Top Producer is a real estate customer relationship management (CRM) tool designed to help agents, teams, and brokers take their business to the next level. Their oft-repeated promise? “You get to decide how to use your CRM.” While viewing hours of video in their learning library to research this review, I heard this motto a lot.
Does Top Producer offer the options and power-ups to make this true? In this review, we’ll take you on an all-access video walk-through of the platform and Top Producer experience. We’ll examine each of the Top Producer packages, their major components, and package costs to help you decide if Top Producer is the right real estate CRM for your business.
(Want to skip right to The Close Recommendation? Click here to get to The Bottom Line.)
Top Producer CRM Overview
Top Producer has been in the real estate CRM game since the 1980s. Yes, you read that right. Some early Top Producer users may have switched from a tabletop Rolodex to a desktop CRM.
For some companies, being around for the last 40 years might mean their product is antiquated and stale, but not so with Top Producer, especially with the recent release of their latest update: Top Producer X.
Top Producer Pros & Cons
Top Producer Pros | Top Producer Cons |
|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Top Producer Plans & Prices
Top Producer offers three plans, each with different options and price points.
| Top Producer Plan | Monthly Price | Annual Price | Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $60 | $648 (10% savings) | Top Producer CRM |
| Professional | $95 | $1,026 (10% savings) | Top Producer CRM, Market Snapshot |
| Advanced | $105 | $1,134 (10% savings) | Top Producer CRM, Market Snapshot, FiveStreet Automated Lead Follow-up |
All Top Producer plans require an initial, one-year contract. After the initial year, users can choose to commit to another year (to get the 10% savings), or go month-to-month.
Top Producer’s Most Important Features
Now that we have a basic understanding of what Top Producer offers and how much it costs, let’s break down the platform’s most important features. To go into more detail and see these functions in action, make sure to check out our walk-through video later in this article.
CRM Dashboard
Available on: All Top Producer plans
The Close Grade: A
The dashboard for Top Producer X is modern, action-oriented, customizable, and designed with busy, multi-tasking Realtors in mind. I spend a lot of time exploring real estate CRMs, and let me tell you, dashboards are not all created equal.
There’s no wasted space here; every square inch of Top Producer’s dashboard is designed for productivity. And, there’s enough customization options with this interface that most agents will be able to create their own experience.
If I had any negative feedback, it would be that the white-on-white color scheme is going to be a little tough for people with vision problems. I’m not sure this passes accessibility muster. But, overall, the dashboard experience is definitely a win.
The Best Real Estate CRM for 2022: In-depth Reviews & Pricing
Communication Automation
Available on: Basic email automation available on all plans, Market Snapshot not available on Starter
The Close Grade: B-
There’s no easy way to say it; Top Producer’s automation options aren’t best-in-class. Don’t get me wrong, they’re not bad, but they don’t offer options that many of their competitors do.
You can create standard email drip campaigns, and with Market Snapshot (their automated market report and property alert system available to the Professional and Advanced plans), you can keep your buyers and sellers in the loop with regular market data.
But, you can’t create more complex email drip sequences that react to behavior (for instance, one email if the previous message is opened, one if it is not opened). Also, you can’t automate SMS text messages. Finally, there isn’t a specific destination on their site just for automation; it is mixed in with other communication.
These automation missteps aren’t a deal-breaker for us, but if you’re a Realtor or team leader with designs to become the next great automation expert, this might not be the platform for you.
9 Easy & Actionable Real Estate Email Marketing Tips for 2022
Transaction Management
Available on: All Top Producer plans
The Close Grade: A-
Within the Top Producer CRM, there’s a tab called “Transactions.” Here, Top Producer users can manage the transactions they’ve got on the board, prioritizing tasks, sorting by stage, and more.
Transaction management purists might scoff at an “A-” rating, but hear me out. Yes, the Top Producer platform lacks the ability to communicate with other important members of a transaction team (mortgage brokers, inspectors, appraisers, and so on). Yes, it’s also missing a client-facing portal that allows them to monitor their transaction’s progress.
Knowing this, I still love this feature of Top Producer. This tool hits me and my business needs right in the sweet spot, and I suspect it will do the same for other Realtors too.
