Your database is your business, and chances are you will spend a good amount of time in your contact management program.  It’s important that it works the way YOU want it to work, maximizing the effectiveness of a critical part of your daily routine. It’s also just a lot more fun!

That’s why we made it possible to customize your Wise Agent.   To check out some of the different options, mouse over the Profile tab and click on Settings.  Here’s a few examples of some of the features you can now customize:

• Calendar
• Checklists
• Client List
• Email Clients
• Document / File storage
• Letters
• Property List
• Vendor List
• Synchronization
• To Do List
• Color and menu style

So have it your way! Not all CRM programs give you the freedom to make the program look and work the way you want it to.  We’re listening! If you have any suggestions for options you’d like to see added, contact our super support team and let us know!

Wise Agent is excited to announce our new integration with Contactually – helping you “gain more customers by building a relationship network.” Merge all your connections with friends, followers, and more, then have those contacts automatically sync to your Wise Agent account. The integration will also help you manage the history you have built with your contacts, whether from Facebook or Twitter messages, or emails, everything will be accessible from your Wise Agent “client summary” page.

Here’s how to set up this exciting new feature:

1. First, register for your Contactually account here: http://www.contactually.com/wiseagent.
2. Once logged in, click Settings in the top right corner, then on Integrations on the left side. At the bottom of the Integrations page, click on “Connect” next to the LinkedIn, Facebook, and / or Twitter options (as desired).
3. Wait. It can take 24 to 48 hours for Contactually to combine and merge the contacts from all the different sources.

After you have given your account time to “percolate” – you’re now ready to connect it to your Wise Agent. Click here, copy the API key shown, and send it to our Customer Support Team.

That’s it! You will now have all your social media contacts within your Client List, and the messages will be available from their record as well.

We love to hear from you! Give it a try and let us know what you think. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask! Our support team is available around the clock, taking your suggestions and answering any questions you might have.

A good Contact Management program is critical to an Agent’s business.  There are many options out there, and it can be confusing to say the least.  How do you choose the right one for YOU?  Here are three easy steps to consider when you’re ready to look for the best CRM to fit your needs.

Make a list. Start by making a list of the features that are most important to you.  Do you want to send email marketing campaigns?   Do you need help staying organized with regards to your transactions?  Maintaining a detailed contact history is also important.  Do you want to sync your phone to easily access the information from anywhere?  If you leave your current brokerage, can you take your database with you?  Having a list of your top priorities allows you to easily weed out any options that don’t have all that you need.

Ask around. Do some research to see what options are available.  You can ask your colleagues or broker, check out Facebook groups, do some Google searches – the more information the better.  Run each program through your list of critical features to ensure it has what you are looking for.  Narrow the list down to a few programs that include all (or at least most) of your specifications.

Try it out. Most CRM programs offer a free trial period so that you can make sure it will work for you before you buy.  Make sure the interface is user friendly and intuitive.  This is also a good time to test their customer support – make sure they have help available when you need it.  The last thing you want to do is get stuck with a program you don’t know and there’s no one around to assist you.  Is there a cost for training, or is it included for free?  Also, confirm that the cost is within your budget, and be clear on the terms of any contract they may lock you in.  Be wary of any program that requires you to enter your credit card up front – this may be a ploy to lock you into a contract if you don’t cancel within a given time frame.

We realize that you have options when choosing a CRM.  Compare several programs side by side to best determine which one is right for you.  Wise Agent has been designed by real estate professionals as a comprehensive system that has all the bells and whistles, but none of the gimmicks.  Compare our features, ask others about their experience, and give us a try – we think you’ll like what you see!

Wise Agent is excited to release another new update, adding value to your account! Our Facebook integration has been updated!  Here are a few of the things you can do, right from within your Wise Agent:

•           View your Wall and comment on your Friends’ posts
•           Post your listings, along with a slideshow, to your Timeline or business Page in just a couple clicks
•           View a Client’s most recent status update from the Client Summary or Contact Notes page, and save it if you want to with a date and time stamp

To activate this feature on your account, simply mouse over the Profile button and click on Facebook.  Follow the prompts to allow Wise Agent to access your Facebook, and that’s it!  If you had activated this feature in the past, you will need to re-activate it once again due to the update.

Having your CRM integrated with your Facebook eliminates having to switch between different programs, thereby simplifying your day.  With nearly a billion active users, Facebook is a great way to connect with people you may never have been able to otherwise.

We always appreciate your feedback and suggestions, so feel free to click the Contact Us button or find us on Facebook, and share them with us.  Keep those great ideas coming!

