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Quick CRM question for fellow agents. I am currently using BoldTrail, formerly kvCORE, and it does a lot of what I need, but I am curious if there is another CRM that is a little more intuitive or easier to use day-to-day. The features I use most are market reports, property and search alerts, email blasts, drip campaigns, open house lead follow-up, birthday and anniversary reminders, lead tagging and organization, and activity tracking such as email opens and property views. I have been researching Wise Agent and RealOffice360. Have any of you used either of those? What did you like or dislike about them? Are there any other CRMs you would recommend that offer similar features and are easy to manage? I would love to hear what is working well for you.

We have had 2 no-shows and 3 day of cancelations just today. While we understand that things come up, 5 in one day is really a lot. I have been very lenient on the $25 no-show/less than 24 hours cancelation fee, and by that, I mean too chicken to fully implement it in fear of upsetting anyone, but it is going into effect immediately. Signs will be posted in the office and we will begin telling everyone that schedules an appointment about this policy. We are so easy to work with, but, unfortunately, we also have to remember that our time is valuable and this is money out of our pockets. We hope everyone understands.

An established bookkeeper said several long-term, high-value clients had recently left and asked for new clients, referrals and overflow work.

Gym owners, quick question. How do you keep track of who hasn’t paid and whose plan is about to end? I keep losing members who just stop coming. No call, nothing. By the time I notice, they’re gone and so is the money. What do you all use - register, Excel, an app, or just memory? Trying to find a better way. That’s it.

A mortgage broker said finding leads was very difficult and asked other brokers how they were obtaining them.

Hello! Opinions on this cancellation policy. I’ve been a stylist for 25 years and have never enforced a cancellation policy but it’s come to a point where I am fed up with the disrespect regarding no shows. I don’t take deposits because I don’t use an online booking system or accept credit card payments at this time. I take cash, Zelle and Venmo for payments. I am wondering what you all have as a cancellation policy and if you find it hard to enforce without losing customers. I’m wondering if this seems harsh and if I should change it to just collecting a retainer in order to rebook vs charging a fee. I wouldn’t recoup any of the money lost that way though. Just looking for opinions or for anyone to share how they would approach this. Thank you!

Sales Down 30% We got scammed when we bought this business and unfortunately took over a failing shop. We’ve now been running it for 4 months. The first 3 months actually went really well people loved our pizzas and I truly felt like the business was starting to grow. Then our pizza oven broke down and we had no choice but to use pre-made bases for a while. Customers hated the change and we lost a lot of regulars. We’ve now invested in a brand new oven and the pizzas are back to the quality they were before even better and much faster now. I believe we also had issues with staff and slow service, which hurt the customer experience. The previous owner only had 2 employees. They stayed briefly after we took over, then quit, and unfortunately were speaking badly about us around town. Since then, we’ve been working hard to improve everything. We’ve fixed the pizza problem, improved speed, an…

A prospective coffee-shop owner with an LLC and business plan asked for marketing and pricing advice before opening.

Looking for some honest feedback from people who know websites better than I do. I am a remodeling contractor, not a marketer or web designer. I built a website for my company and thought it was doing a decent job, but after reviewing my Google Analytics and Google Business Profile data, I am starting to think it may not be converting visitors into leads as well as it should. Before I spend money hiring someone, I would like to learn from people who have already been down this road. If you were in my shoes, what are the top 1-3 things you would look at first on a contractor website that is getting traffic but not generating enough calls or estimate requests? If group rules allow it, I will post the website in the comments.

Hey guys, question for the other owners. How are you handling all the incoming calls and texts without hiring a full-time receptionist? I feel like if we don’t answer or get back to people quickly, they’re already calling the next company. Most customers aren’t going to wait around for a callback. The problem is I’m usually out on job sites, meeting clients, running estimates, or driving between jobs, so I can’t always answer the phone. I’d love to have someone dedicated to handling calls, but I can’t justify adding another $3k–$4k a month in payroll just for a receptionist. What are you guys doing? Something else that’s actually working? Looking for ideas that help stop missing leads without adding another full-time salary.