What to ask your CRM vendor before renewal

When should you start asking?

Start 60 to 90 days before the renewal date. Some software contracts renew on their own unless you give notice by a set date, and that date can come well before the renewal itself. Find it in your contract first. If you can't tell what it says, ask your counsel.

Starting early gives you time to compare options without a deadline forcing the choice.

What should you ask about your data?

Your borrower and past-client history is the most valuable thing in your CRM. Ask:

1. Can we export all of our data, and in what format? Contacts are easy. Ask about notes, activity history, call logs, documents, tasks and custom fields too.
2. Is there a fee to export, or a limit on how often?
3. What happens to our data if we don't renew? How long is it kept, and how do we get written confirmation that it's deleted?
4. Who owns the setup we paid for? Custom fields, workflows, templates and reports: can we take them with us, or only the raw data?

Ask for a test export now, while you're still a customer. A real file answers these questions faster than a sales call.

What should you ask about the contract?

5. How long is the next term, and does it renew automatically?
6. What's the notice period to cancel or change, and how must notice be given?
7. Will the price change next term? Ask about seat minimums and what happens if your team gets smaller.

Don't rely on a spoken answer for any of these. Ask the vendor to put it in writing, and have your counsel review the renewal terms before you sign. We're not giving legal advice here; your contract is the final word.

What should you ask about cost?

8. Which features we use today are add-ons, and what do they cost? Texting, marketing email, integrations and extra storage are common places to look.
9. What does it take to make a change? Can someone on our team do it, or does it need an admin, a consultant or a support ticket? Add that time to the real cost.

Then add up everything you pay across your software in a year, not just the CRM.

What should you ask about how it fits your office?

10. How does it connect to our loan origination system, and who fixes it when the connection breaks?
11. What happens to a new lead that arrives at night or on a weekend? Who answers it, and when?
12. When something goes wrong, who owns the problem? Ask how support works, how fast they respond, and whether you'll be sent to another vendor.

What about borrower data security?

Mortgage companies have their own obligations for protecting customer financial information. Ask your vendor to describe in writing how they store, protect and control access to your borrower data, and share that answer with your compliance officer or counsel. They decide whether it meets your obligations, not the vendor and not us.

Renewal question checklist

What if the answers aren't good?

You have three real choices. Renew and negotiate the terms that matter most. Renew for a shorter term while you look at alternatives. Or compare the cost of another term against a CRM built around how your office already works.

If you look at that last option, ask us the same 12 questions. Our answer on ownership is one sentence: Your data is always yours, and the custom CRM we build becomes yours once it's paid off. No lock-in. It works beside your LOS, and it goes live in stages: the receptionist in about 2 weeks and the full operating system over 6 to 8 weeks, while your team keeps working in the current tools.

To see what slow follow-up may be costing you now, try the revenue leak calculator (an illustrative estimate, not a forecast). For how this works in a mortgage office, see our mortgage page.