Wise Agent’s President and CEO, Brandon Wise, was quoted the other day in RE Technology’s article Your Email Program is Not a CRM! We thought the message was so important, we wanted to share it on our blog as well.  Having a good CRM can make the difference between being a successful agent and not.  Outlook is not a CRM – read on to find out why!

Quoted from the RE Technology site:

First things first – CRM stands for “customer relationship management.” While the term can be used to refer to a general concept, we use it to describe software specifically. CRM software is used to organize all of the information related to customers (or other contacts) as well as automate many tasks related to marketing and customer service. It is a sales tool that will keep you well organized and support your ability to plan and track your success.

I was chatting with my friend, Brandon Wise of Wise Agent the other day and he said something that really caught my attention. “I can’t tell you how many people are using Microsoft Outlook and believe that it is a CRM,” he said. “There’s not a day that goes by that my Wise Agent team doesn’t move someone over from the Outlook system because it has come back to bite them.”

Now, I’ve said it before, but clearly it’s not getting through so I’ll say it again: Outlook (or Mac Mail) is not a CRM! At the most basic level, this is because email programs like Outlook focus on just that – email! What happens when communication with that customer jumps out of the inbox and onto the phone, into the physical mailbox, or otherwise into the “real world?” I’ll tell you what – mail programs become blind to any non-email activity, prohibiting you from tracking important touch points. They also can’t help with marketing the way that a true CRM can.

But wait – there’s more! Let’s break this down list-style . . .

1. Outlook is good for sending one email to one recipient. If you’re trying to send an email to multiple recipients, you’re forced to cc or bcc everyone – neither of which is an ideal solution.
2. Outlook does not allow you to leave date and time-stamped notes about important customer interactions. So, when your communication occurs anywhere except via email, you have no record of it.
3. You cannot attach documents to contacts in Outlook. Any documents sent to you through that program are saved to your computer and only accessible from that computer.
4. Outlook provides zero support for marketing. These days, a true CRM provides a robust array of marketing tools and resources.
5. Because Outlook is limited to email, most real estate professionals resort to purchasing a variety of other programs to “fill in the blanks.” This can lead to a very disorganized and time-draining process as none of these other products “talks” to the others.
6. Outlook is, generally, industry-neutral. There are a few “plug-ins” for Outlook that are geared for real estate, but most experts consider these to be relatively weak. By choosing one of the CRM solutions that was created specifically with REALTORS® in mind, you’re guaranteeing better support and more advanced features.

If you’d like to learn more about your CRM options, visit our product directory. Wise Agent (mentioned above) is an excellent example of a CRM designed for REALTORS® – to find out more, we recommend our product review and Friday Freebie. Other examples include Top Producer, Growth Leader from Market Leader, MLS-Office, and Tribus.

A Note on “Internet-Based” CRMs

Unless you’re using Microsoft Exchange, Outlook is NOT Internet-based. (Don’t know what Microsoft Exchange is? Don’t worry; you don’t need to.) This means that you only have access to it when you’re on your own personal computer. This is one reason (of several) that it is not great for the team environment of most real estate offices.

Another reason an Internet-based CRM is a good idea: even though they know they need to, most people do not back-up the data on their computers. If Outlook lives solely on your computer, if it crashes and you haven’t backed-up, you may have just lost all your data. Many real estate CRMs (but not all) are Internet-based, so your data is stored off your hard drive and is safe (as well as accessible anywhere).

The original article can be found here.

When it comes to the different kinds of real estate software you can use, there are many to choose from. Before you decide on one, you’ll need to determine whether you want to use online or offline real estate solutions. An online program is just that – it’s on the internet; “in the cloud”.  An offline program would be one that is downloaded just to your computer.  Those “in-the-know” agree that it makes much more sense to go with an online or cloud-based option. Why are these programs the best choice?

It doesn’t matter how many features an offline software program has; it still won’t be as accessible as one that is online. With an offline program you need to make sure that you have access to the disc, or the computer the program’s been downloaded onto. In short, it’s a hassle. And what if your computer crashes?  All your data, possibly years of work, could be gone in an instant.  With an online program, all you need is an Internet connection and you can easily pull up what you’re looking for – whether it’s on your home computer, your laptop, or your smartphone.

Another chore that you won’t have to deal with when you choose an online program is making sure the software is updated. With offline programs you may need to check periodically to see if there are updates, and then manually download them yourself. With an online program, as soon as new features have been added – they are there automatically and ready to use.