Meanderings of an ACT! Software Trainer

My Top Ten Favourite Sage ACT! Features in 2011

2011-12-22T14:03:00.001Z

As 2011 draws to a close I have been reflecting on the features in ACT! that I use the most, the ones that work best for me. These are not exclusive to the latest version (Sage ACT! 2012), but are just the ones that I've used most this year.

Mailmerge to Letters and E-mail
The ability to merge information into Word documents and Outlook E-mails has been around for a while. This is probably the function I use most. I have stack of around twenty different templates set up which allow me to generate printed documents and e-mails with a couple of clicks. I also frequently use two templates in parallel. For example, I will generate a quotation in Word, then save it as a PDF. I then generate a covering e-mail and attach the PDF. I'm still looking forward to the day I can do this as one process!
Quick Lookups
Like most ACT! users if I'm trying to find stuff in my database I will most likely turn first to the Quick Lookup window at the top-left of the screen. I also run the Default Lookup Field add-on from Exponenciel ( http://www.exponenciel.com/actaddons/actaddon.aspx?ID=142 ) so that the default lookup is Company rather than Contact, which saves a couple of mouse-clicks each time I need to find a company in my database.
Outlook Calendar Sync
This is running constantly in the background, syncing my ACT! and Outlook calendars in both directions. So it doesn't matter whether I'm working in ACT! or Outlook, the calendars are the same. The additional benefit is that my Android phone syncs to Outlook (one way, Outlook to phone), so all my ACT! scheduled appointments turn up on my phone. Once again, I use an add-on, the Advanced Acivity Window from Exponenciel ( http://www.exponenciel.com/actaddons/actaddon.aspx?ID=140 ) so that I can select what contact information is synchronised to Outlook and then to my phone.
Import from Excel
I do a lot of importing data from Excel, and it's great that at long last you can import directly from an Excel spreadsheet without having to save as a csv file first. I can't get myself to trust the automatic field matching, I'm sure it works fine but I prefer to map the fields manually to get that warm cozy feeling that the import will go as expected. The report produced after an import should flag any errors, but to my mind, by then it's too late.
Dynamic Groups
Where would I be without dynamic groups? All my regular queries are saved as dynamic groups so I can select and use the latest information instantaneously. Want to find all the accountants in Birmingham with a shoe-size of 9? Providing you have fields in ACT! to capture the raw information you can set up a dynamic group to select just the contacts you want. I always start a mailmerge by first setting up a dynamic group of the contacts who will receive my words of wisdom.
Edit | Replace
This lesser known function is one that I use all the time, often when out at a customer's site. Want to change the ID/Status of 300 records from Prospect to Customer? Use Edit | Replace to do it in one go.
Create New Fields
Creating new fields to capture relevant bits of information that might be useful to your business is one of the greatfeatures of ACT! Sometimes it takes a little thought where those new fields should appear. Just keep in mind that the ACT! database is made up of different tables, which in turn make up the list views (Contact List, Group List, Company List and Opportunity List). It's really easy to extract and print data from each list and it can also be exported to Excel with one click. Just make sure that any new fields are set up in the right list. For example, I've added a field called Invoice Number. I've put this in the Opportunities area so it appears in the Opportunity list.
Open in Contact Detail View
By default, an ACT! database greets you with the Welcome Screen. This is interesting for about 30 seconds, but then you need to change the view to do something useful. The good news is that you can change the default opening screen to Contacts, Contact List, or Dashboards. (Tools | Preferences | Startup tab | Startup view).
ACT! Analytics
"Never heard of it", I hear you say, and I'm not surprised. For a while it has been possible to generate reports in Excel by using Excel's import wizardry to access your ACT! data via the back door. (You have to have the correct permissions to do this by the way). The latest versions of ACT! come with a utility that allows simple extraction of some basic Tasks and Opportunity information and for that to be displayed in a pivot table. No. Really. This is potentially quite exciting stuff. If you would like more information check out this Knowledgebase article. http://tinyurl.com/cog3rvn
ACT! Scheduler
There's no excuse for not having a backup of your database when you need it, and for not keeping your database in tip-top condition. ACT! has its own scheduler to do these things for you in the background. (Tools | ACT! Scheduler). If your main database resides on a server then set this up there. You can schedule daily backups at some convenient hour in the middle of the night. I suggest you set it up to at least retain the last five backups then delete older ones. You can also schedule database maintenence to run an hor or so later. This checks for any minor glitches and also reindexes you data so it all runs as quickly as possible.

