Getting My ACT Together

ACT Tips on Video

2008-01-21T11:48:14Z

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 ...

Kaizen

2008-01-21T11:30:22Z

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 ...

New Year's Again

2008-01-12T11:39:00Z

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 ...

The Most Important Skill We Can Develop

2008-01-12T11:35:32Z

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 ...

Which Sales Rep is Using ACT! ?

2008-01-12T11:44:09Z

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 ...

Attaching Outlook Email to an ACT! Contact

2008-01-12T11:49:26Z

How many of us just click right through the install messages of new software because we are anxious to get started. It is easy sometimes to click so fast that you miss important install instructions.

A long-time ACT user contacted me after hearing my podcast with BusinessWeek and wanted to know how to attach emails in Outlook to his ACT contacts. The ACT! 2008 by Sage (version 10) installation walks you through connecting these two softwares to allow you to do things like this. However, earlier versions informed you during the install that you would need to manually complete an additional step ...

Roadrunner

2007-08-23T14:41:44Z

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 ...

ACT! 2008 Dashboard

2007-08-22T10:06:39Z

What many might not realize is that you can change your Preferences to make the Dashboard your default opening view in ACT! (instead of the normal Contact Detail view where you see your own name each time you open ACT!). This way, I can see my days schedule at a glance and a few other important views. I have modified my Dashboard view so that I also have an activity list of only the calls that I need to return. I have a component that shows only the scheduled appointments for our key consultants in the coming week so I ...

ACT! 2008 Releases

2007-08-22T09:42:59Z

I've been working daily on the ACT! 2008 beta software since late March. It has been an amazingly stable product. Installed great. You can read about the primary new features on my website. ...

BusinessWeek Podcast

2008-01-10T09:47:30Z

Years ago I was introduced to Michelle Nichols by a mutual acquaintance that is a sales trainer. Michelle has since started writing the Savvy Selling column for Business Week. Recently she contacted me and asked if I would like to do a podcast interview with her. (Gee, let me think about that for a few minutes. Do I want a podcast on Business Week?) Of course.I sent her a few articles that I had recently written and she selected the "10 Mistakes that Sales People Make with their CRM" as the basis for our interview. It was a lot of ...