Real Estate Software for Entrepreneurs
Top Producer 8i Automates Professional Marketing & Sales Workflows
Feb 7, 2009
Today’s real estate deals are highly complex, time-sensitive and competitive. From pre-listing activities to final closing, the sale of just one property can require thousands of tasks and subtasks.
Most real estate software gives agents automated tools to plan, organize, follow up and close sales leads. Realtor application software must also give real estate professionals:
- Perspective on their marketing and sales workflows
- Time-saving ways to accomplish more key tasks during the day
- Discipline to identify, analyze and correct ineffective work processes.
This analysis looks at the features of Top Producer 8i, a real estate marketing and sales system that has been popular with real estate professionals for over 20 years.
Perspective on Daily Real Estate Workflows
The default opening page of Top Producer 8i is called the Dashboard. That page groups the daily action items, new leads, active real estate listings and pending closings.
The software program also provides one-click management views and reports on performance statistics. These include numerical summaries partitioned by real estate leads, contacts, referrals, listings and closings. 8i also provides month-to-date and year-to-date totals for user-defined income and expense categories.
Action Plans are Key to Real Estate Success
8i’s Calendar feature enables real estate agents to plan and schedule action items including appointments, to-dos, calls, emails and letters. The software supports a multi-user environment, so a real estate firm can delegate action items to team members and monitor task status.
Users can also choose one of 60 follow-up plans that Top Producer 8i comes with, and assign that bundle of action items to one or more targeted contacts. Each customizable plan can contain a diverse series of automated tasks. When Action Plan tasks come due, users are automatically reminded to perform them in a special view called Today’s Business.
Real estate professionals can schedule each activity for a fixed date, or as part of a cascading timeline that depends on the completion of a previously scheduled plan activity.
The software also has checklists for listings and closings that include virtually every task involved in selling a home. Like the follow-up plans, the checklists can be customized and re-used.
Time Management via Automated Workflows
Top Producer 8i’s time and task management software features include the ability to download MLS data directly into the Listing File and flyers via an add-on called Top Connector.
This contact management software automatically converts online leads from a realtor’s personal website into contacts records in the real estate management database, saving significant data entry.
Top Producer 8i can auto-respond to client inquiries and apply a preset Action Plan, ensuring a professional follow-up on every lead.
The Lead Provider feature allows integration of online leads from sources like real estate affiliate programs into Top Producer 8i software database via the realtor’s personal website.
Top Producer also has a wireless offering which gives realtors instant access to 8i’s real estate contact software, listings and closings anywhere, anytime.
Real Estate Discipline
Top Producer 8i’s Calendar feature enables real estate agents to view the status of individual and team daily, weekly and monthly action items.
A listings record has 8 status indicators: Active, Pending (not showing), Pending (showing), Pending/Firm, Closed/Paid, Withdrawn, Canceled and Expired.
Management controls include summary and detailed reports for listings and closings.
Experience, Hard Work and Wisdom Still King in Real Estate
Real estate software like Top Producer 8i doesn’t replace years of experience and knowledge that seasoned real estate brokers and agents have acquired.
However, the system does automate and organize many of the time-consuming support tasks, thus enabling sales professionals to focus more clearly on what they do best - closing real estate sales.
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