Agent Office versus Top Producer

If you were hoping for a “side by side”, “feature to feature” comparison of Agent Office and Top Producer, you can stop reading right now…

In my 21 years of experience in real estate and 14 years teaching and selling real estate technology I’ve learned that only a fool buys real estate or software based on features alone.

Great houses and software are not the sum of their parts, but rather the feeling you get when you roam around inside.

Just as a good floor plan can make a dramatic difference between two homes with the same square footage, bedrooms and baths, so too does the workflow of a software program make all the difference in the world.  There are however, some broad differences between the two programs that must be identified before we talk about the workflow of each program.

Agent Office is a PC based program

…which means you buy it (current retail pricing is $349 for 1-3 users) and install it on the hard-drive of your computer.  In a multi-user environment (an agent with an assistant or a small to large team) you install the program on each of the work stations and the data resides on your network server.

Whether you are a single agent or a multi-user, with a PC based program you own the program and you control the data in so much as it resides on your computer system.  You do not need access to the Internet to get to your database and you do not pay a monthly fee for on-going use of the program.  You receive 30 days of free technical support from the day you receive your software and you have the option of paying for on-going technical support if you need it.  Upgrades are optional based upon your desire for new features and has averaged about one upgrade a year at around $219.  Many agents upgrade every year in order to have all the latest features and others wait a year, or two, or three, before the new features they want j ustify the upgrade price.  Included in the upgrade price is 30 days of technical support to assist you in case the new version creates conflicts with other programs on your computer.

Top Producer (Top Producer 7i and Top Producer 8i) is a Web based program

…which means you rent it (current retail pricing is $39.95 per month for one user and $19.95/mo. for each additional assistant) and never install it on the hard-drive of your computer.  The program and your data reside on the Top Producer servers, not on your computer.  You must have Internet access to get to your data, but you can access it from any web-enabled PC, anywhere.  You have 30 days to evaluate the program and cancel your subscription before you are locked in to a one year contract.  Technical support is included as part of the monthly fee, and all upgrades or enhancements are automatically added to your system whether you want them or not.

Below is a chart I use during my live seminars that illustrates the differences between a PC based program and a Web based program.  Keep in mind that these are my opinions of the two platforms, not scientific fact.  I don’t honestly know how to definitively justify these opinions but I have the unique advantage of having worked with both of these programs longer than just about anyone in the industry and have helped tens of thousands of agents with their database decisions…

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…If I were to base my buying decision solely upon the “platforms” (PC vs. Web based) used by each program, I would be inclined to make the following recommendations:

For a single agent or an agent with an assistant or a small team that shares a common, physical office space I would recommend going PC based.  The cost savings alone (see above cost for a team of 3) supports the decision as well as the “ownership” of the data.

For a small or large team that shares a common, physical office space I would recommend setting up a network with a work station for each team member and going PC based.  As long as each team member has their own computer in the office, they can either check out data (on a laptop) and work remotely, or use any number of remote access applications such as LogMeIn.com or GoToMyPC.com to access their work station from home.

For a small or large team that does not share a common, physical office space, the web based platform appears more favorable.  However, for the majority of teams, large and small that I consult with, losing control or “ownership” of the data to a web based platform is the deal breaker.  NOTE: the options available for remote access vary in cost and sophistication and do not warrant discussion here, however, check out my article on Remote Access Options if you want to know the costs and options available to you.

Who really “owns” your data?

Both PC and Web based databases allow you to export contact information such as your mailing list, phone numbers, e-mail addresses and notes for use in other programs or in the event you want to switch from one program to another.

However, what most companies won’t tell you is how much information you CANNOT export.

With a PC based application, all the data resides on your hard-drive and any good technical person can “crack open” your data and export whatever information you have recorded.  In the event of a Web based program the data is stored in a proprietary database that can be “locked down” to prevent an outside person from extracting certain, if not most, of your data.

For example, Top Producer offers a data conversion from Agent Office that is so comprehensive, it quite frankly scared me!  They were able to convert my contact, listing and sales records, including completed and pending activities COMPLETELY, in less than a few hours with little or no effort on my part.  They are able to do this because AgentOffice is an open database structure with no encryption to prevent you or someone you authorize to extract the data.

HOWEVER, the really terrifying reality is that you cannot get the same data back FROM Top Producer.

I have spoken with countless agents who converted from AgentOffice to Top Producer for several weeks or months and wanted to switch back.  That’s when they discovered how much contact, listing and sales data and history they would not be able to retrieve without manually copying and pasting, or literally recreating it in AgentOffice.