So, there we have it. That's what I use. Surprised there's no mention of Smart Tasks, Universal Search or Google integration? It's just that I dont use them. Others may well do. ACT! is a sales and marketing toolbox. You may not need to use every tool in the box; just pick the ones that work for you!

If you would like some on-site ACT! training or support anywhere in the UK we can help. Just click the link for more information. ACT Training.

May I wish you a happy Christmas holiday and good health for tthe new year.

Jeff

Sage ACT 2012 Service Pack 1 is Released (30 Nov 2011)

2011-11-30T11:14:00.001Z

Today Sage released Sage ACT! 2012 Service Pack 1.

Important: there are regional variations, so if you are in the UK make sure you download the UK version!

Also note that if you upgrade one PC you must upgrade them all (Including your ACT! server).

New Features & Product Improvements

This release addresses some enhancements to data security, and ease of use in the areas of Import/Export and Microsoft® Outlook® integration.

Data Security

Sage ACT! users with Microsoft Outlook and/or Google® integration now have the ability to configure and use those integrations with Sage ACT! over Secure Socket Layer (SSL).

Sage ACT! users who have accepted to participate in Product Enhancement Program (PEP) now have their information sent over Secure Socket Layer (SSL) to the Sage server.

Outlook Integration

Sage ACT! users now have the ability to remove their Outlook activities from Sage ACT! en masse, so that they can revert back to a state prior to Sage ACT! and Outlook activity integration. Users can perform sync again after the process of removal en masse.

Sage ACT! users are able to know what duplicate checking criteria Sage ACT! is using for Microsoft Outlook contacts in the Microsoft Outlook integration setup.

Import

Help file has been updated to include best practices for importing data to Sage ACT!.

Issues Fixed

A number of issues have been fixed, including problems with synchronisation that some users were experiencing.

Full details if issues fixed can be found here: http://kb.sagesoftwareonline.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/28507/kw/2012%20sp1

Service pack 1 can be downloaded here: http://www.act.com/Support-and-Training/Download-Center

If you are outside the USA scroll to the bottom of the page for the international versions. UK comes under EMEA.

To book a training course on ACT 2012 in the UK visit our web site at http://www.bigbluemarketing.co.uk/act-software-training-10-c.asp

Review - Sage ACT! 2012 Cookbook by Karen Fredricks

2011-11-15T15:15:00.001Z

Twenty-four years after being launched on the world, Sage ACT! software remains the world's most popular contact management and entry level CRM programme on the planet. Currently in its 2012 iteration (version 14) it continues to develop into a formidable sales and marketing toolbox.

Karen Fredricks, who has produced many manuals and guides on the use of ACT! now takes a slightly different approach with the Sage ACT! 2012 Cookbook, subtitled; "Over 90 advanced recipes for power-users of ACT! 2012 for increasing the efficiency of your business".

This book is not just about how to "push the buttons", over the 284 pages Karen reveals many of the techniques that can make Sage ACT! 2012 a key tool for your business.

Over thirteen clearly written chapters Karen takes you by the hand and, with a twinkle in her eye, she gently guides you through all the tools that you either didn't know existed or were just too frightened or confused to use.

From the simple but time-saving changes that can be made on starting ACT! such as modifying the NavBar and making the Welcome screen go away, through to more complicated areas such as Smart Tasks, Queries and Email Marketing, Karen takes each in her stride.

Along the way you will also be introduced to the new tools in the box for the 2012 version of ACT! such as Scratchpad, Google Integration and the new Universal Search facility.

