Real Green Software

[ted putnam]

Originally Posted by phasthound

Ted,

Does Billmaster sinc with QuickBooks or does it work independently of it?

Independently of it Barry. No Quickbooks involved. His explanation to me about Quickbooks was that it is a "one size fits all" program so it's not flexible. With custom software you can easily "tweek" it. He's in your area somewhere...Glen Rock, NJ

[Rayholio]

RG is well worth the start up price.. The reoccouring fees are what make it so bad.. once you START with RG, you will ALWAYS have massive reoccouring support fees and such.. just fyi

[ted putnam]

Originally Posted by Rayholio

RG is well worth the start up price.. The reoccouring fees are what make it so bad.. once you START with RG, you will ALWAYS have massive reoccouring support fees and such.. just fyi

That has been what I've heard from others Ray. That's why I've kind of made a wide circle around them.

[grassman177]

i would also want to know more about the qxpress and working with quickbooks which we use now. but we need better scheduling and easier posting. can anyone give more info on this

[ted putnam]

Originally Posted by grassman177

i would also want to know more about the qxpress and working with quickbooks which we use now. but we need better scheduling and easier posting. can anyone give more info on this

Check my posts in this thread. Worth a call.

[Josh.S]

Just some interesting information...

I was at the OTF this year, and at the last seminar there was only about 20 of us left. I owned probably one of the smallest businesses compared to anybody else. Most of these guys had a hundreds and a few had thousands of accounts. During a discussion, they said raise your hand if you use Real Green software... I believe that 18 out of 20 people raised their hand (the 2 that didn't were just startups). On lawnsite Real Green gets a bad rap, but in the real world, most decent sized companies could not live without it.

Originally Posted by Rayholio

RG is well worth the start up price.. The reoccouring fees are what make it so bad.. once you START with RG, you will ALWAYS have massive reoccouring support fees and such.. just fyi

My CRM software, for a different company, cost me $1000 per month in recurring fees... so the $80-100 from Real Green is practically pennys for unlimited support and updates. I can understand for a very small company (under $100k annual revenue) it can ad up.

[Rayholio]

The reoccouring fees are actually well worth it, IF you are a large company with a rotating office staff.. because you can have your employees call RG instead of you telling them how to do simple stuff like age accounts and print invoices..

But a small company with one office staff member (usually an owner) can never use the support enough to justify the $1200+ per year..

And if you are one of these larger companies, 500+ customers, you will be paying more anyhow both for the software, and support.

IMO RG needs a beginners package with more affordable monthly fees.. I don't regret spending almost 10k to get it set up.. but it SORTA bothers me that I have to buy their materials.. and it REALLY bothers me that I don't get ANY software updates without pay for monthly phone support..

and some times support takes hours to respond... once I didn't get it til the next day... it's not a call in and get an expert on the phone kinda thing.. you leave a message and pray that the list isn't too long in front of you..

All that aside, the software is capable of 95% of everything I want to do.. many softwares can route, and bill... but this one markets professionally, and the level of data collection and reporting is unmatched.. from product inventory to leads tracking, it literally does it all.. The online services are also available no where else.. This IS software that will grow with you and never need to be replaced.. maybe upgraded.. but never replaced.

[ted putnam]

Originally Posted by Rayholio

The reoccouring fees are actually well worth it, IF you are a large company with a rotating office staff.. because you can have your employees call RG instead of you telling them how to do simple stuff like age accounts and print invoices..

But a small company with one office staff member (usually an owner) can never use the support enough to justify the $1200+ per year..

And if you are one of these larger companies, 500+ customers, you will be paying more anyhow both for the software, and support.

IMO RG needs a beginners package with more affordable monthly fees.. I don't regret spending almost 10k to get it set up.. but it SORTA bothers me that I have to buy their materials.. and it REALLY bothers me that I don't get ANY software updates without pay for monthly phone support..

and some times support takes hours to respond... once I didn't get it til the next day... it's not a call in and get an expert on the phone kinda thing.. you leave a message and pray that the list isn't too long in front of you..

All that aside, the software is capable of 95% of everything I want to do.. many softwares can route, and bill... but this one markets professionally, and the level of data collection and reporting is unmatched.. from product inventory to leads tracking, it literally does it all.. The online services are also available no where else.. This IS software that will grow with you and never need to be replaced.. maybe upgraded.. but never replaced.

Great Post. Everything you said in there is what I've been told by others. 10 G's huh? Man...I had no idea it was quite that much. I've been exploring other avenues because of some of the things you posted.... I gross a lot more than 100k and...well...that'd break the bank.

[ted putnam]

Someone posted in the other thread "route us please" that they'd rather be dragging a hose and be organized than running ride-ons and be disorganized. I agree totally. I'm just not convinced RG is the absolute only way that can happen...JMO

[Josh.S]

Originally Posted by Rayholio

The reoccouring fees are actually well worth it, IF you are a large company with a rotating office staff.. because you can have your employees call RG instead of you telling them how to do simple stuff like age accounts and print invoices..

I agree, it's pretty nice

But a small company with one office staff member (usually an owner) can never use the support enough to justify the $1200+ per year..

And if you are one of these larger companies, 500+ customers, you will be paying more anyhow both for the software, and support.

IMO RG needs a beginners package with more affordable monthly fees.. I don't regret spending almost 10k to get it set up.. but it SORTA bothers me that I have to buy their materials.. and it REALLY bothers me that I don't get ANY software updates without pay for monthly phone support..

Where do you get 10k from? Maybe that is the total cost if you paid the technician and all that? It only cost me $5000 w/ mapping.

You don't have to buy their materials, it is just cheaper to buy it from them if you are a smaller company. But one guy I talked to at the GIE was a big company (ordered 40,000 invoice forms for 1 summer), he got the forms printed locally.

I think that the updates + phone support are together really. Cost 70 w/o mapping, or 100 with it. That is despite the size of your company and number of customers.

and some times support takes hours to respond... once I didn't get it til the next day... it's not a call in and get an expert on the phone kinda thing.. you leave a message and pray that the list isn't too long in front of you..

I have to agree, waiting for a hour or two to have your question answered can be a pain if you don't have anything else to do. But I would rather wait that talk to an Indian or something. When I've called tech support they have always been really knowledgeable and helpful.

All that aside, the software is capable of 95% of everything I want to do.. many softwares can route, and bill... but this one markets professionally, and the level of data collection and reporting is unmatched.. from product inventory to leads tracking, it literally does it all.. The online services are also available no where else.. This IS software that will grow with you and never need to be replaced.. maybe upgraded.. but never replaced.

I agree, it's not perfect, but it is far better than anything else I've seen for a strictly spraying company.

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