ZOHO Vs YIO

[crimsontideagent]

If had all the fields of YIO, that's all need...

Nothing fancy, don't need commission tracking and all that junk. Just contact management, what they have, notes from past, history, etc...
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For the beta test... well, I've owned a couple of editions of Act in the past (2007 & 2009) and downloaded the 2010 and 2011 versions on occasion, but never bought. Got the email invitation, so I took it!

Act! Premium does have a web interface (I'm told... but I've never used it). Act! will sync to your PDA. Act! is not available for the Mac OS.

I think preset fields for insurance may be over-rated. What do you need "preset" fields for? You need to THINK about what you want the software to DO for you and how you are running your day.

- If you want to show how many policies you have with a certain carrier, doesn't the carrier offer that from their website?
- If you want to calculate your commissions on each sale... isn't it easier to just use a calculator? Heck, an excel spreadsheet will do this job much easier.

Let's think about this: CRM is about CONTACT management.

- You need to be able to bring up information when a contact calls you. (And have information available in the event of a complaint.)

- You need to be pro-active with the contact. Which means that you need to have your own philosophy on how often to contact your client. Birthday? Anniversary? Every 6 months? Whatever it is, you need to do it every time you input a new client AND when the last contact was made.

If you want to input policy data for a contact, just create a note, history note or a document with the following information:
- Name of carrier:
- Policy number:
- Type of policy:
- Face Amount:
- Premium(s) including PUA:
- Reason Purchased:
- Policy Anniversary (and create a recurring task/reminder for this?)

Heck, you can do this on a Word Document, print it out, complete by hand and scan it in to your contact.

Unless you are wanting to do a "product blitz" where you want to know who has life insurance, but no disability insurance... then I can see how that might be important to you. But then, you're selling a product for the sake of selling a product... instead of looking at the individual client's needs on its own.

Now, if you still want MORE for Act to do for you, there are a couple of add-on packages you can consider:
ACT! CRM for Financial Planners, Investment Advisors, and Insurance Professionals
ACT! by Sage for Financial Professionals

Both seem to have more of an investment advisory slant to them more than insurance. They might have more importance if you plan on working more in front of your computer, than being out in the field. If you work with individual securities on behalf of clients, something like this is VITAL for compliance.

I'd rather have my software print out the reports I need for the day, then get away from the computer and execute the planned day. Then return back to the computer and input what happened.

Just my thoughts.

What preset fields do you want and how would you expect it to help you?
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Oh, my bad. Here's "Act! Connect" for cloud-based access (including iPad):

Sage ACT! Connect

I like the ACT feature (used to have 6.0) that lets you print out your day to take with you that looked like a daytimer sheet almost...

I just want basic stuff that would be on an app - basically all the fields on YIO would work - I guess I could customize the basic version to do it.

I agree looks like act4advisors and Act for FP seems more investment management oriented.

Will keep digging -

 

[billyg]

Ok, I've looked at all these different programs. I've had SmartOffice for a year, contract is up and for $59 a month plus $15 for iphone access, it's just too cumbersome to use for that price.

I like ZOHO but its definitely not customized for insurance based biz and I feel the time it would take to customize for our business would take a while (tell me if I'm wrong) and I will get obsessed with trying to get it right (problem I have lol) -

I really like YIO out of the box, the only thing I don't care for is only Windows based (can't use on my macbook air or ipad) and no mobile access (plus for zoho)

Just thinking out loud - any thoughts, experiences using either or others...?

I started with YIO and the software is very good. The training that came with it was GREAT! My only complaint was that it was not cloud computing (SaaS). After 2 drive crashes and losing access to my data for about 4 days for each one (waiting for the rebuild), It became VERY important to me to have a solution that's based in the cloud.

I looked at a lot of solutions and finally settled on ZOHO. It took a while to figure out how to customize it for insurance, but once I figured it out, it took me about 3 hours. The price is right (I pay about $15/mo), and I can get to it from any web connected computer. Also found out they have a smart phone app tied in for no extra charge. I have sinc'd it to my email, so all email to/from clients are automatically recorded to the client's file. Also, it allows for PDF attachments to records, which is something I really wanted.

Out of the box, YIO is great for a PC based solution. ZOHO does require some tweaking to make it work for insurance, but if you are comfortable with that, it's great.

 

[Guest]

You liked ZOHO better than Radius? There is nothing wrong with ZOHO, but if you want something customized for insurance that is on the cloud, I think the Radius people have put out very good product.

I use SugarCRM, but my needs are minimal (since my abilities are minimal, as many here will attest to!) and it works well for me.

You might do the community a favor and put together a document on how you customized ZOHO for an insurance practice and make it available to others?

Al
My info is at this site.

 

[NCAgent]

Do these software applications work for P&C people that do L&H as well?

I offer these for businesses and for personal lines as well. Obviously the needs and fields for P&C are a lot different than L&H.

Would it be better to have 2 programs instead, one for each?

I'd keep it on my personal computer only, TBH. I'd like to keep uploaded documents on there for applications signed, Certificates that people need, and things I make people sign when I think there is going to be a problem.

 

[GeminiGroup]

I started with YIO and the software is very good. The training that came with it was GREAT! My only complaint was that it was not cloud computing (SaaS). After 2 drive crashes and losing access to my data for about 4 days for each one (waiting for the rebuild), It became VERY important to me to have a solution that's based in the cloud.

I looked at a lot of solutions and finally settled on ZOHO. It took a while to figure out how to customize it for insurance, but once I figured it out, it took me about 3 hours. The price is right (I pay about $15/mo), and I can get to it from any web connected computer. Also found out they have a smart phone app tied in for no extra charge. I have sinc'd it to my email, so all email to/from clients are automatically recorded to the client's file. Also, it allows for PDF attachments to records, which is something I really wanted.

Out of the box, YIO is great for a PC based solution. ZOHO does require some tweaking to make it work for insurance, but if you are comfortable with that, it's great.

Please, share how you customized zoho, as I to find it tiresome but like the cloud aspect and the pricing.

 

[wilkin]

I use Zoho and love it. But, I can understand why some would not. It does everything I need and more.

 

[brkrsrevolution]

I use zoho for a lot of different things concerning my businesses such as my lead portal for agents who get leads from my finalexpensesalesleads.com company, i keep my contracting of my agents in another section. but as far as a good crm solution for clients i chose ClientsIQPro it is specific to the insurance industry, provides drip email, 800 number, landing pages for lead generation, personalized website, webinar software included, sms messaging service, video email, etc. i have only started using it recently but so far love it