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How To Cut Costs By Using Technology

In today's economy, almost every business is looking for areas where they can cut costs.

cut business costs with technology

Here are a few common expenses that can be cut by using some basic technology that you probably already know about.

Business LAN Line

A business LAN line can run you upwards of $50. An alternative would be to sign up for an online 800 phone service. Read more >>

Printing and Mailing Invoices

Don't print and mail invoices. Produce a PDF version of the invoice and email it. Read more >>

Files

Are you still filing your documents and storing them in file cabinets? Eeek! A better way would be to store them in an organized folder structure on your computer. Read more >>

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Posted by Real Estate Advertising - Misty Lackie on 02/13/2009 12:54 PM

Comments (15)

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15 Comments on How To Cut Costs By Using Technology

FEB

Nice cost cutting tips Misty:)

Misty - Your comment about invoices and PDF got my attention. I produce all my invoices in Excel and email them. I know I can print out a copy, scan to PDF, save the file, and email the PDF but isn't there an easier way? Do you know of a way to save Microsoft Word and Excel documents straight to PDF?

Hi Steve - check out http://www.doc2pdf.net/ or http://www.fastpdf.com/ or search Google for "word to pd" http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GGIH_enUS273US273&q=word+to+pdf.

I think receiving an Excel or Word doc as an invoice via email is fine too. I would rather have those formats over a printed snail mail invoice.

I've found that Paperport is a great way to store documents on my computer. I scanned all my papers and then shredded them before making the move from the mainland to Hawaii. BUT, one has to have a backup and the backup should be offsite.

Misty - Wonderful! Thank you so much. Doc2pdf looks like the ticket.

Good ideas -- thanks for coming up with some interesting tips -- all the best.

You had me there until the part about no hard copies, when the Canada Revenue Agency comes calling or your IRS they like those originals and my filing cabinet doesnt need backing up nor is it likely to crash or even catch fire.

I have computer copies but hard copies are prudent. Even if you are the backup King or Queen, ol Murph can still get you in a hundred ways to Sunday.

FEB

I'm starting to move toward a paperless office. Great ideas!

Thanks,

Lisa

FEB

All good suggestions. I'm considering bringing my laptop to listing presentations so I don't have to print my CMAs and such.

Hey Bill - thanks for stopping by. Hope all is well with you.

Richard - Thanks for the tip on Paperport. Agree with having a backup offsite.

Hi Scott - Yeah I still keep a paper copy of all my very important docs and IRS files but for every day documents, invoices, etc. it seems like a waste of paper and space.

Hi Tony and Libby - bringing your laptop to listing presentations rather than printed material is a great idea. My last Realtor did this and the listing presentation was a powerpoint presentation. She then followed up with an email later that day that included a PDF of additional information/docs.

FEB

Another good use of tech is to scan all the paperwork from your purchase or sale and put it on a disk for your clients. While they may still have the same documents, this will help keep them organized. It is also one more item of service you can do and provide for a "pop by" after the sale.

Brad that is such an outstanding idea. What awesome service that shows to your clients.

FEB

Misty,

Thanks for lots of good ideas. I like Brad's idea, too. After college I worked at the court house for awhile photocoying documents. Now I need to transfer many boxes of photos, slides and home movies to DVD.

As with any good idea we need to Just Do It.

Mary Yonkers

wwww.maryyonkers.com

MAR

Misty, great stuff, that's what my company is all about! - getting your business lean and mean!

Here's a tip for those real estate agents wanting to scan - use ScanSnap. It's REALLY fast.

For backup, I recommend, out of all the companies, Carbonite (see my free tutorial video here) - it's automatic, and doesn't use any system resources because it only runs when your computer isn't being used.

Hope that helps!

Sean Goerss
Realtor, St. Paul, MN
Co-Founder
www.RealEstateTechnologyExperts.com

Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/seangoerss
LinkedIn - www.linkedin.com/in/seangoerss

MAY

I used CARBONITE to back up my computer and it was definitely easy to use. Several months later, I lost a major file, over 4 GB of customer data. When I went to Carbonite to get it back, I found out they had not backed this particular file up because of its size. I retraced my steps and could find no signs that this information was ever asked of me. I AM NOT A FAN OF CARBONITE, THEY WON'T EVEN TALK TO ME ABOUT IT.

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