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I am thinking about using "Top Producer" for my Team.

I use an email marketing system now with my team. They all have the ability to email listings, newsletters, and drip mailings. I am wanting to change the service that I am using now and I am thinking of using "Top Producer". I would like comments from others who have used this system. I would prefer a system that does not give out the addresses or map when the listings are being sent out.

If you are using another system that you would recommend, I am open for ideas.

Help....

Any suggestions?

Teresa Johnson & Associates; RE/MAX Greater Atlanta; Serving the Metro Area of Atlanta,GA http://www.atlantahomestore.com/; (770) 888-0021; TeresaJohnson@remax.net/

Selling Real Estate in Metro Atlanta!

Teresa and Douglas Johnson

Solid Source Realty

Teresa@AtlantaHomeStore.com
www.AtlantaHomeStore.com

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770-888-0021
678-648-5456

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Posted by Teresa and Doug Johnson on 09/23/2007 10:13 PM

Comments (22)

top producer

22 Comments on I am thinking about using "Top Producer" for my Team.

SEP

2007

Teresa, I was going to sign up with Top Producer tomorrow. I'd love to see some feedback to htis myself.

Please email me if you hear any comments. Thank you

Teresa

I will. ;0)

I just dumped Top Producer 7i after 25 days. Hated it and it was not worth the money they charge for it.

Top Producer is a wonderful tool to help you manage your business. The key is to spend some time setting up the system to work for you. It requires a lot of patience and time. It is by far the best system out there for agents that have a large database, listings, and get leads from their website.

Most agents cancel within the first 30 days. I use it and a number of succesful agents in my company are using it. It gives us the option to use virtual assistant or personnal assistants and assign work to them through the system.

SEP

2007

Hi Teresa, this post might help: http://activerain.com/blogsview/211044/Why-the-hostility-toward

Also, if you haven't already found it, try the Top Producer 7i Users Group here on ActiveRain.

I love Top Produver but I am still using the previous version called 6I which is the network version...it is an excellent program but because it is an older version they no longer support it.

I use TP 6i also and have not upgraded. I hate having to pay a monthly fee for something. I am looking into ACT and it seems to be ok but the pain of setting everything up is a killer. That being said I have used TP for many years and find it to be good. The learning curve is steep and they charge for everything. In my version you can't send email from TP with a photo or anytype of graphic which means you can't use logos. I think the new version fixes that but I am not sure.

Great post on Top Producer

Thank you

Teresa

I have used TP for over a year now, as a Virtual Assistant. I have found that Real Estate Agents do not like program until it is set up for them. It does take time and patience for you to set up Top Producer, however once it is set up, it is fabulous to use. You can set up reminders, tasks to specific people, leads from certain websites can automatically be inputed into TP with an automatic email message being sent to the lead, you can do CMA's with the ability to edit the information that you want to include. It is a very useful program, and the agents I have worked with love it once it has been set up for them. The only downside that I would say about the program is that it can be slow at times. Hope this was helpful.

I have used Top Producer for a long time now. I started out using it when it was a DOS program if that gives you an idea of how long. I had one of the first Windows versions running way back when. I then upgraded to 6. I upgraded to 7I probably about four years ago. I was hesitant to switch over because like a lot of people, I thought "what will happen when the internet is down?" Guess what? The internet is almost never down. On version 6, we had to synchronize every computer to keep the same information on all of them. The process was very time consuming and sometimes just didn't work correctly. I got fed up and finally moved up to 7I. It was absolutely the best decision I've ever made in real estate. However, as some others above have said, some people do not like it. It does take some time to set it up and to get your action plans in place, modify the letters and input your cma information. But...once you do all of that, the program is fairly seamless to run. You will need to get "Top Connector" for your mls and I also recommend that you get their add on for Outlook. (this enables you to send emails and have a copy of the email sent directly to Top Producer so you have a permanent record in your clients file) Most people probably only use a small portion of TP's capabilities but this program has made me money. One other thing, their tech support people actually know what they're doing. And they almost speak english. (they're Canadian). Hope this helps - I wouldn't hesitate for a minute.

John, Why did you have to sync your version 6? Were you not on the network version? I am running 8+ machines on the network using 6I and a hardware key. I can check out the database and take it with me or log into the server using gotomypc 24 hours a day and so can my team members from home or while they are on the go.

