What Lead Management System does everyone use?

Just wanted to do an unscientific poll on HOW people organize their lead data. Do you use a 3rd party app (ie, Lead2Lease, CallSource) or do you use your own PM system? Do you have emails go directly to the properties or does your management system handle them?

Would love to get some people jumping in and responding. Hope everyone is having a good week.

Hi Bill,
I track all my lead data internally. I utilize our PM system & various analytic reports along with feedback from our sales team. All our contact emails come directly into the properties rather than a corporate site. I can see though how a 3rd party source may be helpful for larger companies where there are multiple site managers, various marketing efforts and or lack of education/knowledge by marketers to really dive in and understand how and what to do with the analytic reports. Many of the smaller companies do not have the budgets to support lead tracking products. The smaller the company the more involved the marketer has to be. Instead of having teams for lead tracking, traffic generation, SEO, web development and other technology marketing efforts, there is usually just one person to do all of the work. For me it's a matter of truly knowing, understanding and dissecting our leads to optimal exposure and return. Without diving in head first, how can I possibly grasp what's reality? I like having my eyes, hands and thoughts involved in this process. This is just how I handle lead tracking, but I am sure there are lots of other methods out there and one way may not be the best solution for all.
Hope this helps!
Kim

That is EXTREMELY helpful thank you Kim.Really appreciate your comment. Anyone else?

I am cuurently investigating Lead Tracking Solutions and Lead2Lease and would love feed back on either of the products as well as recommendations for other lead mamangement solutions.

We were previously using CrossFire Leads and it was a horrible experience! Out phone numbers where consistently down, bad customer service and slow support. I'm glad they took this product off the market!

- Jessica

Great info Kim. I'd like to echo the importance of tracking where leads come from as it relates to the other departments you mentioned: SEO & web traffic development/ engagement.

Since SEO and web development are often expensive to outsource, but too complex to do in-house (unless you're experienced and/ or can afford engineers on the payroll), vendors who offer web development/ SEO services in addition to lead tracking will give you the best ROI. It helps decrease reliance on pricey marketing efforts (ILS's) and maximize organic (free) leads.

Hi Bill,
I have used Lead2Lease in the past. It didn't always integrate with MRI. I also found that 'user error' played a part in the dysfunction.
I had a good experience when using Call Source.
What ever you decide on, training the staff will be an important component.
Gerry

Hello! We use Lead Tracking Solutions at Dolben, and are very happy with the product. It integrates with MRI, and while I wish some of the LTS reports could be customized, overall it gives us a very good sense of what sources are performing/not performing for us.

Hi all, Banner uses the Results program from CallSource, the Lead Management piece is Max Leases. We are a Yardi shop, the integration is one of our more stable ones. We are pleased with it - nice way to manage the marketing spend and there is a nice training support piece as well. We are about 6,500 units. -S

Bill, we use Indatus for our phone tracking. We're launching an upgraded version of our customer lifecycle marketing/management system that tracks all customer online engagement very soon. Oh, and if anyone is interested in discussing customer lifecycle marketing/management please ask me about The Resident Connection. Sorry, shameless plug.

Bill,

Love to see the answer regarding Crossfire. Used to sell there. Have a great story to tell about that company's head of sales regarding that product. Actually, an incredible story. If you have seen the fate of others that write about them in places like this (even when totally true), you will understand that it has to be in a conversation. Let us say that Jessica's post is worth a read.

If you check with the people over at Apartment Services, they can tell you about their great experience with Dynamic Lead Solutions. It is a great, easy to use product, that integrates with MRI, Yardi, and the platform that Apartment Services uses, Jenark.

Their portfolio (and probably somewhat staff) is similar to your company, and as such, would probably be more useful for you to talk to than most others out there. I am friendly with the owner of the company, and know that their other clients happen to have assets similar to those at Maryland Management. If you would like a personal introduction, just let me know.

And, Bill, having personally secret shopped your company's portfolio in the past, I can say this--the at your company people performed roughly 50% better than average. You do not want to know what the average is. Would be happy to share the results with you. My advice---invest in a lead tracking platform.

Jessica,
We have come up a number of creative solutions to assist portfolio's both large and small in managing leads(calls,e-mails,walk-ins). Since our company's name was mentioned in a previous post (Dynamic Lead Solutions)please feel free to contact me at 917 720-2149 I'll be glad to review them with you.

We've been using Lead Tracking Solutions for over a year and have had excellent results. They integrate well with Yardi Voyager and we have seen significant reductions in our expenses through culling non-performing lead providers, as well as improvements in lead-to-lease conversions since implementation. Our portfolio currently converts nearly 1 in every 5 fresh leads to a lease, well above the standard 1 in 10 ratio.

I know we're late to this discussion, but I'd love introduce our company, Velocify. We're new to the Multifamily space, but after having a bunch of MF companies come to us, have decided to join in. With over 1,500 clients in multiple industries, we know that we can help out.

We're solely focused on the process from the time the lead is received until the time they convert. We've got an inbound and outbound dialer (with call recording), email, and bi-directional text messaging built into the product. We've got workflow built in to make the leasing professional's life easier, while also allowing for the corporate offices unparalleled visibility into their communities' leasing funnels. Other lead management functionality includes lead scoring, and incredibly flexible distribution and prioritization features. All of our emails and text messages are templated by you and trigger-based, so they're always personalized to the lead and where the lead is in the leasing process. Best of all, we're web-based so there's nothing to install and maintain (your IT person should love that).

After reviewing what's out there, either as part of a property management system or stand alone, we're convinced that multifamily companies will appreciate what we have to offer. Check us out at www.Velocify.com/Multifamily .