From time to time we find that we've outgrown a system, or perhaps a newer and better one comes to market. If you want to change real estate contact management solutions, you'll need to export your contacts and prospects with all data fields in order to import them into the new system.
When you're looking at a system at the very beginning, find the import and export utilities and make sure that they facilitate easy export of all data in a standard .txt or .csv text file format. Almost any system will import these file types. If the only export method offered is some proprietary file format, you might want to look elsewhere, as your future use of the data may be severely compromised. In other words, don't get trapped into a system you'll have to keep because it won't output your data for import into a new system.
Another VERY important thing to do is the frequent export of your data onto your local hard drive and/or other backup media. Don't assume that this very popular online contact management solution is profitable and will always be there. It's a horror story you'll hear about now and then when a real estate agent finds that they can no longer log in to their solution because they've gone out of business. Having a recent export of your data stored will keep you from losing your biggest asset..
Part of the Contact Management Training Series - The Whole Series:
• The Importance of a Good System
• Contacts and Prospects - The Difference
• Don't Use The MLS Solution
• Protecting Your Contact Data is Critical
• Using a Prospect Type Field for Efficiency
• Sourcing Prospects for Profit
• Using a Status Field to Help with Marketing