The thirteen chapters are:
Chapter 1: Working with the Welcome Page and Navigation Bar
Chapter 2: Jotting Down your Notes Using Scratchpad
Chapter 3: Using Queries to Find Data
Chapter 4: Relating Contact Records
Chapter 5: Integrating Contact Information with Websites
Chapter 6: Grouping your Contacts
Chapter 7: Working with Companies
Chapter 8: Creating Golden Opportunities
Chapter 9: Integrating with Microsoft Outlook
Chapter 10: Integrating with Google
Chapter 11: Performing Routine Maintenance
Chapter 12: Creating an E-marketing Campaign
Chapter 13: Working Smarter with Smart Tasks

Each chapter is divided into consistent sections, starting with a description of the function that's being discussed and why you might want to use it.

"Getting ready" describes what needs to have been prepared before you can complete the task. For example, in the "Sending an outlook message to a single contact", the Getting ready section reads;
There are two things necessary in order to send an ACT! email message with the help of Outlook: -Outlook must be open and fully functional. You've completed the E-mail Setup in ACT! and indicated your preference to use Outlook.
-There is an email address in one of the email fields of the current contact record.

Next comes a section on "How to do it" where each key-press or mouse-click required to do the task in hand is methodically described, along with the relevant screen shots to demonstrate the procedure.

Then comes a "How it works" section which explains what's actually going on as you complete the task.

Finally in each topic comes a "There's more…" section which expands on the options available and adds some useful hints and tips and further discussion about each subject.

Practical examples are used throughout so the reader isn’t confused by jargon and nothing is left to chance; every required mouse click is listed. Although this book is described as being for advanced users, with this level of guidance anyone can follow the steps described in their own ACT! databases.

Chapter 13 on Email Marketing is especially useful for anyone wishing to use the add-on Sage Email Marketing for ACT! facility. This "connected service" is provided by the US company, Swiftpage. Although the Swiftpage service does what it says on the tin, the process itself is fairly mind-boggling and far from intuitive. Thankfully, once again Karen breaks down the process into easily digestible pieces so that the process is demystified.

Without having the book in front of you it's difficult to convey just how brilliant it is. Karen's experience in producing training materials shines through on every page.

If you want to use ACT! as more than an address book you need this guide. If you have already been using ACT! for a number of years you will still learn a huge amount by working through this book.

Did you know you can duplicate Secondary Contacts?
No, neither did I.

http://www.packtpub.com/sage-act-2012-cookbook/book
Jeff Granger
ACT! Trainer in the UK

www.bigbluemarketing.co.uk
ACT Training

Hosted ACT! for Web (Or, ACT! for Web Made Easy)

2011-10-28T11:20:00.001+01:00

We all know that Sage ACT! is the top-selling contact management and entry-level CRM software in the world. It is used by millions of people to manage their working day and their customer reationships.

Nearly all of these people have ACT! installed on their computers.

Which is fine.

What's less well known is that there's another way to get all the benefits of ACT! without having to install any software at all, ACT! for Web.

Now ACT! for Web has been around for many years now. Infact, the very first job I did as an ACT! consultant was an ACT! for Web (Version 6) installation fo a labelling company north of Manchester.

Traditionally, the client sets up their own web server, and we then install ACT for Web on that server. The people using ACT! then access the system via a web browser (e.g. Internet Explorer).
The benefits are:

There's no software to install and maintain on the clients' computers.
Upgrades and maintenence are therefore much easier.
There are no hardware issues; providing you have IE8 or 9 it just works.
No software means no drain on you PCs' resources so your computer runs faster.
You can work from anywhere you have an internet connection; no LANs, WANs or VPNs to worry about.

However, if the concept of setting up and maintaining a Web Server makes you shudder, there is now an easier way; Hosted ACT for Web.

We have partnered with a UK datacentre who do all the techie stuff. You just pay a monthly charge and you are up an running with you very own secure ACT! for Web database that you can access through your web browser.

And it's fast. You could be up and running in just a day or two.

The basic system gives you up to five ACT! users, but you can have as many as you want (up to 100). Each user has their own unique User Name and Password so your data is secure.

The system is ideal for sales teams who work from home and for remote workers.

