June 8th - 2004

Microsoft Outlook is good for managing contacts

Keeping track of prospects, clients and customers both past and present is vital to a REALTOR's business success.

Keeping track of prospects, clients and customers both past and present is vital to a REALTOR's business success. New technology has made this time-consuming function much more efficient and there are several contact management software products on the market. One option, especially if you already use Microsoft Outlook as your email software, is their latest add-on called Business Contact Manager.

As the name suggests, you can manage information about the individuals you do business with using the new Accounts and Business Contacts feature and you can track where you are in the sales process with each contact. Microsoft’s web site features a case study of a U.S. REALTOR, Trevor Thirsk, who has successfully integrated not only Business Contact Manager, but the whole small business office suite into his daily activities.

"Most of the paperwork that was once in client folders is now in my contact manager program,” says Thirsk. “All e-mail, faxes, Word documents, and notes are in one place, linked directly to a specific client. I’m saving a lot of time each day by not having to hunt through files.”   

For key paper documents like listing agreements, a real estate professional can simply scan them, quickly turning them into electronic files that can be stored and retrieved in Outlook 2003 with Business Contact Manager. You can also create client categories that represent specific housing developments or special locations such as golf course or lakeside properties.

Control of E-Mail
The new three-pane view for Outlook makes it easier to read and navigate. E-mail messages are quick to read without having to open each one individually and color-coding capabilities allow you to rapidly recognize and prioritize correspondence and communication. There’s also a new junk mail control function that can detect and place likely junk mail messages into a single folder. You can later review and discard these messages at will. This feature allows you to concentrate on the most important e-mail messages and actions eliminating the time wasted on junk.

Here’s a quick run down of Business Contact Manager’s features:

  • Create, track, and manage your accounts, business contacts, and business opportunities.
  • Access the Activity History to see Outlook 2003 items and files associated with a specific customer or sales opportunity.
  • Automatically associate incoming and outgoing e-mail messages and appointments with your accounts, business contacts, or business opportunities so you can easily find them later.
  • Link tasks, notes, phone logs, and files to your accounts, business contacts, or sales opportunities so you can retrieve them quickly.
  • Attach scanned files to your contacts to help reduce the need for loose papers.
  • Track your sales opportunities in Outlook 2003 to manage your sales forecasts more effectively.  Know where each opportunity stands in the sales process by using customizable reports that show your progress and help you prioritize your work.
  • Sort and filter your contacts and sales opportunities with views to see only the most relevant information.
  • Print your calendar and contact list in a variety of formats, including Franklin Covey, Day-Timer, Day Runner, AnyTime Deluxe, and others to complement the way you work.

For more information on Microsoft Outlook and Business Contact Manager visit http://www.microsoft.com/office/outlook/contactmanager/prodinfo/default.mspx. 

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Ontario Real Estate Association

Jean-Adrien Delicano

Senior Manager, Media Relations

JeanAdrienD@orea.com

416-445-9910 ext. 246

Ontario Real Estate Association
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The trademarks REALTOR®, REALTORS®, and the REALTOR® logo are controlled by The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) and identify real estate professionals who are members of CREA. The trademarks MLS®, Multiple Listing Service® and the associated logos are owned by The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) and identify the quality of services provided by real estate professionals who are members of CREA. Used under license.

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