Training

The National Association of REALTORS has numerous articles describing duties which might be assigned to either an assistant (licensed or unlicensed) or Virtual Assistant. You might want to perform a search on similar articles. One article making distinctions among the three types is found at http://www.realtor.org/toolkits/assistants01c .

Many REALTORS using TOP PRODUCER merely require an assistant to execute their developed systems. They have fully automated their processes and written plans which schedule the execution of their activities (letters, e-mails, calls, to-do's, etc.). They have assigned Contact Types to their client database and plans have been appropriately assigned. Building systems of the individual activities they normally perform is the best way automate their practice. Once the systems are in place, it is much easier to train an assistant how to execute your desires.

Alternatively, other REALTORS need help in actually designing the automation of their system. This requires identifying all the processes they perform today, adding what they want to be able to do, and then designing the tasks required to execute the system. Asking an assistant to perform these tasks would require that the assistant have both a superb knowledge of TOP PRODUCER and the ability to codify your marketing, listing, and closing processes. While possible, you are asking a lot. One alternative is to require that any assistant become more qualified through a TOP PRODUCER 8i training session.

TOP PRODUCER Systems, Inc. provides you with generic Action, Listing, and Closing plans which describe how you MIGHT market and process transactions. Of course, they are simply templates providing departure points for your modifications. They don't represent your reality. Your practice requires customized materials which reflect your personality and business. Therefore, either you, a full-time assistant, a part-time assistant, or a Virtual Assistant, must build the components required to automate portions of your practice.

As processes are automated, the burden of running the practice is lessened on the REALTOR. Many of TOP PRODUCER 8i's capabilities, when implemented, further automate the practice;

	automatically executing e-mails designed into plans
	delivery services for postcards using Live Post
	pulling MLS property information into TOP PRODUCER through the TOP CONNECTOR module
	providing clients with Customer Web Pages during listings and closings

While you can do everything by yourself, sharing the burden often makes economic sense. Find someone willing to perform a task for less than you earn and you should be able to concentrate on those tasks giving you the highest return for your effort.

If you don't want the responsibility for training and bookkeeping, you might want to seek a Virtual Assistant already qualified on TOP PRODUCER 8i. With diligence, you may find just the person you want. This still leaves the issue as to whether you hire someone to develop and execute your system, or merely execute it. There is a huge difference. If the Virtual Assistant is to take items such as your task lists, marketing materials, etc., and develop your systems, you are seeking a highly skilled Virtual Assistant. Less skill is required if they are merely to execute your predesigned desires. Both exist in the marketplace.

Virtual Assistants perform tasks on your behalf for a fee. They may be hired by the job, or by term. In either case, determine what level of skill you require, and what you want accomplished. Knowing what TOP PRODUCER 8i can do for you is imperative to giving direction on the development of your systems. Team DoubleClick is one such Virtual Assistant firm and is a Preferred Service Provider of TOP PRODUCER Systems, Inc.. Another Virtual Assistant firm to consider is BestAgentBusiness.

The choice of how you develop your system is yours. But, you are wasting monies if you don't take full use of the capabilities of TOP PRODUCER 8i in leveraging your practice.

New Add-on for TOP PRODUCER 8i

You may have noticed that the banner on this e-mail message does not come from one of TOP PRODUCER 8i's three stationery templates. After much work, Fabusend of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, has developed a new banner system which works extremely well with TOP PRODUCER 8i. For real estate alone, they have seventy-four pre-designed templates from which to choose. They also support other industries. Additionally, you can choose to have a custom template made to your personal specifications.

My banner has five hyperlinks which are always active. Click one and it takes you to the appropriate page of my web-site. If sending your message with the Fabusend it! button described below, the e-mail address (Dwight@DwightKitchens.com) and web-site (DwightKitchens.com) are also active buttons.

The TOP PRODUCER 8i version of Fabusend does not require that you modify your database in any fashion. You subscribe to the service, install a software routine on your computer, and you get three new buttons at the top left corner of your TOP PRODUCER 8i screen.

Whether sending an individual e-mail, or a mass e-mail, clicking "Fabusend it!" adds your banner to the e-mail message. Note that my banner contains hyperlinks which are clickable from within the banner. This works similarly to the hyperlinks within TOP PRODUCER 8i's three stationery templates. The difference here is in the 'look and feel'.

The "Preview" permits you to see what the end result will look like prior to sending.

The linking of outgoing e-mails to your TOP PRODUCER 8i contact record's Activities, Completed Activities, continues to work. When you preview this e-mail history, you see the e-mail with its' embedded banner

What's really nice is the Dashboard, which provides additional information not available elsewhere. Both TOP PRODUCER 8i and Fabusend can provide read receipts. Fabusend can turn them off as far as the TOP PRODUCER 8i e-mail manager goes, yet keep records of them within the Dashboard. The Dashboard also permits you to see who has not opened their messages. Your Dashboard even permits you to send a "Safe Sender Request" which encourages the recipient to permit future e-mails from your address.

Fabusend it! may not be a perfect Mass Mail merge product, as you can't collect statistics in the Dashboard and use merge-codes within a mass e-mail. But, this is generally not an issue for mass e-mailed messages anyway. When you copy the graphic into your TOP PRODUCER 8i mass e-mail template, then send through TOP PRODUCER 8i rather than Fabusend it!, you get both your customized Fabusend banner graphic with hyperlinks and TOP PRODUCER 8i's active merge codes. This solution makes a great product for mass e-mails, as well as your daily correspondence with the TOP PRODUCER 8i's e-mail manager. One limit on copying the banner into your TOP PRODUCER 8i mass e-mail template is that your e-mail address and web-site URL are no longer active (directly clickable), but your active hyperlinks probably take your client to your web-site anyway. Fabusend also has a version available for Microsoft Outlook for those of you who still rely upon that e-mail manager.

In addition to making your e-mail look great, you may receive referral fees once you subscribe to Fabusend it! from others who subscribe based on your banner.

If this has piqued your curiosity, you may save 50% on an annual subscription when you click Get special branded email like this."