QXpress online now available

[Mow Right]

Hey, I was just wanting to let those interested know that the QXpress online version which has been in the making for three years is now available as a beta.

I can't believe this came out right now, literally minutes before I was going to call Real Green to purchase their product. I guess I will have to see what the QXpress online has to offer. It only costs $68 per month for a single user license (less than Real Green support) and has a total CRM and user interface customization. You can read about it here...

http://qxpress.com/cs/blogs/qxpressblog/archive/2009/03/03/qxpress-online-beta-begins-today.aspx

What do you guys think?

[LIBERTYLANDSCAPING]

I was thinking of switching to real green also. Do you know if the online version still needs Quickbooks to run, or have they made it a stand alone program?

[Mow Right]

I was thinking of switching to real green also. Do you know if the online version still needs Quickbooks to run, or have they made it a stand alone program?

I'm not sure. It says something on there website that you will have all of your quickbooks information online so I guess it works w/ QB.

Even if I go w/ Real Green I will still have to have QB and Real Green will carry a ledger over for me to do my accounting with.

I don't know for sure if I like the idea of having the software online. The nice thing is that you can get on there and change stuff from different computers. The bad thing is that if you have a slow internet day, or use a laptop which won't always have an internet connection, then the software won't work well or at all.

[americanlawn]

Got a QXpress demo CD in the mail. I also just purchased QuickBooks Pro 2009 cuz QXpress relies on QuickBooks as its base. My prob is my bookkeeper uses Peachtree accounting software, and she's my wife. Bottom line -- I want to run QXpress, but the ol' lady is stuck on Peachtree. Only solution for me is to enter all of our accounts on another office computer on using Quickbooks. I wish my wife would stay up-to-date regarding lawn/tree software as she does watching FOX News. BTW we just received our Rush Limbaugh coffee mugs. :laugh:

[willretire@40]

Are you going to the Conference Mow Right?

[Mow Right]

No, I probably would have but I run Real Green now.

[willretire@40]

Do you like Real Green?

[Heidi J.]

Do you like Real Green?

I did the demo, and I didn't like it.. or the price tag that comes with it. Talk about a monopoly;) I think the program wastes way too much paper, and you can only buy the forms from them.. hmm..

I currently use The Service Solution and I love it. But RG bought them out, so they no longer sell it anymore. I have used it for 20 years and have never had issues. We got the newer (windows) version about 5 years ago.

I have alot of customers, so I doubt I could use something like qexpress, but if you are smaller, it would be fine. You can down load your logo into the program (at least I can do it with quick books).

I would call a place like Perfco that makes forms, and ask them what other programs their forms are compatible with. Definatly shop around.. there are many other options.
:waving:

[Mow Right]

Do you like Real Green?

Qxpress was pretty good software, but not along the lines of Real Green in my opinion. Real Green has a lot better marketing integration. With Real Green you can up sell your current customers in many ways.

Also Real Green gives you the ability to build a "marketing database" without affecting your active accounts. You can do "neighbor" postcard utilizing the marketing database and active customer database. The postcards say that we do your neighbors lawn at 11 Blank Rd and would like to do yours to, ect, ect.

It's not cheap, but I don't feel that it waists any paper, and the forms are reasonably priced. It has a learning curve but it is well worth it IMO.

It's not perfect but my life is so much easier and more organized due to the call logs, customer statuses, scheduling and routing abilities.

[Heidi J.]

Qxpress was pretty good software, but not along the lines of Real Green in my opinion. Real Green has a lot better marketing integration. With Real Green you can up sell your current customers in many ways.

Also Real Green gives you the ability to build a "marketing database" without affecting your active accounts. You can do "neighbor" postcard utilizing the marketing database and active customer database. The postcards say that we do your neighbors lawn at 11 Blank Rd and would like to do yours to, ect, ect.

It's not cheap, but I don't feel that it waists any paper, and the forms are reasonably priced. It has a learning curve but it is well worth it IMO.

It's not perfect but my life is so much easier and more organized due to the call logs, customer statuses, scheduling and routing abilities.

RG prints off your routes for the day, if the guys don't get to them, you will need to reprint the invoices again.. waste.

You can do all the marketing you need to do with information online. If your computer has word or publisher, you can create your own flyers. If your guys are at 11 Blank road.. why can't they walk there little legs over to 12 and 13 Blank Rd.?? Your results should sell itself.

You can also upsell on any software you use.. it's not difficult. I put a flyer in with all my invoices, each app. I make it in MS publisher. Each app. flyer talks about what is going on with the lawn at that time of year. I offer coupons and reminders of our referral discounts. This works especially well because we are trying to build up our tree spraying and perm. pest departments. The power of suggestion is wonderful!

You can also use Microsoft Maps to route your guys to save time and money. While I agree RG has put alot of this at your fingertips, it's not hard to do it yourself, and save $11,000-15,000 Real Green will charge you.

I am not trying to argue with you, I mean no disrespect, I just think therare other options.

:waving:

[Mow Right]

RG prints off your routes for the day, if the guys don't get to them, you will need to reprint the invoices again.. waste.

You do not need to reprint any of the invoices if you did not get to them that day. If you missed 5 yards yesterday you can simply scan them into today's route using the "route loose work screen" and then it will be routed in with no extra printing.



You can do all the marketing you need to do with information online. If your computer has word or publisher, you can create your own flyers. If your guys are at 11 Blank road.. why can't they walk there little legs over to 12 and 13 Blank Rd.?? Your results should sell itself.

The postcards I was referring to was just one of the many options for marketing. Also when you send the postcards it will know the property size and be able to put a price specific to that property for you. There is many more marketing features but I don't feel the need to go into detail.


