CRM - Podio - Investor Fuse - thoughts and opinions
Investor · Acworth, GA · Member since 2015 · 95 posts · 23 votes
CRM is almost a must have for any business. The more and more I read it seems like you need to know what you want Podio to do for you, in order to use Podio. I stumbled upon InvestorFuse and was hoping the community could give me feedback on their experiences with the product if you have used it, and Podio as a platform and how you got started using Podio. Point me in the right direction so to speak.
*Yes I have spent a lot of time with the search function.
Thank You,
Mark
I've been using Investor Fuse since they launched the product. Investor Fuse is a third party service that takes the core Podio CRM and layers on a bunch of features and automations specific to real estate investors. It does a lot of great things, such as:
Multiple calls from the same seller come into the same lead item (no more duplicates). There is a call log to track inbound and outbound communications. Hang ups get text messaged automatically. You can text and email back and forth with a seller right from inside Podio. Automated follow up sequences with built-in tasks and text/email autoresponders. Once you add a property, the Google Street View, Zillow link, and comp reports are generated immediately. Voice broadcasts, text blasts, and email blasts. Task management. Track KPI's. Create contracts. Manage your direct mail campaigns and fulfillment. Send out one-off postcards - just add the property address and it will automatically pull the owner's name and mailing address from public record (this is great when driving for dollars). Everything is fully customizable.
It has a lot of bells and whistles. I probably forgot to mention some of the features. But those are the main ones we benefit from.
However, and this is a BIG however.. The Investor Fuse service is relatively expensive and might not be a fit for everyone. The system is full of glitches that we are constantly battling. Customer service is not the greatest.
Taking into consideration all of the pros and cons, we still continue to subscribe to the service. But I'm not sure I am jumping out of my seat trying to recommend this to anyone, at least not until they get the glitches and customer service figured out.
I'd use podio standalone before I looked into investor fuse. It might already have the features you need. Investorfuse is very expensive and unless you're doing heavy volume and can't customise podio yourself I'd avoid it. Look for free tutorials online if you need help.
Not a completely built system. Support is very slow and not working out for me the best.
@Dennis Pressey Jr - are you referring to support for Podio or Investorfuse?
I believe the best CRM's/autoresponders considering ease of use, price, offers and performance are MailChimp (free version), GetResponse (more advanced, but easy to use) and AWeber.
They're the most popular ones, so every extra software you need it will probably compatible with these autoresponders.
I believe their features are more than what you need.
I've been using Investor Fuse since they launched the product. Investor Fuse is a third party service that takes the core Podio CRM and layers on a bunch of features and automations specific to real estate investors. It does a lot of great things, such as:
Multiple calls from the same seller come into the same lead item (no more duplicates). There is a call log to track inbound and outbound communications. Hang ups get text messaged automatically. You can text and email back and forth with a seller right from inside Podio. Automated follow up sequences with built-in tasks and text/email autoresponders. Once you add a property, the Google Street View, Zillow link, and comp reports are generated immediately. Voice broadcasts, text blasts, and email blasts. Task management. Track KPI's. Create contracts. Manage your direct mail campaigns and fulfillment. Send out one-off postcards - just add the property address and it will automatically pull the owner's name and mailing address from public record (this is great when driving for dollars). Everything is fully customizable.
It has a lot of bells and whistles. I probably forgot to mention some of the features. But those are the main ones we benefit from.
However, and this is a BIG however.. The Investor Fuse service is relatively expensive and might not be a fit for everyone. The system is full of glitches that we are constantly battling. Customer service is not the greatest.
Taking into consideration all of the pros and cons, we still continue to subscribe to the service. But I'm not sure I am jumping out of my seat trying to recommend this to anyone, at least not until they get the glitches and customer service figured out.
@Kevin E. What is the pricing for Investor Fuse?
@Kyle Doney I'm not sure. I believe they have changed their pricing since we joined. I'm sure they have their current pricing available on their website.
It starts at $197 a month. $1970 if you pay for one year.
I'd use podio standalone before I looked into investor fuse. It might already have the features you need. Investorfuse is very expensive and unless you're doing heavy volume and can't customise podio yourself I'd avoid it. Look for free tutorials online if you need help.
So on a scale of 1-10 nerdery how difficult and time consuming is InvestorFuse vs customizing Podio. Man it's hard to gauge. I got Buildium a while back for property management and still don't use half of it and it's just not as automatic 'set and forget' as I anticipated.
