Contact Management System - Top Producer is a database that allows for follow up, action plan and automating, systematizing your real estate business. Every small business, sales person and real estate sales agent should be operating their business with a Contact Management System or Client Relationship System. Whether you are just starting your real estate sales career or you are a Top Producer real estate agent, having a CRM helps you organize your relationships, insure follow up and not let things fall through the cracks.

The challenge with the Top Producer system is that it is frustrating for most real estate agents to use. There are too many bells and whistles. It is not as simple to use as some other CRM's.

While I was coaching inside two large real estate offices, I was hearing the same frustration from the real estate agents over and over and over. Top Producer is confusing and complicated!

Free Real Estate Coaching For Top Producer

Besides being confusing and complicated, Top Producer has been frustrating me with some other things lately. They are spamming my email and they are not engaging on their Facebook Page. Just recently I was talking about this on my Facebook profile and I think its pretty funny that as I was complaining about Top Producer, their ad was on my wall.

Normally, I would not do free real estate coaching, but I'm sitting on all this info so why not share it?

So here is some free coaching for Top Producer:

1. Stop Spamming -

You can engage and connect with your customers in the social media space. I get 2-3 emails every time you send your emails. If you are spamming me, how do you think I think your service works?

2. Simplify Your Product -

Majority of real estate agents I talk to do not enjoy the user experience. It's difficult to navigate and function. You have Feature Creep taking place in your product line. Real estate agents are busy and can't live in complication for long. I wonder if engineers and programmers are creating your product of if sales people and designers are?

3. Stop Selling -

You have a sales force that makes real estate agents uncomfortable because they are telling agents "don't call in to the Top Producer 800 # because I don't get credit for the sale." You have something out of alignment in your model. Get things organized.

4. Stop Training -

I'm serious. Stop training how to use your product. If real estate agents can't figure out how to use it out-of-the-box go back and make a product that is more simple. See #2. This is something a real estate agent left on my facebook wall commenting about your product, "...when I have to invest hours and hours in classes and with Tech support even after using it for YEARS, something is WRONG!"

5. Start Listening -

Once you have #3 figured out, instead of sending sales people out to real estate offices, send product support people. Have them ask questions, get feedback and learn what the frustrations of real estate agents are. I've been able to get feedback from over 100 real estate agents about your product, I bet you can too.

6. Hire a Social Media Manager

Look at the pic above. I'm frustrated because I asked you a question on YOUR fanpage and you did not respond. And yet, you are advertising, spending money to promote your product or service. You are even offering FREE social media tips to real estate agents, yet aren't applying some of the basic methods of the social media space in your own business. Hire a social media manager to listen on twitter for customer complaints and reach out to them. Celebrate customer success stories on twitter by retweeting them. That social media manager can engage your "Likers" on your Facebook page.

For goodness sake....get a custom URL by visiting http://facebook.com/username

7. Simplify Your Product Line

You are doing your database, the Market Snapshot, websites, blogs, lead conversion forms, etc, etc. In my opinion, you are not crushing it at any of them. I would scale back and starting dominating one of those platforms and look for joint ventures in the others. For example, why not collaborate with with Altos Research on the Market stats and updates?

8. Integrate Social Media Into Your Platform

Use your clout to work with facebook on getting an API to pull in a real estate agents friend's contact info into your platform. CRM Vyllij is the new kid on the block, but knows that social media matters. They pull in a contacts last five tweets. You are bigger company, I'm sure have deeper pockets. Follow what Roost did with their Facebook IDX app and see if Facebook will allow you to bend the rules. How amazing would it be if a real estate agents Top Producer account immediately had updated contact info and notes when their friend updated their facebook account!?!

So there is some free coaching for you Top Producer. Do with it what you would like. Keep in mind, this all comes from conversations with real estate agents that use or at one time used your product.

Oh and one last free real estate coaching tip - Debbie McBee seems to be an advocate of your product. She is the only real estate agent that I have came across that seems to love your product. I would give her something if I was you. Comp your subscription or give her a free upgrade or something. Leverage your advocates and let them become raving fans!