Screaming Deals!
Tom Martino -aka “The Troubleshooter“- a 25 year TV, radio and news media maverick has come up with many unique marketing ideas over the years. A popular WEB based feature is his “Screaming Deals!”
Tom will list limited time, highly discounted and unique price offerings from vendors he trusts on his web site. Those trusted vendors get some free advertising, listeners get some fantastic deals and his web site gets extra traffic, everyone wins!
This past month Tom came up with a “screaming deal” of his very own – by moving his company’s email and calendaring off Microsoft Exchange (hear Tom’s comment) and onto Google Apps (hear Tom explain). In his case, the actual annual cost savings approached 60% – now that is what you call a “screaming deal”. The reason savings are so high is because hardware, software and labor costs were all reduced.
The cost of PC’s has dropped over years, yet a quality server PC will still set you back:
- $1,500-2,500 to buy, plus material amounts of energy costs..
- Add the cost of a “server” Operating System, it is different and more expensive than a normal desktop computer OS.
- Plus you must buy and stay current with CAL’s (Client Access Licenses) – the part that lets your desktop / laptop computers and mobile devices have access to the server.
- About 80-90% of the time, small business owners lack the time and knowledge required to handle the complexity of installing and setting up a server. They must hire professionals such as a MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer) to assist and support them. Initially this cost is understood and justified.
- More often it’s the ongoing monthly costs needed to service, protect, repair and/or update the server software that adds material cost.
It’s also the “3 for 1″ punch Google Apps provides that helps make it a “screaming deal”. Tom has employees that have used Outlook software for over 10 years and aren’t ready for some of the newer advanced features of Gmail (Google Apps’ email program). Features like “threaded emails, tags/labels and embedded search” which are used instead of folders to organize and manage the 100′s of emails. Yet those who prefer Outlook may continue to use it, since the Google Apps email server is compatible with Outlook. You get the best of both client and WEB based email. Each employee that desires can manage email from an Outlook Inbox exactly as they are accustomed to.
The third “punch” is the ability to integrate with mobile devices such as the Blackberry, iPhone, Palm, Windows Mobile and many others. All server side requirements are automatically in place to support real time, synchronized email and shared calendar processing using mobile devices. No longer will you have to manage 2-3 different device in-boxes trying to keep them up to date.
It was great speaking with “The Troubleshooter” staff regarding their Google Apps experience. Tom wants to make sure others enjoy the benefits he’s gained, so he convinced us to offer a www.GAFYD.net “Screaming Deal”. Full implementations range $1,000-$2,500 in cost, but we now have a special “New Entrepreneur” $499 package. For those mentioning Tom’s show, we’ll take another 20% off – just $399 for a very limited time. Give us a call 303-932-8146.