Anyone heard of REIMobile from leadpropeller... they used to offer it free with their x3 site ($80/mo) LeadPropeller and just upped the price to $80.mo
Not a completely built system. Support is very slow and not working out for me the best.
I have found support for InvestorFuse and Podio to be super duper fast.
What other CRMs are you using? Or is Podio+InvestorFuse really the way to go?
Anyone try multiple CRMs? I'm looking to have it to use as a database for property management contacts, flip leads, commercial brokers, multifamily owner leads, general real estate investing, direct marketing/buying houses to flipe etc...
@Will F. Here's some more info for CRM from my notes. Most people seem to use Podio on BP.
Podio – “We use Podio for both lead management and project management. Podio is very customizable so it serves as the "central hub" or "interface" and creates the relationships between items. We then use Google Spreadsheets to track the numbers and then attach the spreadsheets to the Podio project page via soft link. All of our books are kept in Quickbooks.” James Bowie
“Podio is great, but lots of maintenance/developing. “ Jonathan Ulyatt
Pros: “Podio Lite is free up to 5 employee seats, up to 5 external teams”, used by over 400,000 for collaboration, mentioned several times on BP
Cons: Need to build projects from scratch, not designed for real estate, CRM that you have to “code” to yourself (according to Lloyd Stanton)
“In my experience there aren't a lot of CRM's that do everything. I had the same issues with other CRM's and I am an Authorized Partner for Podio too. The problem with Podio is you need a lot of integrations to make it do what you need it to do but then you are managing all of these other services/accounts and this eats up your time. “ Tim Herndon
Cost:
Podio Teams ($9 per employee/month, 20% off annual subscription): unlimited number of employee seats; unlimited number of external teams; Podio apps and core features.
Podio Business (by quote): unlimited number of employee seats (discounts for larger teams); unlimited number of external teams; Podio apps and core features; access right and control; personalized training and support.
Freedomsoft – CRM software used for lead generation
“My subscription still works, not sure if they (Preston & Co) have made any major updates in the past 2 years. They do have some cool features like using IFTTT that will pull in leads from CL right into the program. Also lets you setup buyer and seller capture pages....some cool stuff.” Derrick Watkins
Pros: 14 day free trial, geared towards real estate, MLS integration
Cons: Expensive and not much information about itCost: Needs confirmation, their company hides the cost from their website: “$97, $197, or $297/mo” from online review
@Will F. Here's some more info for CRM from my notes. Most people seem to use Podio on BP.
Podio – “We use Podio for both lead management and project management. Podio is very customizable so it serves as the "central hub" or "interface" and creates the relationships between items. We then use Google Spreadsheets to track the numbers and then attach the spreadsheets to the Podio project page via soft link. All of our books are kept in Quickbooks.” James Bowie
“Podio is great, but lots of maintenance/developing. “ Jonathan Ulyatt
Pros: “Podio Lite is free up to 5 employee seats, up to 5 external teams”, used by over 400,000 for collaboration, mentioned several times on BP
Cons: Need to build projects from scratch, not designed for real estate, CRM that you have to “code” to yourself (according to Lloyd Stanton)
“In my experience there aren't a lot of CRM's that do everything. I had the same issues with other CRM's and I am an Authorized Partner for Podio too. The problem with Podio is you need a lot of integrations to make it do what you need it to do but then you are managing all of these other services/accounts and this eats up your time. “ Tim Herndon
Cost:
Podio Teams ($9 per employee/month, 20% off annual subscription): unlimited number of employee seats; unlimited number of external teams; Podio apps and core features.
Podio Business (by quote): unlimited number of employee seats (discounts for larger teams); unlimited number of external teams; Podio apps and core features; access right and control; personalized training and support.
Freedomsoft – CRM software used for lead generation
“My subscription still works, not sure if they (Preston & Co) have made any major updates in the past 2 years. They do have some cool features like using IFTTT that will pull in leads from CL right into the program. Also lets you setup buyer and seller capture pages....some cool stuff.” Derrick Watkins
Pros: 14 day free trial, geared towards real estate, MLS integration
Cons: Expensive and not much information about itCost: Needs confirmation, their company hides the cost from their website: “$97, $197, or $297/mo” from online review
Thanks ray
I am also wondering about these platforms that are just made for investing
Investorfuse
REI blackbook
I've really been wondering because I'm limited on time. Definitely need a CRM. But also don't want to put time and money learning new CRM system only to have it not work out
I also don't just do flips lead generation. But I'm also in buy hold. Landlording. PM. Using with VAs and local assistant. Etc so I was thinking some general platform
I'm leaning towards polio at this time and I guess I'll just have to shell out for the extras.
