Kevin Shackleford, owner of Shackleford Landscape Group in
Bear, Del., has replaced most face-to-face meetings with tools like iPhone’s FaceTime or Skype. Surprisingly, there’s been very little—if any—pushback from clients, he says.
Shackleford says everyone is busy these days, and in-person meetings are burdensome. He adds that his commercial clients prefer the “privacy” of having him Skype in for a short meeting, but not having to excuse him from the room to discuss their options. He has also switched to electronic signatures with Adobe Sign, so proposals no longer need to be signed in person.
“By doing more of these tasks remotely with the help of technology, we save at least 20 percent on our monthly fuel costs,” Shackleford says. “But perhaps more importantly, it saves on labor and keeps us efficient. With technology, I can now have one person take on
the role of three.”
Photo: ©istock.com/johnkellerman
