Advanced Access Blog

Angie Weeks of The Weeks Team in Orange County California has gone green! I invited her to share some ideas on how you can save money, and save the planet in 2010. Please let me know if you have any great tips to share by emailing marketingtips@advancedaccess.com.

2009 brought a lot of changes for real estate and our team in general. One of the biggest was that our office cut out print campaigns. Don’t get me wrong. We were mighty proud of our magazine. But we had to face facts. All those printed pages don’t exactly scream green. So we decided to take steps to make our office more eco-friendly. You’d be surprised at how a few simple changes can make a world of difference.

How to Make Your Office More Eco-Friendly

As I indicated above, the first order of business is eliminating as much paper as possible. Instead of printed documents, store all that important info in an electronic format. With that in mind, we shifted into online newsletters, videos, and info-sharing through Twitter and Facebook. It was a great way to bring like minds together. If only trees could cheer!

What also works wonders is implementing Docusign digital signatures. Think about it. Going the traditional route, every offer made averages a hefty 20+ pages, with each buyer usually submitting 3+ offers until one gets accepted. By using the Docusign method, we’ve changed the time from ‘write it up’ to ‘it’s signed and waiting’ from hours (or even a day) to minutes! Obviously, this is the way to go, unless you have a mad impulse to waste vast amounts of ink, paper, and precious time.

You’ll also gain a major advantage using digital fax. We’ve been using this for eons. When we get a signed disclosure or any paper, we just fax it to ourselves. This generates a PDF file that is whisked to our team via email. This handy PDF is then easily distributed and forwarded to both sides. When you factor in Docusign, we’ve eliminated the need to print literally hundreds of pages. Instead, all those important docs are stored snug and safe online. Did I hear a few hundred trees cheer? And, oh yes, more ink cartridges stay out of landfills, and more money stays in your pocket.

To save precious gas and time, try emailing your listing reports to buyers rather than giving them a physical report when you meet. This allows you to define your criteria immediately and do 90% of the homework online. Most buyers have their phone out anyway, and they prefer to have their hands free to open cupboards and doors.

These are just a few suggestions to make your office more eco-friendly and keep green in your pockets.

A note from Angie: If there are any other Realtors bringing the green touch to your offices, we’d love to hear your ideas. After all, we’re always open to improvement. Feel free to contact us at 877-230-3211. Or follow me @AngieWeeks or @WeeksTeam.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 6th, 2010 at 11:14 am and is filed under Weekly Marketing Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.