Contact Management with Soul - The Series - The Two Things a Contact Manager Should Do VERY WELL

LOL Dawn - Literally - I laughed out loud.

Viola - I've been test-driving a new system - it's called IXACT Contact and I'm loving it. It does these things Very Well (and other stuff, too, but I don't care about those other things). You can get a 60-day free trial at http://www.ixactcontact.com/JALM and I'll be doing a demo show on January 27th using IXACT.

Sue - I really think you'd like it - and would find all sorts of uses for it - I know I have. I'm having a blast and you and I think alike on issues of organization and efficiency!

Susan - I'm really surprised you don't use a contact manager consistently. Once you find one that works for you and understand it, you'll decide you can't live without it... and that's a GOOD thing.

Rick - Thanks!!

Hi Tom - I'd be happy with either one. So, I guess since time is money, I'd say go with Ixact. Yes, TP will do more than Ixact will and if you think you'll need all those bells and whistles (and I'm talking about stuff only a real power user would want or need), then you might want just suck it up and learn TP. But if you'll be a "regular" user - maybe a little on the advanced side, but not crazy, I'll take easier over harder any day.

An example of what TP will do that I'm guessing most won't - you can sort and make mass updates by just about any field, using and/or's, and/and's, or's/or's parameters, if that makes sense.

There are a few other things TP does that I wish Ixact did, and I hope they do add, but most agents won't even notice it. For example, if the closing date changes in a contract that I have set up in an action plan, the dates on my task list don't automatically update in conjunction with the date change. TP handles this BEAUTIFULLY and I miss that. That's probably my biggest gripe, but I have found a reasonably good workaround for it.

Glad you asked?

Leni - let me know how it goes!!

Christine - me, too. I did okay without it, but once I discovered the joy of having a system that worked... I couldn't imagine not having it.

Robert - I suspect lenders have different needs from real estate agents - I actually prefer just the opposite approach... which I'll talk about in the next show!

Terkel - Sure! Please note that I did not give all of these a "fair" test-run - some I just signed up for the trial membership and then got stuck and lost my enthusiasm. But perhaps that's part of a test-run!

My first CMS was Top Producer 7i. Once I learned it, I LOVED it. Couldn't imagine running my business (or life) without it. When they upgraded to 8i, I found myself frustrated trying to figure it out (and I'd been using 7i for years), so I terminated my subscription.

Next I tried some free program - can't remember what it was, but it didn't even track birthdays, so that was out.

My RE/MAX office had a system - can't remember what it was called either, and it seemed okay. But I left RE/MAX and my access to the system went away, so obviously, that's not a good long-term solution.

I tried Realty Juggler twice and just never used it enough to decide if I loved it. Not sure if that was my lack of passion at the time or something missing in the program. I've heard great things about it, though.

I did a demo of REST (the Mac-friendly system) and, like Realty Juggler, just couldn't get deep enough into it to decide if it would work for me. And again, I've heard great things about it.

I half-heartedly used MoreSolds for a few years. At first, I thought it was great, but there are way too many things it doesn't do that it really should - very basic things. But, the price is right (free to $10/month).

I spent about 3.5 minutes evaluating Outlook as a contact manager. But it froze up my computer and did glitchy things so I uninstalled it completely. Hated it.

There may have been more - if I remember any, I'll come back!

Ron - Yep. Just go here: www.sellwithsoul.com/cms2