Web based applications have one HUGE advantage over PC based applications.  Simply put, they are incredibly profitable for the company that rents you access to your data and then locks it down so you cannot export it without their consent.  The on-going monthly revenue stream to the company is fantastic.  You pay for technical support whether you use it or not, and you have to pay for upgrades whether you want them or not.  As you can probably detect, I’m not a big fan of web based applications simply based on the concern of “not owning and controlling” my own data.

To be completely fair, web based applications have some very compelling features.  I love the “idea” of being able to hop onto any web enabled computer to access my database.

Frankly, as a speaker, I travel a lot.  If I had a team it would be great to be able to log into a live database and work in real time with everyone.  But, when I consider the average real estate agent, they don’t travel as much, and if they do, like me, they carry their own laptop or a PDA and can bring their database with them without having to log onto the Internet to get a phone number or check their schedule.

Internet access “sounds” like a benefit, but for the average agent it rarely gets used as much as most people think they might.  I also don’t like the fact that web based applications are rarely month to month commitments.  In the case of Top Producer you get 30 days to evaluate and cancel the program before you are committed to a 12 month contract.  Incidentally, I have the same disdain for cellular phone activation plans!

Which Program Has More Features?

Hands down, I’ve got to give this one to Top Producer.  Every year when I attend the NAR annual convention I sit through a Top Producer demonstration, and every year Top Producer adds more features than Baskin Robbins has flavors.  If you’ve got the pocketbook you can purchase so many add-on products for Top Producer that you may not need to get out of your chair to show houses any more (OK, that’s probably a little over the top, but every time I listen to one of their salespeople answer questions I’m amazed that Top Producer doesn’t also teach my children Spanish while they sleep!)

Seriously, as long as you are willing to keep buying products and services from Top Producer you’ll find they work great together, however, as it pertains to third party products, I’ve found that Top Producer “doesn’t play well with others.”

For example, many web masters and hotline providers have begun delivering leads in a V-card format (.vcf for you technical types) which is the Microsoft standard for importing contact information into programs like Outlook and Outlook Express.  However, unless you are getting your leads from a Top Producer website, you will have to conform to Top Producer’s import protocol instead of the one established by Microsoft.  This is only important if you don’t want to have to re-type your web and hotline leads manually into your database.

What is a Real Estate Contact Manager’s most important purpose?

This is probably the most important question that most agents never ask.  If you become feature obsessed you’ll never get to the “essence” of contact management.

Ask Allan Domb, the Condominium King of Philadelphia (Allandomb.com) or Craig Proctor (CraigProctor.com), a legend within the RE/MAX system, what is the most important reason to get a contact manager and they will both answer: Action Plans.

These Mega-Producers know how important it is to have systems for EVERYTHING.

With automated action plans a single agent or a team can create consistent systems for handling new listings, price reductions, listing extensions, cancelled or expired listings, sales, post sale follow up, incubation of prospects, and exceptional customer service to ensure repeat and referral business.

In a team environment you can create one plan with an unlimited number of activities spread out over days, weeks, months or years, AND you can assign tasks to each team member with a single launch of the plan.  This allows Allan and Craig to assign and oversee every team member’s activities from the comfort of their own desks to see who’s falling behind and who deserves a pat on the back.

The Shine Team of Harker Heights, TX has an action plan for every aspect of their real estate business.  I’ve been doing on-site consulting with medium to large real estate teams for almost 10 years and when I worked with the Shines I had never seen anyone with such detailed plans for everything in their business.  This may be part of the reason for their extraordinary success in their marketplace.

Action plans take the guesswork out of daily activities.  They also free up your brain for more creative thinking when you don’t have to ask yourself which listings, sales or customers need attention on a given day.  When it comes to creating, editing and launching Action Plans, AgentOffice makes it easy, and with single click access to every team member’s calendar you’ll be able to orchestrate your efforts for consistent and measurable performance.

Workflow within a Contact Manager for Real Estate

This is literally impossible to describe in writing.  I recommend you click on Agent Office Version 10.0 to see screen shots and short demonstration clips to illustrate the workflow of the program.