Back-ups, Windows updates and ACT updates are all taken care of, and we can also help with the initial configuration of your database and importing any existing data you may have. We can also provide an on-site ACT training day to get you off to a flying start.

For more information and for a quote, call me on 0845 603 6755 or visit our web site http://www.bigbluemarketing.co.uk/act-for-web-hosted-49-c.asp

ACT Hints and Tips - Add an "All Contacts" button to your Tool-bar.

2011-09-16T15:03:00.001+01:00

Here's a great tip which just helps to speed things up when using ACT!
When working witth ACT! we often do Lookups to select a sub-set of our Contact records. It might be all of our Prospects, everyone who is in Birmingham, or something completely different.
We can tell that we are working with just a selection of the database rather than the whole thing in a couple of ways.
Firstly, the big number in the top menu bar will be smaller than usual.
Secondly, if you look at the very bottom left of the ACT screen, just above the Windows Start button, you will see the Lookup status.
It will either say Lookup: All Contacts or Lookup: <Field Name>. where the field name is the name of the field used for tthe current Lookup. Bet you hadn't spotted that!

So we've done our Lookup, but how on earth do we get back out of it so we can work on all of our contact records again?
Well, the traditional way is to Click "Lookup" then "All Contacts" from the menu-bar.
Well here's a way that is a little more obvious and will save you a click every time.
We can add an "All Contacts" button to the tool-bar.
Here's how to do it.
Right-click in a blank part of the ACT! tool-bar (on the right somewhere).

Select Customise... at the bottom. The "Customise Menus and Toolbars" window appears.
Select "Lookup" in the Categories window and "Lookup All" in the Command window
Now, holding the mouse down, drag "Lookup All" to the ACT! tool-bar then let go of the mouse.
You can put the new button anywhere you like but to the right of the >| arrow seems logical to me.
Now Close that window and you are ready to go.
Whenever you are in a lookup and want to return to all of your contacts, just click the "All Contacts" button!

What's more, you can add this button to both your Contact Detail View and your Contact List View.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Enjoy.

For on-site ACT Training with lots more useful hints and tips you won't find in the manuals just click the link below,
ACT Training

Map of Big Blue Marketing ACT! Training Customers

2011-09-09T10:07:00.001+01:00

I have always worked on the principle that the best and most relevant training is delivered on-site at the customers' premises where we can use the client's own ACT! database as part of the training programme.
As a result, I travel thousands of miles a year the length and breadth of the UK.
To prove the point, here's the latest map showing where all out customers are located.
The map was created using data from our own ACT! 2012 database.
Want to know how?
If you would like ACT Training delivered at your premises click the link!

ACT Hints and Tips - ACT! 2012 Set up Web Info Tab for Gmail

2011-09-09T09:39:00.001+01:00

ACT!'s built in email functionality does not integrate with Gmail. However, you can send Gmails from Sage ACT! from the Web Info tab by setting up a custom web link: https://mail.google.com/mail/?view=cm&fs=1&tf=1&to={E-mail}
Selecting this link in Web Info tab will have a Gmail new mail message ready for writing with the e-mail address of the contact preloaded in the To field.

Breaking News - HandHeld Contact for iPad available in October 2011

2011-09-07T15:36:00.001+01:00

Breaking News..

Just heard that the popular Sage ACT! 2012 add-on package Handheld Contact is launching a version compatible with the iPad in late October.

This is the first ACT Add-on partner to offer a method of getting your Sage ACT! 2012 data onto your iPad without resorting to a web link.

Unlike other applications, Handheld Contact is famous for achieving integrations by installing a separate application on portable devices rather than using the native calendar and contacts applications. This allows them to have full control over both the synchronisation process and the user interface.

This really is great news for all the sales teams out there with iPads who are longing to use them with thir ACT! data.

Now perhaps I can justifying and iPad on expenses!

I will post more news as soon as I have it.

Remember, for all your ACT Training needs in the UK call me, Jeff Granger on 0845 603 6755

Or click here: ACT Training

Sage ACT! 2012 - What's it all about?