I'm typing from small phone so pardon typos
@Will F. Here's some more info for CRM from my notes. Most people seem to use Podio on BP.
Podio – “We use Podio for both lead management and project management. Podio is very customizable so it serves as the "central hub" or "interface" and creates the relationships between items. We then use Google Spreadsheets to track the numbers and then attach the spreadsheets to the Podio project page via soft link. All of our books are kept in Quickbooks.” James Bowie
“Podio is great, but lots of maintenance/developing. “ Jonathan Ulyatt
Pros: “Podio Lite is free up to 5 employee seats, up to 5 external teams”, used by over 400,000 for collaboration, mentioned several times on BP
Cons: Need to build projects from scratch, not designed for real estate, CRM that you have to “code” to yourself (according to Lloyd Stanton)
“In my experience there aren't a lot of CRM's that do everything. I had the same issues with other CRM's and I am an Authorized Partner for Podio too. The problem with Podio is you need a lot of integrations to make it do what you need it to do but then you are managing all of these other services/accounts and this eats up your time. “ Tim Herndon
Cost:
Podio Teams ($9 per employee/month, 20% off annual subscription): unlimited number of employee seats; unlimited number of external teams; Podio apps and core features.
Podio Business (by quote): unlimited number of employee seats (discounts for larger teams); unlimited number of external teams; Podio apps and core features; access right and control; personalized training and support.
Freedomsoft – CRM software used for lead generation
“My subscription still works, not sure if they (Preston & Co) have made any major updates in the past 2 years. They do have some cool features like using IFTTT that will pull in leads from CL right into the program. Also lets you setup buyer and seller capture pages....some cool stuff.” Derrick Watkins
Pros: 14 day free trial, geared towards real estate, MLS integration
Cons: Expensive and not much information about itCost: Needs confirmation, their company hides the cost from their website: “$97, $197, or $297/mo” from online review
Hey Ray what are your thoughts of Podio plugins-- I need to get Podio set up to use the way I want for rental/property management, acquisitions, flips/construction/development etc
I think I'll be starting Podio today, I just don't know if I should ad a plugin like INVESTORFUSE to avoid the hassle of set up...
Regards
anybody using Invertorcarrot? Thoughts for $99 a month
anybody using Invertorcarrot? Thoughts for $99 a month
Overall it's OK.
If you're on a budget then $1200 a year is pretty high. I personally wouldn't do it if I wasn't so pressed for time. It's a pretty decent site out of the box they give you, but there's still a lot of set up to customize it to your liking.
The customer service for investorcarrots good, but you still have to put in time to set up a good customized site, versus the out-of-the-box version.
You could also just set up your own Wordpress site for under $100 and pay $5/month to host it versus the $99 investorcarrot/ investorfuse cost. But it opens up the time v money debate.
If I was a newer investor on a tight budget I wouldn't use investor carrot or investorfuse unless I had a large budget. I'd probably do my own wordpress website for like $40-80.
The problem is most people who get into REI don't put in the work to get it done.
So it depends how much work you can put in versus the time it takes. So the answer depends.
(And I guess that's the answer to a CRM... it depends on your time, budget, and exactly what you do in REI... A lot of people seem to think wholeselling is the only form of REI...because they're reading get rich quick gurus advice... not to say you can't make money wholeselling...)
@Will F.
Thank you for your response. One thing I don't have is time. I am trying to set it up and teach people under me how to handle the wholesaling. Are there people out there that set it up these up for you. Without paying some Guru $1,000's.
I'm not saying $100 is too rich but I've only had 3 leads come in in 2 months. ( I sure some of that is my fault also)
That's the problem-- Time
You either have to pay for the product, pay someone to set it up, or do it yourself
So, Will, 7 months later, what did you settle on? I'm considering all of the above, but am turned off by the high price of InvestorFuse. Thanks!
That's the problem-- Time
You either have to pay for the product, pay someone to set it up, or do it yourself
So, Will, 7 months later, what did you settle on? I'm considering all of the above, but am turned off by the high price of InvestorFuse. Thanks!
Hey Joe, to be honest I never ended up settling on a CRM. I'm not an expert at organization as I'm just a real estate investor/entrepreneur with so many things on my plate at once.
