So, I had a problem. My 84 year old father lives in the heart of Appalachia in the little town of Whitley City, Kentucky. I live in Danville, California, nearly 2800 miles apart. Mail service between the two areas can take up to a week, and fax services tie up phone lines for lengthy periods of time just to get poorly rendered and often streaky and unreadable content delivered.
Yet, I had a need to communicate some important documents to him on an ongoing basis, and my 3 brothers and his numerous grandchildren and great grandchildren wanted to stay in touch as well.
Using a computer was out of the question, even though he had two that I had given him in hopes that he would use them for email. He just did not want to have to deal with the headaches of using a computer.
One day I saw a commercial on TV for a product called an HP Printing Mailbox and something called Presto service.
I took a look and signed up immediately and had Presto ship him one of the units. All he had to do was unpack the box, install an ink cartridge and plug the unit into his power line and also plug it into his phone jack. Once he added some paper, the unit started delivering email to him from me and the rest of the family!
There are built in protections so no spam arrives, yet he can have control over who sends him email so that he can add friends if he wishes. I have access to the health of his machine via a web based admin interface. When he runs low on ink or paper, I get an email from Presto and can order supplies right over the web. They get delivered to him before he runs out and so his service stays uninterrupted.. All he has to do is to check the machine and pick up his email which is printed out for him with no intervention required on his part.
Click here for their web site or Click here for a demo!
Over the weekend, I was taking a course to become certified as a Seniors Real Estate Specialist Instructor (Yes I will be offering SRES course in the near future) and one of my classmates volunteered that she had lost a listing due to the logistics of staying in touch with a client who did not have a computer (no email), or an answering machine. If she had given her clients the use of a Presto HP Printing Mailbox and an inexpensive answering machine she might have been able to have kept that client informed and a customer instead of just another expired listing.
Do you have a client, maybe an elderly one, who does not use email? Or one that does not have voice mail? Hard to believe, I know, but they are out there. Or you may have an elderly parent who does not have tech skills. In either case, this is the product for you!
Let me know what you think.
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Good Layout and design. I like your blog. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. .
Jason Rakowski
Dear Jerry (and RealtyTechBytes.com readers):
Thanks for the kudos about Presto. I hadn’t heard of an application for Presto with Realtors before, but you have accurately stated how Presto works. Just to be clear to your readers, they could indeed buy an HP Printing Mailbox for $149.99 and for $99/year have a “loaner” Presto they could give out to a client to facilitate direct communications. A couple of things…
If I were a Realtor like you doing this, I would choose an email address such as “JerryKidd1@presto.com” or something like that for the loaner. Then, I would add my regular email address to the Presto approved sender white list. Then, I could email messages with photo or PDF attachments to that client with the loaner device and they would be delivered up to five times a day requiring nothing more than an existing phone line. And, the output from the Printing Mailbox would be full-color, 600 dpi resolution and automatically formatted so that photos are nicely placed on the pages with a border.
When transferring the loaner from one client to another after a sale is made, you don’t have to do anything at all. The HP Printing Mailbox will dial out as programmed, and connect to the Presto service from its new location and retrieve new mail that you have send to it. And, best of all, there are no toll charges that will show up on the client’s phone bill and it is designed to not interrupt their phone calls.
I’m very interested in using Presto for this application. If you or any of your readers are interested in trying Presto out for this application, they can purchase it from http://www.presto.com and receive a 60-day risk free trial with money back guarantee if not completely satisfied. From the way you have explained it, I think this is a natural fit for anyone trying to sell real estate to seniors and desiring to use modern tools to gain a competitive edge and service their clients better.
I’d be happy to field any comments from you or your readers. Please contact me at the email below.
Cheers,
Peter Radsliff
VP Marketing, Presto Services Inc.
peter.radsliff@presto.com
http://www.presto.com