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My opinion, activator is worth about 35-40 a month. I haven't tried the new version, so maybe its been enhanced significantly, but I have a few licenses of the previous version.
There are several alternatives that are either less expensive or more comprehensive. Start with Salesforce, where you can do a similar thing with the full salesforce crm for around $125 a month, to using something like vtiger which is free, has workflow automation, but will require quite a bit of time to configure.
Activator is simple, which is what makes it worth some money. It has some limitations which makes it harder to use. For instance, in my version, I can't have it schedule an email to go out and tell me to make a phone call to the client on the same day. Each event has to be staggered by a day. Not sure if they have overcome this.
Dan
There are several alternatives that are either less expensive or more comprehensive. Start with Salesforce, where you can do a similar thing with the full salesforce crm for around $125 a month, to using something like vtiger which is free, has workflow automation, but will require quite a bit of time to configure.
Activator is simple, which is what makes it worth some money. It has some limitations which makes it harder to use. For instance, in my version, I can't have it schedule an email to go out and tell me to make a phone call to the client on the same day. Each event has to be staggered by a day. Not sure if they have overcome this.
Dan
- 17,077
I've used it for years. I just use the basic features which is mainly sequences of snail mailed letters.
It has definitely paid for itself many times over but I'm not sure I couldn't just get by with SAM (Sales Automation Mania).
I used to use a program called Action for ACT and liked it best but they went out of business.
People who use Salesforce still buy Activator to automate it.
It has definitely paid for itself many times over but I'm not sure I couldn't just get by with SAM (Sales Automation Mania).
I used to use a program called Action for ACT and liked it best but they went out of business.
People who use Salesforce still buy Activator to automate it.
- 2,024
We're working on similar function now using cron jobs on the mysql tables used by sugarcrm. To start right now I have it automating email function and pushing lead statuses back to redial in my dialer, but there really isn't a function that can't be automated if it follows a linear process.
I have a working alpha already built that I'm running right now to iron out any bugs before I try to make something other people can use.
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We're thinking we should have a full functional crm with an integrated dialed in hosted format available in about 3 weeks to a month.
I have a working alpha already built that I'm running right now to iron out any bugs before I try to make something other people can use.
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We're thinking we should have a full functional crm with an integrated dialed in hosted format available in about 3 weeks to a month.
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- 8,707
Just wondering if you use an existing module on sugar to track policies or if you have built one of your own....I'm slowly working on a module to list policies...I tend to sell a lot of policies in my households and move the money around and need something that will keep the policies bunched together as opposed to using history/notes and having the info scattered based on date in that module.
- 2,024
So far we are focused on lead conversion.
Right now what I have is a multiline dialer integrated in with a timing feature between calls and drip marketing, plus a scaling feature on the dialer that allows it to intelligently change number of lines in use based on the chance of a live answer to minimize drops.
I'm debugging that now.
Phase 2 is going to be integration of quote engines into the API.
Phase 3 is going to be commission and policy tracking to show true roi. I want to be able to enter full commission schedule and get as accurate as possible of a commission statement.
The whole system is designed for an agent to work their book, as opposed to a call center or mid sized agency.
While I'm developing the features above and debugging we're also refining what we have finished, which is very unique in comparison to other crms just because of how integrated the dialer is.
I demoed it for a few people already to show them what it does, it's pretty nice to be free software.
We're looking at having a hosted variant up by maybe next month. I already have a colo involved and a development team, but I am handling most of the design.
Our rollout plan is to start with hosted, then move to a iso distribution that people can download and install, and also sell a server pc that has the software preloaded for people that want their own turnkey crm/dialer preloaded in a server for their office.
Hosted will have support included, the others will be around 50 an hour for support with free install help on the servers. Iso is going to be free with somewhere around .02 a second for trunking for the dialer or you can use your own trunks.
Right now what I have is a multiline dialer integrated in with a timing feature between calls and drip marketing, plus a scaling feature on the dialer that allows it to intelligently change number of lines in use based on the chance of a live answer to minimize drops.
I'm debugging that now.
Phase 2 is going to be integration of quote engines into the API.
Phase 3 is going to be commission and policy tracking to show true roi. I want to be able to enter full commission schedule and get as accurate as possible of a commission statement.
The whole system is designed for an agent to work their book, as opposed to a call center or mid sized agency.
While I'm developing the features above and debugging we're also refining what we have finished, which is very unique in comparison to other crms just because of how integrated the dialer is.
I demoed it for a few people already to show them what it does, it's pretty nice to be free software.
We're looking at having a hosted variant up by maybe next month. I already have a colo involved and a development team, but I am handling most of the design.
Our rollout plan is to start with hosted, then move to a iso distribution that people can download and install, and also sell a server pc that has the software preloaded for people that want their own turnkey crm/dialer preloaded in a server for their office.
Hosted will have support included, the others will be around 50 an hour for support with free install help on the servers. Iso is going to be free with somewhere around .02 a second for trunking for the dialer or you can use your own trunks.
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After looking at this, sugar has an existing feature to track policies, it just needed 2 added dropdowns.
If you look at the function called opportunities, it has stages that are labeled qualified, quoted, closed won or closed lost.
All you really have to do to use that process to track policies is add a status for applied, issued, and cancelled to the end and rename it policies or quotes.
The date of issue already exists in the form, so does the commission anticipated which can be changed to the actual commission.
It also works out in terms of contact scheduling because it is super easy to make it take a issue date and do a function based on it, like:
If policy type == Medicare OR health && status == issued THEN schedule contact in 11 months from issue date. I'm still making minor tweaks to the very basic functions of the system but I'm doing them now when I notice something I see as a flaw while I'm using it. It's nice to be able to change the crm when you notice it needs something.
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It's also really fast to make this work because I'm not reinventing the wheel I'm just modifying existing processes in most cases to make them work how I want.
If you look at the function called opportunities, it has stages that are labeled qualified, quoted, closed won or closed lost.
All you really have to do to use that process to track policies is add a status for applied, issued, and cancelled to the end and rename it policies or quotes.
The date of issue already exists in the form, so does the commission anticipated which can be changed to the actual commission.
It also works out in terms of contact scheduling because it is super easy to make it take a issue date and do a function based on it, like:
If policy type == Medicare OR health && status == issued THEN schedule contact in 11 months from issue date. I'm still making minor tweaks to the very basic functions of the system but I'm doing them now when I notice something I see as a flaw while I'm using it. It's nice to be able to change the crm when you notice it needs something.
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It's also really fast to make this work because I'm not reinventing the wheel I'm just modifying existing processes in most cases to make them work how I want.
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Braxtonut
Expert
- 93
Do you have a link for the software? I'd like to check it out.
