CRM/Prospecting Review Thread 2022 - What do you like? What to avoid?
My team has been exploring new CRM options (currently eying AscendixRE) and stumbled upon Buildout Insights. 

We are a small team looking to protect our current databases (so don’t want to use the CRM provided) and will be expanding a considerable amount the next few years. We aren’t quite to the point of hiring an assistant/analyst, but that is on the horizon. 

Anyways, we’ve been discussing if adding a prospecting tool is worth the cost or if the good ole checking Public Records and using CoStar as a second reference is still the best way. 

Weighing Cost vs. Time is certainly the main consideration along with acquiring the accurate information that’s needed from the service. With Buildout’s acquisition of ProspectNow this year and the mixed reviews I’ve read on them, I have a hard time believing that the majority of contacts would be accurate. I’m solicitous that Buildout just put make-up on a pig, slapped a higher price on it and called it good. 

If anyone has experience with these products or other CRM/Prospecting tools, let everyone know what programs you like and don’t like along with what programs you ultimately ended up with!
[{"id": "iu57m04", "text": "I'm a little confused as CRMs and prospecting tools are usually two separate things. I know some CRMs can do data mining/research for you but, in my experience, you get far better data from software that's focused on prospecting. Companies that try to do both I find are spread pretty thin on both fronts (Jack of all trades, master of none).\n\nI used Buildout at my previous company and had good experiences with it. It's specialized for CRE and is super powerful. However, be aware that it's a Salesforce-based product so if you're not great with computers, it can be very tough to acclimate to. I'm very experienced with CRMs so I personally use Salesforce and program it myself. I've heard positive things about PipeDrive, HubSpot, Clientlook, and Buildout. Each one has their pros and cons.\n\nFor prospecting tools - it depends what you're looking for in CRE. Tenants? Property/land owners? Mortgage data? Every software has their niche, but for me I use ZoomInfo for tenants (insanely expensive but best out there imo) and Reonomy to find building/land owners. Using Costar and public database records sounds brutal and inefficient.", "replies": [{"id": "iu6telk", "text": "Sorry for the confusion! I was trying to refer to them as two separate tools. \n\nI am targeting property ownership, tenant information would be great but not needed.. \n\nYou\u2019re also very right, searching through public records is a brutal grind but leads to very accurate ownership info (until you run across someone who knows how to hide themselves). Definitely frustrating and more often than not, feels like our time isn\u2019t being utilized efficiently.\n\nThank you for your insight!", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}]