Eventus CRM

Eventus is a deep, feature rich set of tools, falling into the CRM (customer relationship manager) category. During our review we were impressed with the number of well-thought-out organizational, management and lead generating tools included with this system. Developed by MLS system provider, Technology Concepts, Inc., creator of "My Place Connection," the level of integration in this product reflects a strong understanding of how brokers and agents work as well as what consumers are looking for today. A brief overview of the Eventus system includes:

• Agent lead generation
• Agent customer/collaboration and sharing
• Data collection and analytics
• Full Client Resource Manager
• Agent/client communications center
• Roles based access
• Broker/Agent/Client portals
• Full MLS technology

Key to the underlying philosophy in this product is transparency for both the real estate professional and the client.

The Eventus system of products is an outgrowth of TCI’s understanding of the broker/agent/consumer world. Having gone through considerable development and customization over the last year, it is now deployed primarily in the Minnesota area, where the company resides. This product, however, has been designed to be deployed as either a generic Eventus product or a fully branded franchise/company product. Because the system is built on an MLS platform a real estate franchise or company could literally create their own “private MLS” system with their unique look and feel, only using the MLS as the source of data. We have seen this strategy being taken by a number of large real estate companies across the US that want to have control and a single interface across multiple MLS areas.

Don’t expect to take a quick look at this product and understand it. It warrants a detailed visit, as there are many components to this product, including:

• Agent-lead generation. Eventus uses an information-rich agent Web portal to attract and keep visitors and client-centric functionality to turn them into leads. Prospective customers who register (emails are verified) are able to save favorites, save a search, and receive notification of new listings. The agent can also give customers access to additional listing-related information.
• Customer follow-up and feedback. The agent can provide customers—both buyers and sellers—with relevant, real-time information on what's happening in their segment of the market. Information such as the number of homes for sale, how long they've been on the market, what has sold recently, etc.
• Agent/customer collaboration and sharing. The agent and customer have a shared Web space wherein they collaborate and share data. The agent can see what his customer is searching for, saving, and rejecting. The customer can see the listings the agent has picked and in case of a seller, the activities the agent is performing on the seller’s behalf.
• Data collection and analysis. Eventus does a nice job of using the extensive data available in our industry to provide statistics on the market and on the performance of offices and agents.
  
  

Eventus also collects extensive online behavioral information, such as daily search behaviors of clients, how often listings are viewed by clients, and the actual search requirements being used by the customer.

The CRM is really more than a contact manager and does a good job of showing the agent what their client behavior is on a daily basis. The CRM includes:

• Action log
• Customer summary
• Custom contact info
• Role assignments
  
• Agent saved searches
• Customer categorization
• Auto categorization
• Tailored information
• Run new matches

Consumer search portals are very important today. Eventus contains a high-function, integrated consumer Web portal designed to help the agent and broker:

• Attract visitors
• Track visitors
• Turn visitors into leads
• Manage customers
• Retain customers

The fully-integrated nature means that everything in the portal is available to other Eventus functions—and vice versa. Users of the Web portal are of two types: 1) members of the general public, and 2) those who have registered and verified. An important feature in light of the proposed DOJ/NAR settlement is that the public website is VOW capable and VOW ready.

If there is a downside to Eventus it is simply the lack of a large customer base at this time to measure results against. The system is currently deployed with a number of top agents in the MN area.

Conclusions
Eventus is a full-featured CRM system that should be looked at as a “full solution” real estate system. You would not use Eventus just because you like the CMA or Contact Manager. This is a system that, to be successful, needs to be fully integrated into a real estate company’s business plan. Because it is deep and has so many tools there will certainly be a training element involved to get users to really enjoy the full menu of the program. That being said, all of the tools offered on the system are tools that should be used by today’s professional real estate broker and agent.

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