Mr. Giuttari, SIOR is the President and Founder of MG Commercial Real Estate Services. Prior to forming MG Commercial in 1998, he was President and Principal Broker of another regional commercial real estate firm he founded 10 years prior. Mike has been in the commercial real estate business for over 30 years and is a valued ClientLook user. Learn how his company utilizes our commercial real estate CRM software in their busy brokerage office.
Can you tell me a little bit about your business? What do you specialize in?
We are a full-service commercial real estate brokerage company located in Providence, Rhode Island. Our company does it all; retail, office, industrial, and land deals representing sellers, buyers, landlords, and tenants. I am the President and Owner of the company, and I also complete deals with some of my long-time clients. Our office specializes in Landlord representation and about two-thirds of our deals are leases and one-third of our deals are sales. However, the dollar amount of the transactions works out to approximately a 50/50 split.
How has your experience been with ClientLook?
It’s been great! I’ve known Michael Griffin and Chuck Cutler for a long time, actually since the days of ARES, so I knew that the software would be top-notch. ClientLook does exactly what we need it to do and it works perfectly. Whenever we have a question, the answer is right there – in the product already. Greg Hoard is also very helpful and quickly answers any questions that we may have, and always adds some training to go with the answer. We have a shared database for the entire company; everyone in the office utilizes ClientLook in a completely open way so we can all share the same information with each other. It’s been a wonderful experience for our entire team.
What CRM solution were you using previously?
Prior to ClientLook, we were using Act!, and in the beginning we were using ARES for Act! However, Act! was just a database of names and we wanted a CRM that was specific for our commercial real estate business. It was important for us to have contacts, deals, properties, and activities all in one place, and linked, so reporting to landlords was a simple process. When you open ClientLook, it’s intuitive and it syncs perfectly to what we do on a day to day basis.
How easy was it to get your data converted into ClientLook?
The process was seamless. We worked with Chuck, and the support team handled the data conversion for us. We had over 35,000 contacts that needed to be imported into ClientLook and we were extremely happy with the smooth process. Chuck and his team even created a work-around (that actually worked) for some less than standard information we had in Act! that needed to be converted.
Why did you choose ClientLook?
After using an Act! based product for the past 20 years or so, we really needed to upgrade to a current technology. We started researching other CRM’s and narrowed it down to three choices – Apto, RealNex, and ClientLook. Once we tested the products it was clear that ClientLook was the best, and a product that my team would actually use. It was the easiest to use, and the most intuitive. Out of the “box” we were up and running! I like that we can track all of our listings, property showing, contacts, and deals all in one place, and they all link to each other, including the marketing done for each property. If I want to see when a call was made, or when an e-mail blast was sent and where it went, or when the property signs went up, or any other detail about any of our listings, it is all in one place.
What features do you like the most about ClientLook?
The ease of use is a top feature, because it got the entire company using the product immediately! Everyone in the company was able to jump right in. The Virtual Assistant is also an incredible feature. I frequently take a picture of a business card after a meeting, send it to the VA, and the contact information is entered into ClientLook before I even get back to my office. It’s incredible and saves so much time. I no longer have a stack of business cards sitting on my desk that need to be inputted (and never get done) because the Virtual Assistant handled all of them. I also use the new iPhone app multiple times per day. It’s so convenient to have my entire database (contacts, notes, companies, tasks and more) on my phone that I can instantly access and update, anytime, anywhere.
How would you describe your overall experience with the ClientLook team?
Fantastic! I love them! When I learned that Michael was the founder of ClientLook, I knew that it was going to be a great product. The team responds quickly and is always happy to answer any questions we have, and the answer is always “You just do this or that”, not “It can’t do that”.
