Enrico,

The combination of Outlook + Windows Mobile + Hosted Exchange is the ultimate solutions. You get the instant push email similar to a blackberry w/o the cost. You get all of your devices to stay in sync. AND it can be done with minimal outlay in monthly cost.

There are many Hosted Exchange providers out there. Currently for my customers I have been using Sherweb.com with good results. They offer 3 GIGs of storage at 8.95 per month.

The problem I see is are you using all the functionality of TP? If so, then the basic setup of Outlook + Exchange will not give you the same features (drip email and such). But active agent will give you those features plus you still will be able to let you assistant access your calendar.

Accessing your calendar for your assistant. To do this there are 2 ways. Either load outlook on her/his computer to access your Exchange Mailbox or have them access your mailbox thru Outlook Web Access (webmail for exchange). Now realize when he/she does this he/she is access EVERYTHING in your mailbox, this includes being able to send email as you.

If you used active agent and outlook and hosted exchange you could expect for the first year to pay approx 400.00. I don't know if active agent requires any other fees after the first purchase (pretty sure they don't) so your next year will be approx 100 bucks.

Another plus of Hosted Exchange + Outlook is that it works as a backup also. You could take your laptop, phone, desktop and smash them all to pieces, but your email will still work and you won't loose your contacts, calenar, or anything. 

If you want give me a ring on Monday and I can explain it more in depth for you.
No strings attached 

714-553-2784 

Loren Nason
Future of Real Estate Technology

Enrico, thanks for your post.  Loren makes some good points but remember you do have the ability to create Community & School Reports for any zipcodes in the United States within your existing Top Producer subscription.  This was a free upgrade over two years ago; you cannot do this in Outlook or you can choose to pay E-Neighborhoods anywhere from $20-$100 per month for such a feature. 

Top Producer also offers MLS Connectivity which allows you to download your listings and create CMA's and Buyer Presentations within minutes from within Top Producer.  Although you are paying a monthly fee (this fee has never increased); Top Producer continually provides free upgrades at no additional charge and we are also backing up your data without you having to worry about doing it yourself or possibly not doing it at all. 

I to am looking into the Active Agent but haven't gone yet.  I use the old TP 6i and don't enjoy monthly fees either.  I think I am going for the Active Agent.

Our MLS hasn't been able to connect to TP for years so I don't have any connectivety.

Interesting posts.  I am also considering ACT for Real Estate.  Any suggestions or comments?

I am a very happy user of Active Agent for several years now.  TP does nothing AA can't do.  If you are looking to host it somewhere on the cheap might I recommend building your own always on box and then connecting to it with LogMeIn or GotoMyPC.  No matter where you are you will have it.  If you need print functions then you will have to pay.

One more thing.  I was considering switching to TP8 because I like the idea of stability.  No doubt about it... Microsoft isn't alway reliable.  Is TP8i (or 7i) stable and has anyone ever had a really bad experience with data corruption?

I would disagree with Will because while Active Agent is a fine program it does not offer what Top Producer offers to an agent.  Active Agent offers no MLS connectivity- Top Producer does (agents can download their listing information from their MLS directly into their Top Producer database).  Agents utilizing Top Producer can also create Community & School Reports for any zip-code in the United States; Active Agent does not offer Community & School Reports.

Website lead integration and lead follow-up campaigns plus the ability to manage listing and closings can be accomplished in Top Producer.  I do not believe Active Agent offers listing and closing plans.  Top Producer customer web pages are another valuable tool within the database program.  An agent can apply a personal customer web page for each individual contact in their database; this allows the client to have direct 24/7 access to the marketing pieces created by the agent within Top Producer.  These are tools that do not exist within Active Agent.

Hello Enrico,

Thank you for adding your questions to the Group and from the responses I have read, there are certainly trade offs for all our desired results but Loren and Tim have given you some valuable insights as to the benefits, pro and con of both Outlook and Top Producer. I was a Top Producer user for quite a few years and opted for a more streamlined and simple approach to real estate date collection and access. I have one assistant and in my view, depending on volume, Top Producer requires a full time assistant to manage the input. I will admit, that from the beginning with Top Producer, I was taking shortcuts and not using whole  sections of available functionality as it was just too time consuming for me and I was in information overload. Several years ago I switched to the more simple format of Outlook and haven't looked back.