Why?
Because it provides a really great visual timeline of a transaction; an easy to reference spot where I can see exactly what’s been accomplished and what’s coming next for a critical part of my business. Agents will also benefit from a handy commission calculator and tracker to forecast performance and measure goals. You can also create customized call sheets with all the other stakeholders involved in your transaction (even if you can’t communicate with them directly).
Real Estate Website
Available on: All Top Producer plans for an additional $15.75 per month
The Close Grade: B
As a Top Producer customer on any plan, you can access a multi-feature website at a reasonable cost to power your real estate business. My suggestion to Realtors is that you take advantage of this website offering (seriously, 10 bucks a month is NOTHING relative to what you’re getting), but use this as a secondary site or just for lead capture.
Why? Their platform lacks a couple of key features, including a native IDX integration—which means that property search functionality isn’t baked into the platform. Secondly, they don’t offer a “logged in” experience for your site visitors, which means the website can’t sync directly with your CRM, translating visitor behavior into lead profiles.
That being said, you can easily create landing pages and single-property websites, and create lead capture (or “squeeze” pages) that do sync straight to your CRM, and a lot more. Top Producer offers easy page creation templates you can use to highlight neighborhoods or specific sectors or your market, which is an advantage. The cost-to-value ratio for the Top Producer website is very high, I love what you get here.
The 6 Best Real Estate Website Builders of 2022
FiveStreet Automatic Lead Follow-up
Available on: Advanced plan only
The Close Grade: A
Have you ever thought to yourself, “I’d love to get more leads, but I simply can’t handle the follow-up?” If so, you’re not alone. We all know that speed-to-lead response time is critical nowadays, and for many agents, our ability to increase lead volume is limited by our ability to respond and connect in the moment.
FiveStreet is an automated lead follow-up tool that responds to your generated leads with an email or a text within that golden five-minute-rule window. Top Producer Advanced plan users can choose from any of the dozens of follow-up email or text templates, or create their own.
Studies show that leads who get thoughtful follow-up communication, even if it’s automated, are far more likely to convert into legitimate prospects than those with hit-or-miss follow-up. If this were the end of the story, I’d be sold. But, it’s only the beginning.
FiveStreet users via Top Producer can use this lead follow-up service for any leads, not just ones generated on the Top Producer website. Whether you’re using Zillow Premier Agent, BoldLeads, Market Leader, or any of the more than 150 lead providers they support, with FiveStreet, you can expand the top of your funnel significantly with very little extra work.
The only reason this tool didn’t get an A+ was because the integration with the Top Producer CRM isn’t perfect. When FiveStreet reaches out to a lead via automated communication, if your lead responds to that communication, it doesn’t get automatically logged in their contact profile. You’ve got to manually enter that communication.
Honestly, this feels like a straightforward fix, something we hope Top Producer will remedy soon, because this fix would make this tool an absolute no-brainer, especially given its low cost.
Top Producer All-access Walk-through Video
Ready to move beyond reading about the Top Producer CRM and actually see the platform in action? Top Producer granted me an all-access pass to their CRM to test drive it myself. Check out what I discovered!
The Close Recommendation: Is Top Producer Right for You?
My overall impression of the Top Producer CRM is very positive. I like the design, the workflow options, and the different tools at my disposal, including Market Snapshot, FiveStreet, and the Transaction Management. Top Producer is great for agents looking for:
- A way to increase the size and effectiveness of their lead funnel
- A CRM you can customize to fit your personal workflow and operation
- A relatively inexpensive tool
However, Top Producer might not be a good fit for you if any of the following are deal-breakers:
- A CRM with limited automated communication options and no automated SMS texting
- A CRM without a highly integrated website
- A CRM without a free trial, or at least the option to start monthly in order to test things out
The Bottom Line
Top Producer offers excellent bang-for-your-buck, providing many ways for real estate agents, teams, and brokerages to level up their business. The tool isn’t perfect, but its offerings are a great value, and anyone looking for a real estate CRM should consider Top Producer.
Tell us about you so we know what to send.
Add comment