ACT! for Real Estate 11

Rex

ACT! for Real Estate 11 release goals include:fficeffice" />

·         Significantly improve commonly used areas of the product to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty.

·         Introduce new features to commonly used areas of the product.

·         Provide the ability to establish and view relationships between contacts.

• Continue to differentiate ACT! for Real Estate and ACT! Premium for Real Estate to the install base, focusing on key product differences in messaging. 

Rex

ACT! for Real Estate is primarily designed for residential real estate agents, with brokers and other administrators and managers as secondary users. Often, the purchaser and the end-user are the same person, so messaging needs to both communicate value and demonstrate how ACT! for Real Estate can make them more successful as real estate professionals. fficeffice" />

 

The current economic environment for real estate agents is clearly challenging. To determine the impact on their use of technology or technology products, we can gain some insight from the 2008 REALTOR® Technology Survey.

Rex

 some notable trends from the 2007 to 2008 findings are as follows:fficeffice" />

• 19% fewer respondents wanted more technology to be supplied by their brokers, which indicates a reduction in demand for broker-supplied technology from 2006 to 2007.
• Email remains the most popular form of keeping touch with current and past clients.
• 10% fewer respondents report spending more than $1000 per year on technology, indicating a reduction in technology spend from 2006 to 2007.
• 13% more respondents reported an increase in reliance on referrals which may indicate less time spent on prospecting.

Rex

Given this data, the messaging for ACT! for Real Estate needs to acknowledge the current economic climate and articulate how it can help agents overcome the current challenges and increase their chances of being successful. Also, since fewer respondents are relying on their brokers to provide technology, it may be they are looking more into purchasing software independently, so this could be a campaign theme as well.

 

We can glean further insight from a recent study of the ACT! for Real Estate installed base[1] (details of the study results are listed below under Research Conducted). This study validates the fact that using ACT! for Real Estate can give agents and brokers a competitive advantage, and help them navigate the challenges presented by the current economy.

 

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Rex

Specifically, this study indicated the following:fficeffice" />

• 58% of survey respondents are using ACT! for Real Estate as much or more than they were a year ago (26% are spending more time in ACT! for Real Estate).
• 29% of survey respondents just started using ACT! for Real Estate in the past 12 months.
• Only 13% reported spending less time in ACT!.
• Retaining past clients and getting repeat business/referrals is listed as the number one challenge agents face, followed closely by keeping organized to retrieve data and communications with buyers and sellers; 67% of respondents reported that ACT! is helping them overcome these challenges.
• Managing the closing process to minimize snags and set-backs was listed as a lesser challenge in terms of significance in relation to other prospecting and selling activities. This suggests that agents are relying on brokers more for administrative tasks, such as managing closings, but retaining control over the revenue-driving aspects of their business.

• Approximately 20% of the current ACT! for Real Estate install base is likely to upgrade to the new version.

Rex

Key Takeaways: Using the Market Data to Drive Marketing Efforts

While you should avoid quoting these statistics directly, these findings do suggest some direction to take in messaging themes and campaigns for ACT! for Real Estate:fficeffice" />

• Succeeding in an Economic Downturn: Even given the current economic outlook, studies suggest that popularity for technology such as ACT! for Real Estate is growing as agents recognize the need to use every tool at their disposal.
• ffice:smarttags" />Independence from Brokers: Studies and analyst reports also suggest that agents are moving away from reliance on their brokers for support and resources and taking ownership of their own success.
• Client Communication Enablement: Agents rely heavily on e-mail to communicate with their clients and this is a key area where ACT! can provide direct assistance through templates, mail merges, e-mail history recording, and integration with popular e-mail applications. (See prospect and IB messaging for more details.)

Rex

Our stance against competitive solutions in this industry is that ACT! for Real Estate is first and foremost a robust contact and customer management solution that has been tailored to suit the residential real estate market – not simply as a real estate solution. There are competitors in this segment with more real estate-specific features and functionality. Our solution and position, however, is based on understanding contact and customer management as proven by our #1 selling status for 20 years and high end-user adoption – particularly within the real estate market.

Rex

ACT! for Real Estate competitive strengths include:fficeffice" />

·         World-Class Contact Management: ACT! for Real Estate offers a world-class, proven contact management solution that is already tailored to fit the way real estate professionals do their business, and can be further customized and personalized to fit specific needs.

·         Ease of Use: ACT! for Real Estate inherits all of the ACT! core functionality which is recognized in the industry as exceptionally easy to use. User-friendly features include single views with filters and tabs, suggested workflow, intelligent defaults, and consistent interfaces.

Enhanced, Personal Customer Communications: Competitors frequently provide “automated” marketing functions which take control of communications with buyers and sellers out of agent’s hands. In ACT! for Real Estate, agents have complete control over when and to whom they communicate. You can also choose to automate communications through superior mail merge functionality that allows you to merge letter and e-mail templates to clients with just a few clicks. Other products decide when and to whom communications go out with less agent involvement.

Rex

·         Affordability: Many competitors require monthly subscription or membership fees that add up quickly over time. ACT! for Real Estate only requires a one-time license fee that is relatively low, with even lower upgrade prices. Additionally, the overall cost of deployment is low as the product can be implemented and configured without extensive involvement from IT or outside consultants. fficeffice" />

·         Access to and Control of Data: Many competitive solutions keep contact information in buckets of leads pulled from the internet or otherwise stored in lists that do not allow agents to control, thoroughly search, and manipulate data. In ACT! for Real Estate, data is easily stored and accessible through dozens of search options and robust keyword search. Additionally, agents have full control over editing and managing the data.