Sam, When I first got on Version 6, I purchased the network version (for future use) but used the non-networked version. Looking back, probably the only reason I didn't use the network version is that a friend of mine (Paul Werling) used the network version and honestly always seemed to have a rough time with it. Again, with the 7I, if I put a change in my computer, the change is updated in one of the other computers immediately. Also, I don't think gotomypc was available then. This is so much easier - have literally had no problems. I kept version 6 on the computers for quite a while just in case I wanted to change back but finally got rid of it. Another thing...Since everything is kept on TP's servers, you can load as many photo's and database information as you want and it doesn't change anything. Of course, it's the old computer story, if what you're doing works for you, they you might not want to change. For me, it was a no brainer! Take care.

John, Thanks for your comments. I had a feeling you must not have been using the network version when I read that you were syncing manually. I really have not had many issues with 6I other than an occasional need to rebot once in a great while. My 6I runs on a dedicated server with twin 10,000 rpm hard drives and Top Producer 6I is screaming fast on it. It sounds like we are both very satisfied with Top Producer so thumbs up for us!

SEP

2007

Does anyone use Top Producer with a Team?

Teresa

I use Top Producer 7i religiously. It's like anything else, from a diet to a budget to contact database management - If you actually do it, it works. I didn't just buy it - I went to the free classes in my area, and I go back annually for a referesher and to learn anything new. I also re-wrote the content of the action plans, personalizing them to my personality and what I actually do. (Somewhere on ActiveRain, many months ago, I did a post about canned follow-up. You can see what I do there, if you can find that post!) I do not use TP with a team, but I have no reason to think it wouldn't be equally good. Their customer support is very patient and helpful, when you run into something you don't quite "get".

Hey John, what is DOS? :-)

Hi Dwight. I'm showing my age here. DOS programs were prewindows programs. They were very fast, very error free but did not have any of the windows features. Once Windows became the norm in software, DOS programs became outdated very quickly. The orignal TP Window program was a dog. Part of the problem back then was that most computers were only running 4 to 16 megs of ram and windows just needed more than that. You also only ran one program at a time. I hope the history lesson helps. Take care.

Hi Teresa,

Many of my clients are teams who use Top Producer with varying degrees of success. My Comment on a team question from Christina Ethridge begins to explain how you can use the system more effectively for team management.

These are the key factors to consider when implementing a Top Producer system for teams:

1. The broker must be personally committed to implementing the team system.

2. Each team member must understand and accept that using the team system for all business activities is not an option.

3. Each team member needs her or his own Top Producer license. This is a requirement for unleashing the powerful personalization, delegation and supervision features in the system.

4. All marketing, sales and transaction processes must be clearly described.

5. There must be agreement on those processes from all team members.

6. All those marketing, sales and transaction processes must be setup in Top Producer through the use of letter, email, flyer, presentation and report templates, marketing links and Action Plans.

7. Each team member must be thoroughly trained on how to execute all team processes within the Top Producer system.

Teams that do all seven of these things do very well with Top Producer. Teams that fail to do any one of these things will have continuing problems, and ultimately will not be satisfied. They might blame their lack of satisfaction on Top Producer, but the reality is that their lack of success is due to the fact that they failed to implement it properly.

I have used Top Producer for years with my assistant as well as my virtual assistant and absolutely love it. I agree with everyone, you have to use it and implement it. I know that I am still only using probably 60% of its capabilities, but it is WORTH IT!! It's great to have your database online as well so you can access it from anywhere. I definitely would encourage you to get it.

SEP

2007

I used TP since the dark ages - I was even on their beta test team for the new versions and tools. My recommendation is to go with Outlook for a team. it is built for team businesses with shared calendars, tasks, messaging and has all the functionality of TP at a fraction of the cost and with much more functionality and it works with you computer. If you get hooked up with exchange you can have all your teams data synced in real time on their computers (office and home) and phones.

Teresa,

I have used it for over 5 years. It is good only if you learn how to use it. I now prefer to use my web sites back end for client leads and keep all transactions in an email folder. TP will not work for you and your team unless you spend many hours perfecting it and learning it. Good luck.

Mike Lewis

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