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Big Purple Dot is a real estate business management solution for agents and lenders.
Platforms: Browser app, mobile-optimized, iOS mobile app
Ideal for: Larger brokerages and teams
Top selling points
- Lead source auditor
- Mobile-focused CRM
- Emphasizes agent-lender collaboration
- Ready-to-go, 6.5-year, past-client drip campaigns
- Contact and project tagging
- Lender activity visible in agent dashboard
Top concerns
The front-end gets busy in a hurry, and I’d caution smaller offices or boutiques from biting off much more than they need.
What you should know
The emphasis on lender collaboration for active transactions and leads is a nice touch in Big Purple Dot.
A buyer’s loan approval status can be clearly identified by the system’s robust tagging structure, ensuring that users know who should be prioritized.
The software wants every feature to be within immediate reach of the user, which I think leads to visual clutter and potentially adoption drag out of the gate.
This is due in-part to the extensive tag library, which has a dedicated page to assign colors and terms to deal milestones, contact statuses, call updates, etc. The software allows tags to replace manual notes. Brokers, this is a feature that will really come down to how your agents work. Are they that organized? Will this make them that organized?
Big Purple Dot’s tags also function as automation triggers for drip campaigns and follow-ups.
I’m normally a big fan of tag dynamics in CRMs and transaction solutions. But like cheesecake, usually less is more.
The interface also stacks content windows on top of other active windows, each full of its own buttons and data. It can be a lot to look at sometimes.
Yet, a nice juxtaposition to all that dashboard clutter is a series of buttons that span the top of the screen and are focused solely on leads and tasks due. This is where I’d start.
I suspect users will to come to grips with the interface over time, especially as they learn each capability within the multitiered offering. But there are certainly better user experiences out there.
Speaking of which, Big Purple Dot is another bale in the industry silo of end-to-end business solutions. From lead generation to escrow oversight, it’s competitive with the likes of Lone Wolf Technologies, Inside Real Estate and Total Brokerage, among others.
Thus, this is big commitment-type software, so know what your agents and staff are looking for, and do your diligence. (This column being only a part of that.)
Every agent, at the moment, should be fixated on the quality of purchased leads. Agents are getting bilked daily, and in some cases, totally scammed. Big Purple Dot has taken notice of this and has built a lead source auditing tool.
The feature doesn’t qualify leads, it alerts users to duplicate leads from multiple sources. If realtor.com and Facebook send you the same person, you can choose which source captured the most data and use that one.
The real beauty in this feature? You can determine which source is worth what kind of investment. And remember, there is no shortage of shady dealers buying dead leads from other sources to resell back into the market. (Seen The Big Short?)
In addition to lead auditing, Big Purple Dot is also team-oriented, which fits with its emphasis on collaboration. Tasks can be assigned to different stakeholders, notes can be exchanged, and of course, tags can help sort through it all.
Lenders and other third-parties can be added to transactions and invited into in-solution chats and note threads.
Text messaging, to an individual or group, is possible in Big Purple Dot, as is power-dialing and regular email campaigns. There’s no shortage of ways to stay in touch or features to remind you to do so.
There’s a cool feature that absorbs Zillow reviews for publishing to contacts as well as a MailChimp integration and dotloop connectivity. It also offers reporting tools: an open house sign-up and lead capture interface, a detailed timeline of all software activity, and more than enough alerts and notifications to keep everyone in an office on their toes.
Once fully onboarded, this is software designed to engage you and your team everyday. It’s plenty capable software, and the lender-interaction component is an effective one, especially for large offices with established banking relationships and high transaction volumes. The companion mobile app for iPhone is also a nice value-add.
Should Big Purple Dot get the green light in your office?
I recommend double-checking the crosswalk.
Have a technology product you would like to discuss? Email Craig Rowe