2011-09-07T15:23:00.001+01:00

Sage ACT! 2012 makes it easy for you to manage anything and everything related to your contacts and calendar. Think of it like your business’ command center that serves up relevant relationship details and also connects to powerful, subscription-based sales and marketing services, desktop and web-based productivity tools, and social media to help you get results. Here’s how.

With Sage ACT!, you have organized access to the full spectrum—from basic contact info to rich customer history, even back-office updates[1], so you’re in the know, instantly. Make the most of your work day with features that manage tasks related to and unrelated to your contacts, like personal to-dos. Even setup Smart Tasks to automatically trigger and perform tasks for you. Generate buzz for your business and turn new opportunities into paying customers when you connect to Sage Business Info Services for ACT![2] and Sage E-marketing for ACT![3]. These services fill your pipeline with highly-targeted leads[4] from Hoover’s™, and make it easy for you to create, send, and track email marketing campaigns. And, work seamlessly with the tools you rely on every day, like Microsoft® Outlook®, Gmail®, LinkedIn®, and more.

We are now able to offer ACT! 2012 training courses at YOUR premises, using YOUR ACT! database, and tailored to YOUR requirements.

For more information click the link below.

Find out more about ACT Training for your company.

[1] This feature is not available in Sage ACT! Premium (access via web).

[2] Requires additional subscription.

[3] Requires additional subscription.

[4] 400 leads per month are included in the Reference + Leads service level. Additional leads are sold in blocks of 400.

ACT! 2012 Training Courses Available

2011-09-07T15:03:00.001+01:00

New ACT! Training Courses for Sage ACT! 2012

The new Sage ACT! 2012 is now available, and here at bigbluemarketing we are ready to deliver on-site training at your premises on the new version of ACT! Including all the new features.

New features include:

Google e-mail (gmail) synchronisation.
Google Calendar Synchronisation.
Google Contacts Synchronisation.

Universal Search – a fast way to find things in attached documents.

Scratchpad – your own electronic notepad. Make notes now and sync to ACT! Later.

Sage ACT! 2012 - A First Review

2011-08-31T13:06:00.000+01:00

There are few things that can be relied on with any degree of certainty in this world, but the month of September is when you will notice the days getting shorter, the leaves starting to turn golden and fall from the trees, and Sage will release a new version of ACT! software. And this year is no exception as Sage ACT! 2012 hits the streets.

Early indications were that this year the main emphasis on this new release would focus on consolidating the basic code and making the whole package solid and robust, and it’s difficult to argue with this philosophy.

Evidently, the marketing department then decided that software that "just works" wasn’t going to be enough to justify the upgrade fee for existing users, so a few new bells and whistles were dreamed up for the new release.

Before getting into the details, it’s important to realise that ACT!, sorry, that’s “Sage ACT!”, exists in three distinct flavours.

The “standard” version is called ACT! Pro, the fully featured version is called ACT! Premium. Now I don’t know whether the nuances of this terminology are different in the USA but to my British ears the term “Pro” says “Professional” and doesn’t distinguish itself from the term “Premium” which sounds to me about the same. Just to confuse the issue further, a few years ago both the standard and premium versions were both referred to as “ACT! Professional” in the UK.

So, what are the differences between Pro and Premium? Well, not a great deal to be frank. Pro has 90% of the features of Premium, and a few of the other features are restricted in Pro. There’s a maximum of 10 users in Pro, no limited access facility, no field level access control, no resource scheduling and no network synchronisation capability, though you can still synchronise a remote database providing the programme is actually running on your server. There are other differences, some of which seem inconsistent. For example, both Pro and Premium offer Dashboard reporting, but in ACT! Pro the reports are restricted to the person logged in; you can’t get company-wide reports on Pro Dashboards. However you can get company-wide information from the traditional text reports.

I mentioned there were three flavours of ACT!, well the third is ACT! for Web. In the UK this is currently bundled in the box free of charge when you buy ACT! Premium. Essentially it is ACT! Premium with the extra bits needed to publish the database to an IIS web server which you need to host yourself (or use one of the paid-for ACT! hosting services). The nice thing is that, in the UK at least, the licenses are mix-and-match so you can log in through both the desk-top application and through a web browser using the same credentials. Sage ACT! 2012 sees the introduction of support for browser access using Internet Explorer 9 and Firefox 4.

