Dreaded, you might ask, what is so dreaded about the color printer? Well, in the language of politics so hot these days, I declare that all color printers are downright evil! Sure, they crank out nice color photos and full-page flyers, but did you ever consider at what cost? No, I’m not talking about saving trees and recycling plastic cartridges - I’m talking about saving plain old dollars and cents - which, when you come down to it, should be one of the most important goals in your technology strategy. 

Color printers were invented for one purpose: to sell ink. It’s a remarkable, devious idea: printer companies create low-cost printers, sell them with 100% rebates, and then sit back while you use your wonderful new toy. Trouble is, once you start printing in color, you’re bound to get hooked; just ask any office manager how much crumpled, color-filled pages end up in the wastebasket for proof of how addicted to printing we have become. About two weeks later, it hits you: your cartridge runs dry and it’s time to replace it. I bet you didn’t think your jaw could drop so low in aisle six of Staples, staring at those $30, $40 or even $50 replacement cartridges! So, that’s their game, is it? Now don’t get me wrong - I wish I had thought of it - finding a way to get consumers back to the inkwell every few weeks to feed their color-hungry appetites. Maybe somebody will figure out a way to do it with your car, say, offering a nice new Mercedes that only accepts special, $7-per-gallon gas…

But, I digress. What does all of this have to do with the price of ink in China? It’s simple really: if you want a raise this year, or you simply want a better return on your technology investment, why not start by unplugging your color printer?

Insane, you might argue. However shall you conduct business? How, for example, will you get contracts to clients, property flyers to buyers, or proposals to potential sellers? Won’t the world come to a halt without your postcard mailings filling the mailboxes of local neighborhoods? Who could possibly greet new clients without a paper business card?

Contrary to popular belief, Armageddon will not begin with the unplugging of your printer. On the other hand, budgetary nirvana might just be reached should you undertake this arduous but virtuous path. Seriously, ask yourself: how would you use modern technology to conduct business without your printer for a few days? Here are a few ideas to get you started. Take your business card, for example. Modern buyers - the thirty-somethings who purchase 47% of all homes in America - aren’t really interested in cardstock slices featuring tiny type squeezed next to an oversized version of your high-school photo. They would much rather have more information: your phone, fax, email, web site and a few bullet points of qualifications to have handy, say, in the palm of their hand, when they finally decide to take the plunge.

That’s exactly why you need to be prepared and practiced to "beam" your business card from your color-screened, memory-packed PDA. Any two palm computers can swap data right through the air, and modern agents should be well versed in the instantly-beamed-business card process, not to mention the ability to beam records of other contacts such as mortgage brokers, inspectors, appraisers, movers and anyone else clients might ask to receive. No laptops, printouts or portable printers required here: just an everyday, low-cost, always-with-you function that’s been built into PDAs since they were invented.

Try another exercise: How would you ever provide listing information, such as property specs, photos and even a seller disclosure, to a potential buyer if you didn’t have reams of flyers stuffed in the back seat of your car? Simple, with that same PDA, since it can store flyers in Adobe for the Palm (www.adobe.com) format, ready to be beamed to any PDA-toting buyer prospect who enters your open house. Similarly, inexpensive products like Fireviewer (www.palmgear.com) can store hundreds of photos and movie clips of your properties, keeping them handy no matter where you go. Compare Polly PastAgent who meets a potential buyer in the supermarket with no flyers or MLS printouts to provide to Sally CyberExpert who quickly draws her PDA from her belt and fires off a few photos, videos and even a seller disclosure that was stored using DocumentsToGo (www.dataviz.com). No paper needed here, either.

Of course, there’s always the more mundane approach to the paperless office. Email attachments still provide the least expensive, most expansive method for transforming mass mailings into direct marketing. Unlike the literally thousands of postcards that sit idly in post offices awaiting delivery for days on end, direct email gets there approximately two seconds after transmitted. Each crisp, clear HTML-based email flyer is guaranteed to be delivered intact, with no folded corners or crumpled edges. Sure, a few mass emails are returned to sender – just like some mailed postcards are returned, too; but one costs a whole lot more than the other - in paper, ink and time - to go the same nowhere. And unlike static postcards, direct email marketing is interactive, increasing the likelihood of the recipient to see and hear more about your company and, should they wish to reply, communicate with the least possible effort. Again, paper just cannot compare.

There is literally no marketing piece that cannot be done electronically at substantially reduced costs and increased exposure. Even the for-sale-by-owners have learned this, as they almost exclusively run their own property ads online with multiple photos, virtual tours, neighborhood links, school reports, and hundreds of words describing their property for substantially less than the three-line classified ads that some realtors insist on running each Sunday. What about listing presentations? Surely they need to be printed, comb-bound and embossed? Not really: If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a PowerPoint presentation is probably worth, oh, about a million. Well, how will they sign a purchase agreement, you ask? How do they buy laptops online now, I reply? They simply agree via email or web site or provide you with their credit card number as an “authorization” valid under the 1995 federal Digital Signature Act.

Think about the possibilities: No more printing, or at least, substantially reduced printing can totally transform your marketing strategy. It’s not just the actual printing part, alone, to target. Imagine the time saved playing with complicated desktop publishing software or mail merging databases or crazy forms programs. Consider the endless hours you spend putting labels and stamps on envelopes when your time would be better spent working with clients, qualifying buyers or just playing a few rounds of golf. Factor in the "wow" factor achieved by electronic versions of the same marketing pieces and there really is no comparison to the supply and time savings - not to mention sheer pizzazz - of the non-printed world.

Okay, by now you should get the point. Sure, it’s not an all or nothing. You’re still likely to print a few things now and then. But I trust the opportunities have been made clear. Even the slightest reduction in your printing activities could lead to substantial improvements in your marketing strategy, your schedule and your return on technology investment. At the very least, unplugging your printer will make a big dent in your other important technology tool: Quicken!