The general consensus on going paperless is that it is a good idea, but is it? The idea is commendable but the reality for many businesses, especially glazing businesses, is that paper is simply too damn useful. It isn’t practical for us to remove it from our daily operations and trying to eliminate it completely is, in my opinion, a total waste of time.

However, does this mean we should abandon hope altogether? The answer is no. I believe that we should be striving for a different goal: “Reducing paper reliance”.

Quoting can be a costly exercise. The time it takes to go on-site, measure, estimate, then communicate to the customer is far from trivial. Taking a few extra steps to ensure you win the jobs you quote should be a no-brainer for your business. However, within the building trades following up after quoting is almost non-existent. Only 16% of businesses said that they followed up regularly and of those that did only half said they would follow up more than once.