Having set the scene, let’s get down to the main event.

One of the much trumpeted new features is Google integration. For this you will need a Gmail account, and it doesn’t work with Google Business accounts, which seems like an oversight for a piece of business software like ACT! The thinking behind this is that lots of the young people coming into business already use Google for email, contacts and calendar and this allows them to continue using the tools they are familiar with. I have to say that personally I’ve never been asked by any business for this facility, but others may get the request all the time, so let’s accept it’s a good thing to have. like ACT!

Like the existing Outlook integration you set up Google integration in three distinct parts, email, calendar and contacts (you can have one two or all three). Basically, it works. The main limitations are that you need to be connected to the internet (doh), and more seriously, as with the Outlook integration, the contacts synchronisation into ACT! is all or nothing. The other strange thing (unless I've missed something) is that there's no connection between the E-Mail icon in ACT! and G-mail. In other words, if I link ACT! to Outlook for email, when I click the large E-mail icon or an e-mail address in ACT! a pre-addressed new email window pops up in Outlook. There's no such functionality with G-mail. You have to cut and paste the email address into a new G-mail window, which seems not much like an integration at all. The only "integration" is that your G-mail inbox and sent-box get polled at a pre-defined interval and any new emails there are copied to the relevant ACT! contact's history record, providing the email addresses match. Whilst I can see the potential benefit of this feature, my main concern is (as with Outlook) if the feature is turned on you risk importing everyone’s Google Contact “friends” into your business-critical sales database.

The second new toy is called “Universal Search” which provides a more “Google-like” search capability (anyone detecting a theme here?). The main difference between Universal Search and the existing Keyword search is that the new search engine can look inside attached files as well as in the usual fields, notes and history. The order in which the results are displayed will make you scratch you head, but there is a logic to it if you know what it is. The main limitation of Universal Search is that you can only select one item from the search results; you can’t select three or four and do a lookup. In reality it does what it does extremely well. Just keep in mind this is a way of finding a single item you’ve mislaid somewhere in your database. For everything else use the standard Lookup/Advanced Query options.

The next item to keep you amused is called ScratchPad. No that’s not something you use for cleaning the oven, and it’s not a way of entering the national lottery. It’s a notepad. If you remember “SideACT!” in ACT! version 6 you get the picture. So it’s a little utility application that can run independently of ACT! where you can scribble your to-do list. You can later sync your ScratchPad with ACT!, but only if ACT! is running.

Other changes include a Services Discoverability button which opens a screen like the Welcome Page which describes and has links to the Sage ACT! Connected subscription services such as the Email Marketing and Business Information Services. The concept that there are millions of ACT! users out there who simply didn’t know they could link to these external services seems a bit unlikely, but as more Connected Services are introduced this does at least provide a tidy way of presenting them.

One of the new Connected Services is Sage ACT! Connect. This has evolved from the ACT! Mobile Live subscription service which allows users to synchronise some of their ACT! data to their mobile phones. You can still do this, but the difference is that the data goes via a Sage-hosted web site where the same data can be viewed via a browser. Now the data that can be accessed in this way is limited to the usual Contact address fields and the last five notes/history items. You can’t view Opporunities through this method. There’s also no support for international phone numbers. However, if the limited amount of information that is available is all you require then this service may be for you. It gives you another way to access your database information whilst on the move. If your phone/device is one of those that can’t sync to the data (e.g. iPhone/iPad) you might still be able to access it on the Sage ACT! Connect portal through a web browser. The costs for this service vary from country to country.

One rather scary feature of the ACT! Connect portal, designed to appeal yet again to the Twitterati, is the ability to import yet more “friends” from their Facebook Google and Yahoo accounts. Once again, why anyone would want their sales and marketing database corrupted by importing twaddle in this way is beyond me. If you are using ACT! to run the local flower-arranging society it possible has a value but for business to business relationships I fail to see the point.

