Liane, IDX has nothing to do with Top Producer 8i.  An IDX solution is needed for a website and Top Producer 8i is not a website but a real estate specific contact and marketing system.  Top Producer can integrate website leads at no charge whatsoever so I don't know who told you that website lead integration was an additional charge?

Point2 agent does not allow you to create community and school reports and you cannot manage your listings and closings either.  This all can be done within your TP8i program.  The drip campaigns can be found under the Calendar drop down menu.  (pic below)

You can utilize the plans as they exist, modify the existing plans or create new ones on your own.  Yes, you can have emails sent out automatically to your database on a daily basis, weekly basis, monthly basis (any timetable you desire).  You can call our tech support for assistance (no charge) or attend a free 3-hour training session in your area.  My website (www.tptim.com) also provides a number of Top Producer 8i training clips that will assist you as you start-up with the program.

Eh, I'm still not convinced.  To manage listings in Top Producer, you have to buy that plug in.  And Point2 has drip email, albeit I need to customize it a bit.  I guess I am just not seeing why TP is better just yet.

No, that is not correct Liane.  One can manage a listing by entering in the data manually without having to pay an additional fee.  I have many agents in the Carolinas that have to manage their listings in this manner since some MLS boards do not offer the technology that would enable a direct download of listing information into Top Producer. 

If one chooses to purchase Top Connector (a one-time fee of $149) that would give the agent the ability to extract a listing from their MLS which would download directly into your 8i database.  Top Connector is an add-on due to the fact that not every MLS vendor offers the technology for this direct download.  Why include Top Connector in an agent's Top Producer license if it would not work in every market? 

I see that you are a KW agent which means that you have the KW branded version which not only includes all the follow-up campaigns that Top Producer has created but also all of the KW Pro Manage marketing as well (33-touch, 8x8's, 12-direct plans, KW Community & School Reports, etc.). 

Regarding Point2, one also has the option to pay additional fees for additional options as well.  In terms of what Top Producer offers in its basic subscription price, I know of no other product on the market that provides so many tools at an agent's fingertips.  That being said we continually upgrade the program at no additional fee.  There are many KW agents still paying the same monthly rate of $29.95 per month even though they have had the program for over 5 years. 

I'm not really trying to convince you to keep the program but since you have a 30-day money back guarantee I'm just trying to explain what the product offers you as an agent.  It is by far the most dynamic and all-inclusive contact and marketing program if utilized and that is truly the key.

I love Top Producer, but it is way too expensive. I use it to run my business but as other systems get better and more intergrated at a cheaper price, we will have to switch. All of the extras are expensive on the TP system.

Julie, I have to agree with you.

When reading the Web site, it sounds as if one can function without all of the extra add-on's.  Then, once you invest your time and money into it, you realize that you need the add-on's to be remotely productive.

Of course, they offer the 30 day money back guarantee, but after I invested many hours into setting everything up I didn't want to have to classify it as a waste of time and have to start all over with another solution. 

I'd rather pay a flat fee for something all-inclusive than the be nickled and dimed to death, which is how I feel. Based on what I've read, I don't think the folks responsible for TP grasp that it leaves a sour taste in many of their customer's mouths.

Oh yea, and I just remembered that I pay an extra $20/mo. for an assistant.  Is it really that much harder for them to provide an additional log-in to share database fields?  Their profit margin is probably 99.9998% for the assistant add-on.  They sure can't use the "bandwidth cost" or "server utilization" argument as both bandwidth and server hardware are dirt cheap these days.  Plus, if their coding is clean, it should not require much bandwidth or server resources.  Having said that, I am not too confident that their coding is tight.

I ended up cancelling my Top Producer account before the 30 days was up.  It just wasn't worth it to me without all the extras and those being additional money.  I have drip email with Point2 and while they don't have 10 year plans, I could set that up myself in Point2.  I don't love the "canned" emails anyway, I always have to go in and adjust the wording anyway, so I might as well do it myself in Point2.  Until Top Producer comes down in price or comes bundled for less, I'll stick to my cheaper Point2 systems. 

Liane:  I keep hoping that with each use I will have an "A-AH" moment and it won't see so clunky anymore.  I am more and more worried that A-HA moment will never come.

I understand what TP wants to do for us, I just don't understand why it's not simpler to actually do it.  I have found so many things that I deem to be common sense that are missing.

I am focusing on growing my business into a mix of REO and residential resale, so having a database is now important to me.  I used to do just fine not having one, as I focused only on being an REO listing agent and had a handful of asset managers as clients.  Everything else was easy to track in Outlook.  However, as I hope to grow in the residential resale side of things I will need something a little stronger than Outlook.  At this point, after so much time and money invested, it's looking like TP. 

I am still sitting on the fence about how I feel. 

"Point2 agent does not allow you to create community and school reports and you cannot manage your listings and closings either."

Um Point2 has built in blog , you can create neighborhoods, and of course its so easy to cutomize you can add a link to schoolmatters.com, and manage your listings your waaaaay wrong here you can manage your listings, print 1 click brochoures, in one click send your listings to googel,zillow,NLS,cyberhomes, and at least 15 more sites including craigslist and the NYtimes. on top of that you get a FREE Virtual tour for all your listings.......................OK here is the best part its FREE for 6 months and $10 bucks a month after that or you can upgrade to the $50 version and get a boatload of other features including email drip campiangs...

BTW Not a commercial I am a regular Realtor, no affiliations to P2 except my personal Agent site

I have to agree with Mike.  We can do everything Top Producer's basic product does in Point2 for much less money.  Yes you can do communities, reports, manage and SYNDICATE listings, print brochures, configure drip email, etc.  I had just heard so much hype about TP that I tried it, only to find out it wasn't as user friendly as Point2 and didn't offer anything different.

I have every feature for TP, including an assistant license and it costs me about $140 a month.

I thought I was going to cancel it, but now that I am getting the hang of it, I am liking it more and more.  There is surely a learning curve.

Point2 may suit your needs just fine and as the saying goes, if it ain't broke don't fix it.

I actually checked out Point2 *after* I got TP and my Web site all setup, so it would have been too much to change everything.  Having said that, if I had checked out TP and Point2 at the same time, I do not know which I would have ended up choosing.

I am happy with TP though.  Tonight I figured out how to setup my drip emails and now that I have the hang of it, it is really simple.

Scratch that -- I think it's close to $170.

Either way, in my eyes, it's a cost of doing business.  I think my Web site is snazzy and that is very important to me.  I will pay a premium for that.