Having said that, I have always been a firm advocate in believing that if you want all the functionality and can manage the data and want or feel the need for it, then Top Producer can and will provide the information and functionality.

Great Question and I am very appreciative that you asked it here in the Outlook Users Group.

Sincerely,
William

Than you all for your valuable comments, it seems like we have loyal people to Top Producer and also individuals like myself looking for more simple solutions via Outlook. In my experience Top Producer do offer a lot but is pricey, I was in the process of switching my cell into a Blackberry and also find out of the additional charge. I do have an assistant and have been using Top Producer for almost a year, still haven't be able to learn the entire program. The fact that you are not able to sync your outlook with the program it makes the program handicap. I never left Outlook completely and am very happy with the new version 2007, there is a lot what Outlook can offer if you put few minutes a day to just learn one new function. Top producer is coming up with new features and of course additional cost. For example Market Snap shot, I was invited to take a look at it, I gave it a try and decide not to use it any longer (big surprise was waiting for me) a whopping $89.00 per month for 12 months contract. I guess the sales person forgot that little detail. I will be done and over in May. Lesson learned any time you try any products including of course any add ons always ask if there is any mandatory minimum usage of the product. In my case I was not and still not happy with the product and it hurt every time the credit card statement shows up. The moment I found a good program that will allow me to keep my contacts, schedule and task on line and sync with outlook and my treo I am out. I welcome any tips from Outlook users, thank you again for your great comments and tips.

Sincerely,

Carlos

"Market Snapashot is not $89 per month.....the most Market Snapshot will cost you is $79 per month"

Does anyone else find any humor to this...LOL:}

I dumped top producer and I have no regrets. my business is managed by hotmail and by outlook express

Doesn't everyone wish that someday a product would come out that would incorporate everything we need. Top Producer is great but their email capability for html is limited, they are expensive.  I end up paying about $130 at least a month including market snapshot  Ouch>

Most database programs offer something of value for the users.  As a user you have to define your needs and actions associated with your database...here are 5 questions to get you started:

• How am I going to use the data I collect
• What tools do I need to accomplish my use of the data
• How much informaiton do you want to collect
• How much time do you wan to dedicate to maintaining your data
• How much time do you want to spend learning a program

Top Producer is an excellent program...if you want (and use) all the bells and whistles, the monthly cost, and the time commitment to learning and maintaining all that data.  I've found most agents who buy TP don't use all the features...so why pay for it?

Outlook is a simple data base that for most agents will do exactly what they want....simply and at no cost.  Of course I'm a bit jaded since I've been providing training on Outlook since 1999. ;-)

Hope that helps.

Happy Sales

Jeff

www.ImpactYourSalesNow.com

I'm just about out of TP - spent a few months researching and converting.  Yes, there are multiple programs to use now; however, my cost is over 75% less per month.  Market Snapshot is a waste for me as TP is no longer permitted to have access to our MLS due to a rules violation.  But, yes, TP is still charging me for it (saying it was worth it since the active properties could still be used - just not the sold data).

Tina in Virginia

Top Producer is an excellent product only if you learn to use it. I use it and love it, however the cost are staggering. Adding an extra monthly charge for changing cell phones has almost put me over the edge.

I will stay with Top Producer but if someone develops a new less expensive version I will opt out. Please folks, realize that the having a good system in place to run your company is imperative. Get one, learn it and pay for it...it is part of doing business. But look out TP, your nickel and dime will eventually cost you tons of new business.

This is the EXACT reason I am no longer a TP user....always 1 more dollar if you want to do something else...NO THANKS!

I use Outlook.  Outlook seemlessly syncs with my Treo 650 and I have the information there.  I know you can upload the calendar even though I have not done it yet.

As far as the programs for Outlook I highly recommend that you try them before you buy them and remember, some of them are not compatible with Office 2007, although Active Agent is.

I made my OWN custom forms using some know how from users in this group and it works perfect for me.

That cost me...uhhh.....NOTHING.

This is definetely my solution to the TP problem.