The Desktop Module best illustrates the flexibility of Agent Office.  From this one module you can do more things than most “suites” of software (like Microsoft Office) can do from all their different applications.  For example, from the Desktop Module alone, you can:

• Add new contacts
• Lookup contacts with 7 different, instant-search and sort criteria
• View all appointments, to-do’s, calls, letters, e-mail and misc. activities for today or any given day or filter activities by type
• View the related Contact information for any scheduled activities
• Add unlimited notes to any contact and view all saved contact notes
• Schedule new activities without opening the Scheduler Module
• Complete scheduled activities and update the contact, listing, sales and scheduler modules simultaneously
• View uncompleted activities in the Old Business Synopsis window
• Write, save and print custom letters and form letters
• View all saved custom letters and fax covers created for a contact
• Write and send custom e-mails and form e-mails to contacts and save a copy to the contact’s detailed record
• Create and save custom Fax Cover sheets
• Print envelopes or labels for a contact
• Print Promo Flyers for a listing to send to a contact
• Access and Edit detailed contact information for any contact
• Auto-dial any contact, record detailed comments and schedule a follow-up activity

All this power is the result of the extraordinary integration of all the modules of the program.

Unlike most other programs, Agent Office was written by the same team and is essentially one program.

Most of the competition has purchased off-the-shelf programs for scheduling, word processing, and desktop publishing and have attempted to integrate the programs with their own cobbled-together code.  While off-the-shelf products may offer more sophisticated features within each module, these features don’t make up for the clunky way in which you must navigate to get to each different program.  To use a real estate analogy, a house with 4 bathrooms isn’t necessarily a better home if you have to go through the kitchen to get to all four bathrooms!

DOS vs. Windows-based Real Estate Contact Managers

Finally, the biggest difference between AgentOffice and Web-based applications like Top Producer 8i, is the ability to multi-task.

I’ve been teaching and demonstrating software since the good old days of the DOS operating system.  When I ask people the difference between DOS and Windows, most people think it’s the ability to use a mouse or a “prettier” user interface (the look and feel of a software program).  The REAL difference between DOS and Windows is the ability to multi-task.  That is, the ability to have multiple modules open simultaneously.

Back in the DOS days you couldn’t walk and chew gum at the same time.  You had to stop walking, save your work, close your “walking” module and then open your “chew gum” module.  If you wanted to start walking again, you had to stop chewing, save your work, close your “chew gum” module and open the “walk” module again.  Windows made that all go away.

Unfortunately, as we move from Windows to the Web, it’s a lot like taking one step forward (remote access) and two steps back (no more walking and chewing gum at the same time).

For the record, I am not a programmer.  I don’t have the slightest clue how software works, but I do know how to use it, and unfortunately, with web-based applications, I find it almost impossible to multi-task without closing or minimizing one window for another.

Imagine being in the middle of a group search for a mail merge and getting a call from a seller regarding feedback from a showing over the past weekend.

In AgentOffice, I can stop what I’m doing in the contact manager module and open my listing module immediately without having to save my work or minimize my screen.  Even more important, I can be in the middle of a group activity and open a SECOND contact manager module to lookup another contact without disrupting my first search.  This sounds a little far fetched, but I can’t tell you how many times a week I am engaged in a group activity and need to jump over to another contact that doesn’t happen to be within that group.

In Conclusion…

I realize after reading and re-reading the preceding paragraphs that this can hardly be considered an objective comparison between the two programs.

Unlike other technology speakers and websites I don’t feel the need to remain neutral on the topic of “Which product is better.”  I have no plans to offer all the contact managers available to real estate agents on my site anymore than I expect my local Lexus dealership to start carrying Volkswagens and Fords.

My job is to seek out suitable technologies, evaluate them myself, talk to other users whose opinions I respect, and then make recommendations.  As it pertains to Agent Office, I must admit a long term relationship with the product.  I have been associated with the product since its first year of release and for four years was the official spokesman for the product.  But, for the past 10 years I have been speaking as an independent, free to find and evaluate products that really work for agents, and no matter how hard I look, when it comes to contact management, Agent Office is the product that more agents use to run successful real estate teams and empires.

I think it is human nature to prefer the product that works for you, and if you ever meet me in person you’ll find that I am not a proponent of switching databases for the sake of making a sale.

Learning a new contact management system is painful and takes a lot of time away from the business of selling real estate.  So, let me be clear here; if you currently use Top Producer (or any other program for that matter) and it works for you, and you like it, KEEP USING IT.

But if you are struggling with your current contact manager or starting from scratch, I highly recommend Agent Office AND MY TRAINING DVD’s as the fastest way to get organized and start running your own successful, systematized real estate business.