A Few More CRM Thoughts
As you probably already know, I’ve been evaluating CRMs the last couple weeks. The use case we were looking to solve for 360modern is tracking leads/prospects and convert them to buyer/seller clients — giving us visibility into future cashflow (closings) in the process. We were specifically not looking for a product to run the whole business.
360modern is a referral business model. We generate buyer and seller leads and either service those clients ourselves through HRWard (Heidi Ward Real Estate) or refer buyers/sellers to agents with an understanding of architecture and design. HRWard is a three person team (plus some of my help with tech) – Heidi does the sales, Rick does marketing/operations/finance, and a licensed assistant helps with closings and marketing.
I thought I’d put a few more thoughts down in terms of learnings digging deeper into the list of potential CRMs.
Chime: The product is a full suite of IDX, CRM, and email marketing that is undercutting the competition (BoomTown) significantly on price.
Liondesk: Again, this product is a full suite – not just a CRM. That’s good and bad. It’s powerful, but I got overwhelmed with the product fairly quickly.
Contactually: I heard from a few people I trust the product is great, but I quickly got bogged down with all the various ways the product helps businesses. At $99/month, it’s worth a shot for agents seeking to invest heavily in nurturing their own personal networks.
Realvolve: At $89 per month for 3 users, and 1 assistant – it’s certainly an affordable option worth considering. The products strength lies on the transaction management for teams area — given our pipeline focus, I deemed the product overkill for 360modern’s/HRWard’s near term needs.
Followupboss: doesn’t support Office365 integration — so they didn’t get a serious evaluation given 360modern runs on Office365.
Dynamics: It quickly became apparent Dynamics was too complicated and overkill for what we needed. The pricing page is clear it’s targeted at much, much larger companies (best value being $70 per month per user for companies with 500-999 employees).
Though not on my original list, Bryn’s recommendation of Pipedrive led me to an evaluation. Pipedrive costs $25 per user per month, so we’re looking at $100 per month for a tool to manage our pipeline after the trial. I love what I see so far, and will keep you posted as to whether we like it after using it daily for a few weeks/months.
What questions about CRM’s do you have?
JimWhatley
Posted at 16:55h, 24 NovemberI look at things from a different perspective. I would rather have 3 different tools and get the best in class for each separate tool. I have top notch scanner, and great printer. I tried Realvolve but got over whelmed quickly none of it is complicated but there is just to much. It is like drinking from a firehose. If it was in a modular setup where you could add functionality as you grow into it might be better. I’m trying to work with Pipedrive and as you and Bryn indicated it simple yet effective.
Sep Niakan
Posted at 20:09h, 24 NovemberWhat about salesforce?
Drew Meyers
Posted at 10:13h, 27 NovemberToo expensive
home house buyers property
Posted at 07:58h, 25 Novemberzoho ?
it’s brilliant for what we use at [link removed]
mmk2245
Posted at 08:32h, 28 NovemberHave you tried any free options, like clearbit for gmail?
Michael Johnson
Posted at 11:11h, 30 November“360modern runs on Office365.” Are you using a CRM plug in for Office365?
Drew Meyers
Posted at 11:40h, 30 NovemberNope, we are not. Are there any good ones?
Michael Johnson
Posted at 11:52h, 30 NovemberI wish I new. Several years ago we installed an Outlook based Real Estate CRM and it ended up wiping my entire contact database off an exchange server. Forget the name. Did a quick online search and don’t see anything like it.
Quin
Posted at 16:52h, 14 DecemberHey, what about RealtyJuggler? $99/year is $8.25 per month. You can see your pipeline projected income for your Active Buyers and Listings, as well as your pending income from Closings and actual income from those “Closed” Closings. You can sync Contacts and Calendar to either a Google Gmail or Outlook account. RealtyJuggler has been around since 2004, and works on all platforms – Mac, PC, tablets and smartphone. Sure, fully featured, but ignore the ones you don’t need. (Grin)