There have also been some improvements to existing functionality.

Firstly, the installation process has been streamlined and made faster. There’s also a database discovery facility which makes it easier to find ACT! databases on your computer if you have more than one and you've lost it (and it’s on your computer). Smart-Tasks have seen modest improvements and the Outlook integration has been tweaked to allow for larger time frames when syncing calendars.

One final flourish is that if you import data from spread-sheets you now get a report when it’s done to tell you all went well or what went wrong, if indeed it did. Whilst I would have preferred a report at the beginning of the process to tell me what is going to go wrong before I do the import, it’s a welcome addition.

So there we have it.

To be sure, the major additions in functionality will be useful to those who use them, and the minor tweaks and under the bonnet improvements in speed and reliability will be welcomed by everyone else.

I just worry slightly that ACT! is losing its way in the rush to embrace social networking in an attempt to attract the trendy young managers and sales people whilst at the same time trying to keep existing users on board. There are some things in business that have to be fairly routine and we should make these as easy to do as possible, but I sense the marketing forces within Sage are losing sight of the requirement for continuing development of the core system and are instead trying to appeal to the social networking generation. My biggest concern is that in doing this the potential for erroneously importing unwanted information into our sales and marketing databases has increased enormously.

All in all, even if we ignore the new headline features that you may or may not use, the modest improvements to speed, reliability and functionality are welcome, and anyone with a version of ACT! more than a year old will benefit from an upgrade to the latest offering.

For further information on ACT! 2012 visit www.bigbluemarketing.co.uk

If you would like on-site ACT! training on any version of ACT! visit our ACT Training pages at ACT Training

Using ACT! To Mind Your “P”s and “C”s

2011-08-16T16:26:00.000+01:00

As an ACT! Software Trainer I show people how to utilise the functionality of the Sage ACT! CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system. However, I want to show more, much more, than just how to “Push the Buttons”. I want people to see how ACT! can be the key sales and marketing tool in their business.

There’s a classic saying that we don’t buy an electric drill because we need a new power tool, we buy it because we need a hole. The same goes for software. By and large companies don’t invest in shiny new CRM software just to give their IT people and sales managers something to do (usually), but because they wish to use the software tool to increase their organisational capabilities and to increase sales.

ACT! is not about software, it’s about MARKETING.

Classically, marketing is divided onto four components, the 4 “P”s

• Product – The product or service you are trying to sell.
• Price – The selling price to your target market.
• Place – Where to place your product so it will be seen and purchased.
• Promotion – Telling the world about what you have to sell.

However, in the modern world this looks rather dated and “seller orientated”. So, a new customer-centric version was devised, the 4 “C”s.

• Customer Needs – Don't think "Product", think what the customer requires.
• Cost – What’s the overall cost to the buyer (think time as well as money).
• Convenience – How easy is it for customers to purchase your product.
• Communication – Using both inbound and outbound promotions to generate awareness and desire.

The emphasis has shifted. The customer is king and the internet provides almost limitless opportunities for customers to gather information and make their choices.

So, where does ACT! come in?

A CRM package like ACT! can greatly assist marketeers in two ways.

Firstly, a well-constructed database can yield essential information on the historical choices that customers have made. We can crunch the numbers in our sales records to reveal buying trends so we can begin predict the future requirements of our target market. Just as importantly, we can analyse the reasons why we lost sales; do our products and services still meet customers’ needs or has the world moved on?

However, it’s not just about the numbers, important thought they are. We should encourage our sales people to concisely record significant conversations they have had with clients within the database. A sales manager can gain an invaluable insight into the state of the market by taking a few minutes to browse these written comments. Yes, you can conduct customer surveys, but how often have you filled one of these in yourself and thought “I’ve answered all the questions but I still haven’t had the chance to give the real reason I don’t like your service”! Don’t underestimate the value of this information at your disposal.

In a similar way, analysing the sales figures from within our ACT! database can provide a clue to which distribution channels work best. Which are the most convenient for the customer.The second area where ACT! can have a strong input into our marketing mix is in communication with your customer base. By grouping our contacts into market segments we can devise and deploy highly targeted messages to each group.

