I know I told you that I’m a big fan of spreadsheets but I’m also a big fan of affordable software. In fact the less expensive, the better your return on investment – that’s something every business owner knows and appreciates. And as much as I wish I could give away all our software, we’re in business too.
We’ve had many discussions about what provides the best return for mortgage brokers. Is it offering monthly plans or providing affordable buy-and-own software? We still struggle with this so I thought I’d lay out our reasoning and let you decide if we’ve picked the right strategy. I’d love to hear your opinion.
Pay As You Go
Plain and simple, monthly plans are software rentals. Like any rental model, this scenario excels for short term solutions but may not provide the best return over the long run. Free is best but most companies start charging once you’ve reached a certain level.
Zoho Creator is a good example of this. They offer a free account that allows you to create your own database application. It’s possible to import your leads from a spreadsheet into a database and create your own leads manager from that. But I wasn’t able to figure out how to make it import leads like our Leads Manager does – that is, importing any spreadsheet into a single application.
Only when you start managing lots of records do costs start to add up. Creator lets you store up to 1000 records for free. And while I haven’t tried it, my guess is that you could keep exporting your data to keep your record count down so you could stick with the free plan. It’s up to you to decide if that’s too much trouble. Personally, I don’t like to keep track of usage but your milage may vary.
The other cool thing about creating your own database application is that you can make it look any way you like. For the artistic among you this is probably a godsend. For the rest of us, maybe not such a big deal. Actually it may be not-quite-a-feature for those that just want something that works for their business right out of the box. Most mortgage brokers I know are too busy to build something from scratch.
Buy And Own Software
This is more like a ‘buy a house with a big garage’ strategy. It may cost more in the short term but the longer you use it and the more stuff you store in it, the better your return on investment.
Want to store thousands of records for years at a time? No problem and no increased cost. And lest you think that scenario is far-fetched – how many past client records are sitting in your Calyx Point database? You are following up with them right?
Let’s say you have lots of spreadsheets with a bunch of leads. Or maybe just a single spreadsheet with thousands of leads. Where do you want those to live?
A big advantage of owning software is control of your data. I hear this all the time. Mortgage brokers are worried about the safety of their data in the cloud or how to get their data out once they’re done using the service. This is actually one of the big factors in our decision to sell a software product rather than a software service. No worrying about who is able to access your leads.
With our Leads Manager you do lose the ability to create your own interface. It was designed with mortgage brokers in mind and with input from those in the field to find the best way to manage mortgage leads. There are some good alternatives to our product that let you design your own – but that ability requires time creating the functionality that’s right for you. Might I suggest using our form design as a starting point? But be prepared to spend more time designing and less time closing loans.
The Verdict
The jury is still out on whether we made the right call, but we made a line in the sand. The feeling is that privacy and control of data trumps the ability to access data wherever you are. We can be swayed by what you prefer, since we are in business to solve your problems not ours. And the monthly revenue long after you’ve stopped using the service sure looks good.
So our considered approach is that once you install our Leads Manager it’s yours. If you decide to store your data there for years, well that’s a pretty good return on investment. Call it an unlimited data plan.
