Top Producer CRM for real estate agents has just released a new version that appears to embrace new web standards and is no longer joined at the hip with Internet Explorer.

TopProducer has long championed the many years-long email “drip” campaign — until a prospect “buys or dies”. In short, they turned legions of agents into the most vial of spammers. So, I was shocked, shocked to read the following in their latest ad:

Drip marketing’s gone the way of the dodo, and your consumers already know all about daylight savings time. To connect with today’s customers, you’ve got to give them something more than Aunt Emma’s “Can’t miss Cobbler”.

I guess pigs can fly. I’d give them an “amen!” but that has been true for many years. And they knew it while all the while they pitched TopProducer as a way for agents to “automate” their marketing. As a productivity coach, I watched them encourage a lot of agents to damage their most important asset — the trust of their sphere of influence — by abusing the implied permission an agent has to communicate with their friends and family. Just so they could ensnare more subscribers. Hell yeah I’m bitter. They’ve disrupted a lot of relationships and real estate careers. [Read more...]