Why Agencies Accept 50% ERP + 50% Manual Work
The SaaS Trap No One Talks About
Most agency bosses did not choose to operate in a half-digital, half-manual mess. They were forced into it.
Not by laziness.
Not by bad training.
But by a structural flaw in the very software that promised to “digitise” them:
The traditional SaaS pricing model.
This is the SaaS Trap, and it works the same way every time:
- The Hook – The agency subscribes at a “reasonable” base fee.
- The Mismatch – The software doesn’t actually match real-world agency workflows (ACN, commission overrides, project splits, developer payouts, etc.).
- The Gotcha – The agency requests a change. The vendor quotes RM10,000–RM50,000 for a single customization.
- The Ransom – When the agency refuses, the vendor offers to “unlock” the feature in a higher subscription tier — turning the fix into a permanent cost instead of a one-time fix.
- The Freeze – The agency refuses to be held ransom. The system stops evolving. They are now locked into Version 1 forever.
- The Backfire – Admins quietly reopen WhatsApp, Google Sheets, and PDFs to bypass the limitations of the “ERP”.
The agency didn’t fail to adopt software.
The software’s business model failed the agency.
The SaaS Math That Creates Hybrid Chaos
| SaaS Reality | Agency’s Logical Reaction |
|---|---|
| RM10k–RM50k per customization | “That’s insane. Skip it.” |
| RM2k/month for one extra module | “That’s unsustainable. Downgrade.” |
| New workflow changes every quarter | “We can’t keep paying them to update it.” |
| Total cost compounds every year | “Just pay the basic fee. We’ll fix the rest manually.” |
And that’s the moment the “temporary workaround” becomes the permanent workflow.
The agency boss makes what feels like the cheapest decision:
“RM300 SaaS fee + one RM3k admin is cheaper than RM10k upgrades forever.”
But what they actually get is the worst of all worlds:
- The SaaS subscription fee
- The admin salary to fix what the SaaS can’t do
- The hidden cost of broken logic and manual rework
- Zero workflow alignment
- Zero data accuracy
- Zero system trust
The ERP is running. The business is not.
How ListingMine Solves This Permanently
ListingMine is not “better SaaS.” It is a different model designed to eliminate the trap entirely.
| The SaaS Trap (Their Model) | The ListingMine Solution (Our Model) |
|---|---|
| Every change = RM10k–RM50k | No-code logic — you modify your own system for free |
| Features locked behind paid tiers | All features included. No upsells. No modules. |
| Vendor stores and controls your data | Data lives in your own Google Drive. Zero lock-in. |
| System breaks when workflow evolves | Built to evolve. No penalty for change. |
| Small agencies can’t afford ERP | Free forever if below 50 agents. |
ListingMine removes:
- Customization fees
- Feature unlock charges
- Version upgrade fees
- Vendor lock-in
- Spreadsheet patching
- The “frozen in Version 1” curse
There is no ransom attached to evolution. No cost attached to growth.
That’s why ListingMine never gets stuck. Every agency evolves the system — and never pays to rebuild it.
