D'Angelo also cited the ability to have systemwide statistics, share best practices among franchisees and enable franchise owners to compare their performance with that of other franchisees as reasons for the company's selection of Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

HomeVestors is working with Microsoft Gold Certified Partner Tribridge to implement its new technology. HomeVestors will rely heavily on Microsoft Dynamics CRM's workflow and reporting capabilities, and it will call on Tribridge to customize the solution to meet the needs for integrating its industry-specific applications and to track the three distinct sales cycles through which the company operates.

HomeVestors expects that Microsoft Dynamics CRM will produce numerous benefits for the corporate office and franchisees alike:

-- Support for company growth. HomeVestors expects that Microsoft Dynamics CRM will provide franchisees with the ability to track and meet their goals in a much better fashion than before, and will allow the corporate office to track nationwide those franchisees who are excelling and more quickly identify and help those who are falling behind. Consequently, the company expects to improve its franchisee retention. Further, the Microsoft solution will help with company sales by offering advanced technology to prospective franchisees.

-- Cost savings. Individual franchisees have spent considerable resources developing and maintaining custom tracking solutions.

'They will save thousands of dollars in writing applications, loading up servers and creating portals to develop systems that won't do a fraction of what this one will do,' Hicks said.

-- Time savings. Previously, when leads came in through the Internet via e-mail, franchisees would have to re-enter each lead in their own system. Because Microsoft Dynamics CRM integrates with Microsoft Office Outlook, those leads will now populate the database automatically, saving two or three points of manual entry.

-- Better marketing campaigns. Microsoft Dynamics CRM will allow HomeVestors to track its marketing campaigns to determine which ones are successful, improving the effectiveness of its overall marketing effort. The technology also allows incoming calls to be associated with specific mailings to indicate the likely source that stimulated the call.

-- Improved accuracy. With Microsoft Dynamics CRM eliminating the need to enter the same data multiple times, the chances for error will decrease. The company also expects to more accurately track its franchisees' metrics, which previously were compiled and reported by hand and then coordinated manually. Now the numbers of appointments, offers made, sales and other metrics will be tracked automatically.

-- Improved revenue. HomeVestors believes its new Microsoft Dynamics solution will help franchisees create sales that otherwise wouldn't materialize. Often, for instance, an investor is looking for a house of a particular size and floor plan in a specific ZIP code; Microsoft Dynamics CRM will allow HomeVestors to match that investor's request automatically with appropriate houses that become available.

-- Easier reporting. Customized reports and a friendly interface will likely lead to improved reporting compared with the previous methods.