You can also upsell on any software you use.. it's not difficult. I put a flyer in with all my invoices, each app. I make it in MS publisher. Each app. flyer talks about what is going on with the lawn at that time of year.

I don't believe you can upsell with just MS publisher like you can with real green. For example, you can set real green to automatically place an ad on the invoices about tree spraying, but if the customer already has tree spraying, you can set it to put an add about your referral program. Also you can shoot them a property specific price with a special offer (i.e. 10% off)

Separate from invoice messages, you can do nature notes, which is a 1/3 page ad you put in with the invoice. The front is pre-printed in color, the back is where you print your information. For example, for every customer that does not have aeration you can have it set to print them all nature notes. These nature notes will have a price on them and a special offer, along with the customer's name at the top. The nature notes will be printed in order with your route so you just tear the top one off at every stop unless they already have aeration scheduled. There is no way publisher or any other stand alone software could do this.


You can also use Microsoft Maps to route your guys to save time and money. While I agree RG has put alot of this at your fingertips, it's not hard to do it yourself, and save $11,000-15,000 Real Green will charge you.

Real Green basic is $2500, with the mapping it is $5000.

I am not trying to argue with you, I mean no disrespect, I just think there are other options.

No problem. I agree, there are other options. For me, Real Green was by far the best option, it may not be for others.


Message above.

[Heidi J.]

Message above.

Oh.. my bad. Maybe I looked at a different version then you. I have heard others on the board mention $11,000. as well. Maybe based on customer count??:confused: But I guess if it is that cheap, it is not so bad. But what do they get you per month for support?

You will have to reprint though, because they print the date on the invoices for you. Very unprofessional looking if you cross out.

I will have to send you one of my flyers I created in MS publisher. They look great (head swell). There is so much room to talk about the issues going on at the time, grubs, crabgrass, dandelions, cores, tree spraying and PP. But I also use my invoice to upsell several services as well. Plus I leave room for the applicator notes.

I guess for the money you are talking, you may be better off with Real Green. It does have a lot of great tools to use for your customers.

:waving:

[Mow Right]

Oh.. my bad. Maybe I looked at a different version then you. I have heard others on the board mention $11,000. as well. Maybe based on customer count??

The pricing is as follows:

$2500 for standard with less than 500 customers
$5000 for standard with 500 - unlimited customers

$2500 for mapping integration (which helps with marketing as well as routing)

The $8,000+ figures come from having multiple computers with a central server holding the database. They have to come on sight and takes about a day or two to set everything up.

But I guess if it is that cheap, it is not so bad. But what do they get you per month for support?

Unlimited phone support and updates is $80 per month. The benefit to this though is that you get new software as it comes out free of charge (i.e. you never have to buy a new version). The phone support is a lot better than many on here say, although there is about a 1 hour call back wait time generally.


You will have to reprint though, because they print the date on the invoices for you. Very unprofessional looking if you cross out.

The dates do not print on the customer side of the invoice. At the top of your half of the invoice it shows the date. On the customer side you hand write the date and time so you would not have to reprint.

I will have to send you one of my flyers I created in MS publisher. They look great (head swell). There is so much room to talk about the issues going on at the time, grubs, crabgrass, dandelions, cores, tree spraying and PP. But I also use my invoice to upsell several services as well. Plus I leave room for the applicator notes.

You should send me one over, I'll pm you my address. What your talking about though is more of a newsletter than an upsell note. I think that newsletters are great though I need to get one going.

The benefit to the upsell notes is it has prices specific to the customer, and will only print if the customer does not have the desired service scheduled.


I guess for the money you are talking, you may be better off with Real Green. It does have a lot of great tools to use for your customers.

Well like I said before, for many people Real Green is not the best choice. For myself, I couldn't live without it. The features makes running the spraying business so much better. Couples clicks in the morning and I have a route with all the invoices in order, and turn by turn directions on the top.

When I originally started I did not purchase the mapping, I just exported excel sheets and routed with microsoft maps. You would really have to use the software to understand, but there is a enormous time savings by having the mapping integrated. I could not imagine going back to not having the mapping again.


Message above.

[willretire@40]

Qxpress works good for me but I dont have 500 regular customers either. We only offer mowing aeration and seeding so I do not need much upselling. Also I bill all customers next day with credit card but I know real green could do that for me instead of having to do them one by one in quickbooks. $68 a month for one user that is done online. Qxpress still has some options that they need to add but its good for me so far.

[PROCUT1]

I used qxpress and thought it was great.

There were a few things that could have been better but overall I liked it a lot.

The main thing I liked was the perfect integration with quickbooks.

I tried other programs and they didnt work well.

They had some gopher program that was supposed to integrate with quickbooks and all it did was detonate my entire quickbooks file so bad even the quickbook rep couldnt fix it.

[jarabe1]

Qxpress works good for me but I dont have 500 regular customers either. We only offer mowing aeration and seeding so I do not need much upselling. Also I bill all customers next day with credit card but I know real green could do that for me instead of having to do them one by one in quickbooks. $68 a month for one user that is done online. Qxpress still has some options that they need to add but its good for me so far.

how do you do the next day credit card billing?
thanks for the info

[PROCUT1]

With qxpress you can set it to send the invoice right to quickbooks when you click the job as done.

Then you go into quickbooks and have and run the credit card charges.

I know there is a way to do them as a batch, but i never figured that out. I would just do them individually and 30 of them only took about 10 minutes

[RigglePLC]

Good for you Heidi,
I also use MS Publisher to produce our newsletter--which I insert with every invoice left at the door. We discuss the main insect or disease for the season. And usually talk about one of the tough weeds. And there is often info about safety for the family, and explain the relative safety of our products. Coupons--no. Referral credits--yes.
Sometimes we reprint non-copyright university information--giving the author credit, of course.