that provide a tremendous ROI (return on investment). 

For those of you who are curious to hear any new bit of information that's out there on it, here are a few from TP's customer service manager, from Real Talk.

"One of the biggest benefits to the online version is going to be realized by our subscribers again this year; upgrades and enhancements are no additional charge. So, in a nutshell, the price will be the same for subscribers who hold a 7i license prior to the 8i release. Although official pricing has not been decided, there will likely be a small increase for new 8i subscriptions. We haven't yet seen an increase in price for an agent license since 7i was released in 2002.

Courtesy of another user group I'm on: Top Producer Campus Beta has now gone live and can be visited at http://www.topproducercampus.com./

This is a free service that is intended to provide support for Top Producer users as well as an opportunity for you to participate by asking questions, giving feedback and sharing ideas and tips on how to make the most out of your Top Producer.

If you have AgentOffice version 9.x or older, it does not work with Windows Vista. Following is all the info you need to get Vista compliant.

You can get Types and Notes out of Top Producer 6i and into Agent Office."? Here's how...

News you can use if you are a Top Producer or Agent Office user, or are considering them.

For those of you who have not yet made a decision on what to move to if you have TP6i, you need to do this now!

Among other things, part 3 deals with different qualifying questions you need to ask yourself, in order to better hone in on what CRM tool best suits your individual needs.

The first part of this three part series dealt primarily with the very first Real Estate specific contact managers, and then Top Producer and Agent Office. This second part talks about some of the many others that have come out since those.

This the first of a three part post. Part 1 - The"?beginning of CRM in Real Estate, Top Producer & Agent Office, Part 2 - What else is out there?, Part 3 - How do you decide?

Following is a response I made to a post"?on a list-serv I am on elsewhere."?Excerpts from the orginal post"?are in green. There is an overwhelming willingness by people to blame CRM tools in general as being difficult to learn. The real issue is that people are unwilling to invest the time to learn what have become very robust and extensive programs.

It is inevitable that Online Transaction Management Platforms will be pervasive in the Real Estate industry at some point in the relatively near future. I've heard numbers from agents saying that it saves them 30% of their time per transaction. It saves agents, ancillary service providers, and consumers, time."? That said, more players are jumping into the game...

Picking up from the last post about Activity Plans in Transaction management, we'll now talk about "Creating Plans", and "To-do's & Not To-Do's"

There are a fair number of "Agent Productivity' software programs and services available that enable the user to create "Activity Plans', or "Campaigns'. These Plans have several tremendous benefits, and if you are using one of those programs (listed below), and you have not yet seriously looked into using the activity plan capability in them, you are missing out on an incredibly valuable tool that you already own. For those of you thatare using, or plan to use them, the following information will help in the development of them.