10 things to consider before an estate agency software demonstration
After people, data is probably your most important asset and when deciding on where to store it there are a number of things to bear in mind to ensure your estate agency software is the right solution for your needs.
Many of these will be standard considerations but there will be some that are unique to your business needs and the property industry in which you operate. So - where to start Here are my tips for things to consider prior to embarking on demonstration meetings with software providers:
1. Do your research, select five potential suppliers based on recommendation, reputation and compatibility.
2. Ensure that the suppliers can deliver a product which covers your required disciplines.
3. Set a budget and preferred ROI timescale.
4. Call all five suppliers with a pre-defined questionnaire and record answers.
5. Create a short list of three suppliers and ask them to come you your office to demonstrate their product offering.
6. Limit initial demonstration meetings to two hours on different days.
7. Invite key stakeholders in the business to the demonstration meetings.
8. Use a pre-defined marking system to record each person's thoughts about each individual product.
9. Select a final two and request quotations and three reference companies based on comparable size / requirements to you.
10. Complete second round of demonstration meetings to validate your reasons for shortlisting the suppliers and ask any outstanding questions.
Many companies focus on just the cost of the software licenses and forget about the additional costs of installing and implementing the software. Plus the price of hardware, integration to other systems, converting your data, training your employees and ongoing support costs. We know people crave honesty and facts and with these things to consider we want to give them information up front to help avoid price shocks later.
*Richard Murray is a director of Eurolink, provider of software solutions for the property industry
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