I am currently using TP 7i and getting tired of the monthly fee to sync with my TREO, assistant fee, etc.  I'm am looking at making the switch to Outlook.  TP 7i is a very powerful program but as stated earlier, it depends on how many functions you use.  It is an expensive program if you only use it as a calendar and database program.  Thanks for the post.  I am currently in the middle of making this decision.  Very timely!

Enrico,

If you aren't using the Action Plans in TP then you are missing out on the best part of TP, however if you are simply using it as a glorified address book then I would recommend checking out http://crm.zoho.com/ .  I suspect that you would be able to get away with their free platform.  You can get an Outlook connector for $3/month for Zoho.

If you need to sync Calendars I would look at Goosync.com and use Google Calendaring which you and your assistant could both work with.  30 days sync is free.  365 days and Calendar and Task Sync is like $20/year.

CRM is really starting to get a lot of online competition so it won't be long until CRM is provided for free like mail aps are now...

Thanks for these great comments. I am a microsoft girl who loves Outlook, Word and mostly Publisher for flyers. Wanting to go to the next step in organization and professional systems I decided to try Top Producerf 8i. It is very scary switching and I also feel like I am getting charged to death with Mobile PDA fees, etc. I thought I would try the Outlook Connector, but that only helps with emails, nothing to do with contacts, so I dumped that. Hopefully there will be no major disappoinments with the Mobile Phone Windows product. Hopefully I can send text messages easily. I am still waiting for them to properly import my contacts, its been about a week and half and I am getting nervous to the point of bailing and going back to Outlook and trying active agent. My concern with TP is all the time spent learning and developing flyers, plans etc and it just getting more and more expensive and restrictve. MS is so easy and flexible. I work in a resort market and sell mostly condos so I am not sure how many of those letters about selling homes, etc. will be helpful for me. Also only 1 of the 2 MLSs are available on TP. Maybe I just need to learn more about TP? Did you end up going back to Outlook and using Active Agent, Enrico? I am open to your comments and suggestions anyone? AmySellsTheBeach.com

Hello Amy, 

Thank you for your reply and also your e-mail.  To be honest, I still use TP 8i, but not for the right reasons. If it was my choice, I would be using Outlook.  I have a database with about 1800 people and as you export from TP8i, only one category comes along.  My best clients fit within 6-7 categories and having this correct is important to me.  The only way to solve this would be to dedicate 1 person 1-2 weeks full time to sorting through the entire database, which will cost me thousands in labor and thousands more in terms of lost productive time servicing our clients.  Thus unfortunately, I feel very stuck at the moment.  I am happy about this at all. 

I do not use any of the bells and whistles (or hype) TP comes with.  I do not have a high success rate sending out standardized mailings.  This is in my mind close to SPAM and people get more than enough of that.  My clients like to receive individualized service and that is how we have been successful.  To me TP and Outlook are only useful to me as a database and calendar, both for which Outlook is much more efficient.  I hope this response encourages TP to correct their translation software to allow the export of multiple categories...  Thank you for your response and happy selling!

Enrico 

Enrico Pozzo I Realtor, CRS, ABR, e-Pro

Coldwell Banker Bain & Associates

Cell   I  206.790.7874

Fax   I  206.275.7038

Email I  mailto:enrico@seattlebydesign.com

Web I  http://www.SeattlebyDesign.com

This has been an interesting thread. I gave up TP several years ago and so glad I did. I currently use outlook which syncs effortlessly to my Treo and have set up templates and spreadsheets in office.

Wow, I didn't know that TP required a mobile module to sync. That explains why my manager is having such headaches with her new Treo. I thought that it was perhaps just a simple conduit install.

Hey everyone,

Can you please tell me if TP offers mail merge for e-mail.  I want to bulk mail but with a personal touch so that the contacts name appears in teh message.

Thanks!!

I believe TP has a mail merge functin for e-mail.  I haven't used that function.  You can call TP tech support and they walk you through it.

Over the years, I have tried them all, and where am I back to? Top Producer.  I just find it is the best fit and offers the features I need to run my brokerage.  I gave up and got over the monthly fee, it is stable, the leader in the industry and it always works.