Do you prefer to separate these entities, or bundle them? With so many offering these together, it's tempting to jump in to a bundle of them all in one place. Example: Top Producer offers it all together.

Do you bundle services or separate? Why? Can you really get a good product/ service with all three under one roof?

Separate. I haven't seen a product that offers all 3 with top level quality. My email is hosted through Google and I love all the functionality that comes with it. Contact management is through a provider chosen by the brokerage with (although no choice in the matter, I'm EXTREMELY happy with it). And website, well, for the time being through Agent Image but working on a custom site now.

Put them all together, way easier. You should look in to Busy Agent Pro. They are more along the lines of Top Producer, but offer a lot more features.

Do you know Billy the Exterminator? lol.

Well, funny that you asked. I don't know him personally, but I have seen him around town in his truck. I'm sure the critters (and children) run for cover when he gets out of his truck!

If your contact management system is based online - included with your website package for example, you may want to make sure that it can be synced to your own computer somehow. What happens if the online provider unexpectedly closes their doors or decides to double their rates?

That is one of the reasons I like Gmail for email - the emails can be both online and on your computer using Thunderbird or Outlook so you don't lose it if your computer crashes or if Google should close the account.

I think most systems have an export contacts feature. It would be a good idea to periodically download your contacts to your computer, probably once a month.

A great contact management system option is RelationshipList.com. Yes, it is online, but you can sync with your phone if your phone already syncs with Outlook. Yes, a monthly fee, but no contract and a lifetime low rate. We also import your data for you. The data is backed up nightly in two seperate geographic locations.

Let me know if I can help.

Kelly

Whenever we deal with agents/brokers who are looking into tying their systems into one area, we typically find people are irritated with having to input data into separate systems. Often times you will find the cost of choosing an integrated system is offset by the cost of each separate system we find agents paying for.

Really depends on how much business you are doing also... It might be easier to do things manually if you are only pulling in 1-2 leads per month. An integrated solution offers better organization for those agents/brokers who have a rockin website that is pulling in leads left and right.

I thought Busy Agent Pro was closed to new memberships?

I think it would be very tough to find an all-in-one solution just because technology changes so fast and integrating the website into the mix makes things pretty complicated.

I have plenty of experience with Norada Solve360, it's a CRM. They've also built a Google App that allows you to "plug into" your Gmail or Google Apps Gmail account. So when reading an email from any given person you can also see what sort of communications you've had with the person previously.

I'm not affiliated with Norada, I just use their SaaS.

Try IXACT Contact. It's very easy to use and it eliminates the need for a real estate contact management software and email marketing software like Constant Contact.
You can sign up for a free trial on the website - www.ixactcontact.com

Put them all together... So one point of contact.

I don't recommend purchasing a real estate contact management software as part of a bundle. Why? Because usually the contact management system that comes bundled as a part of a website company's offering is a very simplified, much less powerful contact management system than what you would get from a standalone product. Additionally, ongoing enhancements and upgrades to a system from your website provider, for example, are usually non-existant.

I recommend [url=http://www.ixactcontact.com]IXACT Contact[/url] for a real estate contact management system. It's both powerful and very easy to use. What I especially like is that it's the only real estate contact management system with built-in Email Campaign reporting.