Smartphone and mobile device users can now access Top Producer’s popular customer relationship management (CRM) tools through a Web-based application employing HTML5, a next-generation Web programming standard.
The Top Producer CRM Web app automatically adjusts and resizes to accommodate the user’s device, and the "app-like interface" can take advantage of touch-screen capabilities like tapping, scrolling, pinching and swiping.
"This is not just a Web page on these devices," said Realtor.com President Errol Samuelson. "The things you normally do on an iPhone, you can do in HTML5."
HTML5 is the latest version of the "hypertext markup language" used to design website content. Its ability to deliver video, audio and interactive content to mobile devices that don’t support Flash — including Apple’s iPhone and iPad — has also been touted as an advantage in building better real estate websites.
Samuelson said there are several advantages to offering mobile access through a "cloud-based" HTML5 Web app instead of building and supporting separate applications for individual smartphone operating systems like Apple iOS for iPhone, Google Android, RIM’s Blackberry 7 OS, and Microsoft Windows Phone 7.
Top Producer CRM subscribers won’t have to download or update the cloud-based app, he said, so updates can be "pushed out" instantaneously to all users. Agents who work in teams will all be using the same version of the Top Producer Web app, even if they use different smartphones and mobile devices, Samuelson said.
Top Producer’s "app-like" interface also features "contextual coaching" that prompts users to respond to new leads and follow up on those in the pipeline. After an agent talks to a client on the phone, for example, the app might remind them to record notes or set up appointments, Samuelson said.
The Web app organizes contacts and analyzes pipeline leads, providing feedback on clients’ activities. Agents can view calendar appointments, edit contacts, and access details on active property listings and closings.
"It’s cool technology we believe will make a real change in Realtor behavior," Samuelson said.
The Web app has been in development for a year, and more than 900 Top Producer subscribers participated in beta testing. Samuelson said one beta tester described the Web app as "a lot of fun" — a welcome perspective, he said, when most people view working with a CRM application as necessary but "more akin to going to the gym."
Top Producer is operated by Move Inc., which also runs Realtor.com under the terms of an agreement with the National Association of Realtors. Top Producer CRM is available for $39.95 a month with a one-year commitment.