I guess the answer is it depends on what YOU are doiing. Like I think if you're a wholeseller Investorfuse or something similar might make sense. But if you're an Agent then something like salesforce, top producer etc might make sense.
For me personally now I'm more focused at the moment on larger apartment purchase since I have a couple 1031s and want to buy a 20+ unit building.
I've actually just been doing it the old fashion messy way: excel (google spreadsheets really)
So I've just got a bunch of different spreadsheets with names of landlords with the building type I want.
The problem is it's very difficult to go this route and SCALE.
I initially was looking for a CRM for lead generation on off market apartments/ off market SFR flips.
I've defered back to contacting wholesellers and brokers directly because they're really the source for good deals since they sort of are experts at this and 'do this for a living'. For me relationships are what got me the most actual real estate deals
I'm also an apartment/developer/SFR flipper etc so I'm dealing with vendors/contractors/handymen as well as lots of brokers/wholesellers/tenants (commercial and residential)
I was really looking for direct marketing/ direct purchases before, but it's very difficult and a saturated market here in LA. I've sent out thousands of letters. I still send out more
So as an investor things change...
So...If anyone has a recommendation for a good basic CRM that could be used for lead gen, and also just organizing contact database that would be great :-)
Most people say to just get one and start using it. But they also say whatever CRM you use you sort of have to 'stick with it' because once you input a lot of leads into it and learn it's particular system then it's more
That's the problem-- Time
You either have to pay for the product, pay someone to set it up, or do it yourself
So, Will, 7 months later, what did you settle on? I'm considering all of the above, but am turned off by the high price of InvestorFuse. Thanks!
Hey Joe, to be honest I never ended up settling on a CRM. I'm not an expert at organization as I'm just a real estate investor/entrepreneur with so many things on my plate at once.
I guess the answer is it depends on what YOU are doiing. Like I think if you're a wholeseller Investorfuse or something similar might make sense. But if you're an Agent then something like salesforce, top producer etc might make sense.
For me personally now I'm more focused at the moment on larger apartment purchase since I have a couple 1031s and want to buy a 20+ unit building.
I've actually just been doing it the old fashion messy way: excel (google spreadsheets really)
So I've just got a bunch of different spreadsheets with names of landlords with the building type I want.
The problem is it's very difficult to go this route and SCALE.
I initially was looking for a CRM for lead generation on off market apartments/ off market SFR flips.
I've defered back to contacting wholesellers and brokers directly because they're really the source for good deals since they sort of are experts at this and 'do this for a living'. For me relationships are what got me the most actual real estate deals
I'm also an apartment/developer/SFR flipper etc so I'm dealing with vendors/contractors/handymen as well as lots of brokers/wholesellers/tenants (commercial and residential)
I was really looking for direct marketing/ direct purchases before, but it's very difficult and a saturated market here in LA. I've sent out thousands of letters. I still send out more
So as an investor things change...
So...If anyone has a recommendation for a good basic CRM that could be used for lead gen, and also just organizing contact database that would be great :-)
Most people say to just get one and start using it. But they also say whatever CRM you use you sort of have to 'stick with it' because once you input a lot of leads into it and learn it's particular system then it's more
Check out lessannoyingcrm.com
There is a free 30 day trial with FULL access. Then it's just $10 per month. It is SO easy and SO clear. Using it has been a dream.
My favorite feature is that my CRM is assigned an email address that I can BCC on any communication with a client. By doing this, the CRM takes that email and puts it in the client's file on my CRM! It's awesome. No more cutting and pasting, or HAVING to email from the CRM directly. It is a great feature.
@Michael Vallee @Cara Lonsdale Thanks guys. I am just pulling trigger tonight.
I'm comparing the two they both look simple enough for my needs....
Cara, how is it on your phone. It says there's just a web app (no iphone app) is the web app sufficient for mobile use?
@Michael Vallee @Cara Lonsdale Thanks guys. I am just pulling trigger tonight.
I'm comparing the two they both look simple enough for my needs....
Cara, how is it on your phone. It says there's just a web app (no iphone app) is the web app sufficient for mobile use?
The web app is more just like a web optimized version that can be used on the phone. It works just fine for basic tasks. I have never had a problem. I have added contacts out in the field, sent emails (I have the crm email address programmed in my phone so I can easily add it within my email program), updated contacts, and more.
It really is an easy CRM that is user friendly. Do the free trial. They give you 30 days of full access to test it out. See if you end up liking it for what it offers.