new invoice program

[Guest]

can any one tell me a good program to use for filing invoices and keeping track of customers . estimates something thats good but doesnt cost a ton of money. what i have isnt very good time to change thanks campus

 

[Brian R]

Quick Books 2009.

 

[Brian R]

Oops.

Quick Books Pro 2009

Been using the 06 and I love it.

Your CPA can learn ya how to do the difficult stuff but the easy stuff is...easy I guess.

 

[Guest]

i need something for me dont want my account to teach me want something good and easy

 

[Bruce Humphrey]

What price range are you looking at ?

 

[Guest]

not 200 not 500

 

[Bruce Humphrey]

Then go to Staples and look for something called My Mail Manager and My Invoice , something like that. They are around $39.99 a piece and are very easy to operate.

 

[Guest]

is that what you have i just want one for my invoices and jobs dont need any thing for me and my bills im pretty simple just me and the truck thanks

 

[Brian R]

I used both of those and you will want Quick Books or better later on. You can import info when you change but you may lose some info on the way.

The Quick Books pro program is easy for storing invoices and keeping track of customers.

I think maybe 2 or 3 hundred but well worth it.

If you think big, you will become big.

This program will keep up with the growth of your Business. When you have your taxes done you CPA will love you.
The harder stuff you will never have to learn if you don't want to...but I was really interested in learning it.
They even give classes on it.

 

[Guest]

can you print invoices with it and give them to the customer

 

[Brian R]

yup, and they are professional looking.
I write alot of info on my customer invoices so I use some from my printer place. They are carbon and easy to give a copy to the customer.
Now if you carry a printer and an laptop in the van, that would work.

Cool thing is, you can email right out of QB to your customer.
You can print up estimates and all that too.
Make your own forms, whatever.

 

[Able 1]

I need to get QB again I have it on my home computer but would like to put it on the laptop...

I think the one I have is the "Accountants Edition" though not sure. Like it alot, on mine they have some cool graphs and lots of different options.

Would I be able to go to Pro from the one I have and import all the info?

 

[Larry B]

If you dont want all the stuff in QB just get "Quicken home& Business" Its cheap and you can print and track invoices. It also keeps track of all your customers so at any time you can print mailing lables or envalopes.


Look for it on ebay as there is always online software companies selling it very cheap at this time of year.


Its very easy to use but with out all the bells that QB has.

 

[Brian R]

I've used quicken. Limited but ok for what it's worth.

Able,
You can import what you have into the new Quick Books Pro.
The 09 is only like $150.00
I saw it on Amazon.

 

[Able 1]

Thanks Brian, the one I was looking at was $399.95 that's way too much for me!

 

[Brian R]

yea that's the over the top everything CPA version.
We don't need all that.
QB pro has been good to me.

 

[tim]

Try looking at Service Monster. Way better reporting and tracking than qb. Can track customers, marketing campaigns, do scheduling, invoices, estimates, track commissions, referrals, upsales, new customers...online program can access from any computer, training free by phone, walk you through everything. Can upload from qb and export back to qb, all for $50 a month.

 

[miksar]

Check out Quick Books Simple Start 2008. I was going to buy it at WM, but I went to their website and it is free to download and use. At first I thought it was a trial offer, but it is free. I just checked to see if it is still avail., the 2009 version will only track 20 customers. The 2008 version is still out there, just google.

 

[Able 1]

Bought the QB pro. '09 $150.00, thanks again.

 

[Scott]

There are 2 issues to look at here: Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Accounting.

Your customer list is your Goldmine, so don't skimp on keeping the list organized via a good CRM program. QB Pro does a great job at accounting, but isn't strong on the CRM part. The CRM program that Bruce recommended does a great job at that, but it's not an accounting program.

Likewise ServiceMonster is a great Customer Relationship Management tool, but one still needs Quickbooks (or an accounting program) for the accounting portion.

Service CEO is very expensive but it does both from what I know. A combination of QB Pro and ServiceMonster is hard to beat, but definitely costs more than $200-$500 a year.

In my business we use Peachtree Accounting and Camelot for CRM. It's double the work, keeping 2 databases, but we're used to it and it's not a big issue since we've been using the combo for so long. (2002)

One problem with QB Simple Start is not being very robust in the reporting departments. From what I've seen of QB SS it's not good at keeping a solid Chart of Accounts; and it's only mediocre at CRM. (like QB Pro)

If I had to use only one program for both CRM and accounting it would be Peachtree since Peachtree has the ability to break out customers by Last Service Date and Amount, and export only that info to Excel. It's kind of complex to explain until or unless you've used both programs but I can tell you that QB Pro is not your friend when you try to break the list up by Last Service Date, much less Amount. If you don't mind mailing to your entire list, QB Pro can work as a CRM though.

I had a programmer write a program for me that does allow QB Pro to pull down Last Service Date, but it cannot combine that info with amount so there are some limits. One could code in a custom field for last amount but it must be updated manually each time.

 

[CapeCleaner]

QB Pro is the way to go. Very easy to use and creates a level of professionalism you want clients to see. Also good to have as your business grows.

The $399 version of QB I believe is a multiple license version.

 

[Ron Werner]

all I wanted was a program to track my clients, invoices, sources, etc.
I didn't muh to do with accounting
Eventually I purchased Mistral in 2000. Keeps track of all my income side, simple to use. I have no paper records anymore.
You can print out a work order and use carbon paper or I now take a laptop and printer to the house and print it out right there in front of them. Very slick.
AS far as cost, Mistral is more than $500, but imo is worth every penny.
I was trying ProfitMaster, what a piece of crap program that was. Even the trial crashed/froze on me.

 

[DRScrivner]

The $399 version of QB I believe is a multiple license version.

I do not believe that is accurate (but I have been wrong before).

The QB's 2007 Accountant Version which retailed for $399 (and I use) does not include multiple licenses. I paid $299 at Costco.

Extra licenses are like $150 - $200 more.

 

[CapeCleaner]

The $399 version of QB I believe is a multiple license version.

I do not believe that is accurate (but I have been wrong before).

The QB's 2007 Accountant Version which retailed for $399 (and I use) does not include multiple licenses. I paid $299 at Costco.

Extra licenses are like $150 - $200 more.

You're probably right. I don't use either of those versions.

Anyone use QB's Customer Manager? Pros and cons?

 

[Wayne Miller]

I can't imagine business now without ChaChing. http://www.vacaway.com/chaching/

 

[DannyD]

Cha Ching is an excellent program for sure, but you're going to have to have a little computer savvy to be able to get maximum use out of it. Not a lot mind ya, but you'll need some. Ya can get it for free on Vac Aways site by ordering products a lot of us use anyway.

 

[tim]

Customer manager allows you to print mailing labels but not much else. May be worth the 99 dollars but no more. Scott is right, Service Monster with QB for accounting is the best I have seen. You can export between the 2 programs, 1 does accounting the other does scheduling, tracking, marketing, reminder cards and thankyous. Allows you to see which mail campaigns worked and where your leads are coming from.

 

[Brian R]

Just remember, some of the scheduling programs require a monthly payment for usage.

The extra users for QB pro is $399.00

The supper CPA full on everything is $999.00
None of us need that.


There are free trials for most....try them all.