ACT! asked me to write the lead article for their e-newsletter (being released tomorrow). Entitled "Three Quick Tips for the New Year", it covers how to create and send an e-mail merge template for quick follow up with clients and prospects. The article also include instructions on creating groups based on queries for quick lookups that are always automatically updated by ACT!. Finally I included a reminder that by even learning just a few new tips and tricks using "The Official ACT! by Sage QuickStudy Guide" that readers could make a huge difference in their productivity for the year.

While some readers are content to see the numbered steps on how to accomplish a task, many like to see the steps performed. So I also included links for some quick flash videos that demonstrate the concepts. You can also see these videos on YouTube.


Creating Mail Merge Templates


Creating Groups Using Criteria

In making New Years Resolutions, it is tempting to create life-changing Mount Everest types of goal which can seem overwhelming and many times cause us to abandon the climb before even starting out.

At this time of year, I try to keep the concept of kaizen in mind. Kaizen is a Japanese word meaning change for the better. It is also frequently used in conjunction with productivity programs that encourage you to pursue continued improvement. Similar in concept to the "baby steps" from the movie "What About Bob", kaizen encourages us to make even the tiniest imaginable change. Even the smallest incremental ...<< MORE >>

I'm getting a late start in new year's planning as I got the crud that is going around the country right before New Years. Sitting on the couch and watching movies that I didn't like the first time around is not really conducive to productive planning. In reviewing my goals from last year, I am reminded of an article I read once that suggested that we replace the word "resolution" with "intention" in our annual planning. Last year I replaced New Year's Intentions with the verb "choose".

• I choose to be happy
• I choose to be successful
• I choose to work on this project instead of that project.

My problem in planning the year is not in deciding what to do as much as it is deciding what I will NOT spend my time on. There is always more available to do than there is time to do it in.

Are there things you could leave off of your list that would allow you more time to excel at the remaining things on the list?

My youngest (who is a Junior at the University of Texas) is going back to college today. His dad took him to Office Depot last night to help him stock up on printer paper, etc.

I think how important it is to be organized in life and I want to stress to him that he will be so much more successful at school and in life if he finds his own way to be organized and he practices and develops it to an art so that it supports him.

It's not like he doesn't know ACT!. He's helped me with some projects in the past and has done many of the screen captures on two of "The Official ACT! by Sage QuickStudy Guide" books I have written. However, he currently uses the calendar on his generic cell phone to record due dates. While I don't think that is the best way to do this, he is the one that has to be comfortable with the system he uses.

That ultimately is the most important skill that any of us can develop. Each of us needs to find an easy organizational system that works for us. Then we need to work that system so that it supports us and helps to reduce stress while keeping our lives on track.

I want to say all these things to him on our last day, but I know he would only roll his eyes. Instead I say "Keep up with your homework and tests. Keep your grades up. But don't forget to have fun. You're only young once. Don't let this time pass you by, sweetie. I love you. Call me when you get there."  And of course he will forget. What's a mom to do.

One of the earlier posts included a comment from someone who wanted to know if there was a way to track which sales reps had logged into ACT! by Sage and how long they had used it. However, I'm pretty sure that who is logged on and how much time they spend is probably now what the manager really wanted to know (at least I hope not). One sales rep could spend hours looking at ACT! and never get anything done. Yet another sales rep can look up a name and phone number in their Treo (that was synced to their ACT! database), make a call, and close a deal without ever actually opening ACT on the desktop.

One of the things that I love about ACT! is that it is so flexible that it can support many different ways of working. Everyone has their own way of getting the job done. There are those that like to plan their entire day the night before (and ACT! will help them do that). There are those that come in without having made any plans at all and just start calling (they can "Record History" without ever having scheduled anything if that is the way they like to work). There are successful people in both work styles, but most of us work somewhere in between... scheduling some of our work and making spur of the moment contact decisions.

I think what this manager really wanted to ensure (regardless of the work style of his reps) was that they were recording the results of their contacts with clients and prospects. Now you CAN track that in ACT!.

Use the Edit Date field to create a lookup of all records that have been edited during the time period you are interested in. Then in Contact List view, add the "Last Edited By" field to the column display (right-click in the view and select "Customize Columns"). Now click on the column header to sort by the "Last Edited By" field. Ta-Dah! There is your basic list of who has been working their clients. Run the Notes/History Report on the current lookup to get a better idea of what has been going on.

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I noticed when it was time to send out yesterday's tips newsletter that I still have quite a few email addresses that are @houston.rr.com. Those email addresses will be going away sometime later this year (since Comcast has taken over the local Roadrunner operations.

I realize that it is probably hard for people who have those addresses to remember who they need to send updates to. So I created a quick template that said:

I notice that you have one of the Road Runner email addresses that will be expiring soon. Don't forget to let me know your new email address when you get it.

Once I had the simple template completed, all I needed to do was a lookup. In the newer version of ACT (what would you expect me to be using?), I clicked...

1. Lookup, Advanced, Advanced Query
2. Created the query that says Email Address "Contains" "houston.rr.com"
3. Clicked OK.
4. Then I clicked, Write, Mail Merge.... well you can probably take it from there.

So now I have people emailing me back with their new email addresses.

If you are using an older version of ACT!, you could click Lookup, Keyword Search, in the "Search for" area, type houston.rr.com. In the "Search in" area, uncheck all options by "E-mail Addresses." Clicking Find Now will give you the list that you need.