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Industry Spotlight > RIAs

So Far, I'm a Happy Customer of Redtail

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Whenever expectations are exceeded, it makes for one happy customer. That’s how I would describe my initial experience with my new CRM provider, Redtail. In this post, I’ll update you on the status of this new tool. 

Redtail provides a 30-day free trial. However, because I had spent time with them on webinars and through a series of phone calls and emails, I had already decided to subscribe when I signed up for the free trial. About four days into it, I activated my subscription and paid the first month’s fee. Why not use the entire free trial? 

Redtail will transfer your data from your current CMS, which in my case is ACT. To get on their schedule for the data transfer, you must activate your subscription. The company won’t schedule your data migration until you make it official. So your first payment is due when you activate and your next payment is due a month later. However, if you have unused days from your free trial, your second payment can be delayed. For example, if you activate immediately (i.e. without using any of your free trial), your first payment would be due upon activation and your second payment would be due two months later.

Preserving a portion of your free trial will allow more time to get your data transferred so you can begin using Redtail before your second payment is due. How long after activation does it take to get your data transferred? It depends how busy the data transfer team is when you subscribe. It could take three or four weeks. I must have activated at just the right time because my data transfer took less than 10 days.

After you subscribe, you’ll receive a call from a Redtail employee. This person will answer your questions and schedule an online meeting to get screenshots of your current CMS, find out what data fields you want transferred, and get a secure download of your data base. They will forward this information to the team who will execute the actual transfer. I had the initial conversation on a Thursday and my data was in Redtail a few days later.

They have definitely exceeded my expectations.

In my case, I had created a number of custom data fields in ACT. Some of these will transfer to an existing Redtail field. If there isn’t a related field in Redtail, they will transfer to a user-defined field (UDF). All UDFs are located in one section within Redtail. However, I can ask Redtail to move any UDFs to a different location if it makes sense. My next step is to have a training session with a Redtail representative who will help me learn its system. 

If my initial experience with the company is any indication of the future, I should be very satisfied. And, at only $65 per month for up to 15 users (as I recall), it’s a bargain. That’s their regular price, but as an RIA with TradePMR, I receive a small discount. If you’re looking for a new CMS you should ask your custodian if Redtail is available. If yes, ask is there a discount.

Redtail is one of the lower-cost CMS systems on the market. You may want to do a cost-benefit analysis before making a final decision. In my situation, Redtail is a good fit. 

I’ll keep you posted. Until next time, thanks for reading and have a great week!


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