This can be telephone selling (telemarketing), paper mailshots, or email marketing. ACT! handles the first two straight out of the box.

For telemarketing we can generate our targeted call list for the day. If we have a successful call this can be noted in ACT! along with the follow-up activities required to move through the sales process. If no contact is made the call remains in the Task List until we get through.

For paper mailshots, templates can be designed in Microsoft Word and key information can be merged into the template from the contact records. The more personal and relevant you can make it the better, so we might merge not only the recipient’s name but also the name of their account manager and possibly some product or market terms pulled from their ACT! records. Once sent, we can easily lookup which of the contacts in our database received the mailing and schedule follow-up activities.

For email marketing ACT! users can subscribe to the built-in Sage Email Marketing for ACT! module which allows professional -looking promotional pieces to be developed and distributed to target audiences directly through the Swiftpage servers. The send time can be scheduled to maximise the potential open rate and the recipients’ responses are scored, making it easy to see who is most interested in our message and is therefore most likely to benefit from a follow up communication.In addition, the new “Web-Info” facility within ACT! makes it possible to gain additional insights about clients by tapping in to their social/business networking activities. We can set up links to Twitter, LinkedIn and other sites so that we can view what prospects and clients are talking about on the networks whenever we view their contact record. A good way to be ahead of the game in spotting new trends and developments.

So whether we think in terms of “P”s or “C”s our sales and marketing activities will be much better structured and controlled by using a CRM product such as ACT!

For more information about Sage ACT! software visit http://www.bigbluemarketing.co.uk/

Using ACT! as a Service Database

2011-04-14T14:43:00.000+01:00

Sage ACT! software was originally designed for sales people and very successful it has been too. One of the great things about ACT! is that it is easily customised to meet the requirements of the user and this is just one of the things we help you do when we come on site for an ACT Training day.

One neat customisation is to set up ACT! to work as a Service Database.

Now, one feature of running a service operation is that you probably want to keep track of the specific bits of kit that clients have under contract (e.g. model numbers and serial numbers). The other component is the ability to track "Tickets", i.e. open service requests.

Whilst we could start adding fields to the front Contact screen there's potentially a problem. Although you could easily add a "Model" and "Serial Number" field to the screen what do you do if a client has more than one item under contract? Your first thought is that we could add multiples of each field, so "Model 1", "Model 2", "Model 3" etc, which is fine providing no client ever has more that three items under contract.

The problem is that, in database jargon, this is a "one-to-many" relationship. In other words each single client could have one, two or fifty items under contract, you never know what the maximum number is going to be.

One company I know creates a Contact record for the actual name of the contact and company which has a service contract then they create a new contact record (by duplicating the original contact record) for each piece of kit under contract, and they put the serial number of that piece of equipment in the contact name field. Now although this seems a bit clunky it actually works quite well since you can record notes and history against each peice of equipment and it's eask yo look up a serial number and see the service history of that piece of equipment.

Another approach is to utilise one of the existing one-to-many tables in ACT! One that works quite well is the Opportunities feature. Normally used for creating a list of potential sales, the Opportunities can easily be customised for the service function. Firstly, you can add a new Sales/Stage Process called Service and then you can create a new set of Stages, such as New Ticket, Problem Diagnosed, Site Visit Required, Parts on Order, Ticket closed, to track the ststus of each service ticket. You can then add fields to record part Model Number and Serial Number etc to the Opportunity. One of the nice things about this approach is that you can use the Notes and History tabs within the Opportunity to add more detailed information on the work being done to fix the problem.

What's more, you can use the filters on Opportunity List View to select just the Service items, just the open service items or whatever. You can also use the standard "Export List to Excel" and the standard Sales Reports to summarise and report on the service business.

Another approach is to use one of the great add-on packages that are available at extra cost that do this really well buy utilising the hidden "custom tables" facility within ACT! These will give you additional functionality, but if your "road warriers" are accessing ACT! through the Web interface check that these add-ons can also be accessed over the web before buying!

If you think you business could benefit from some expert ACT! training and advice you can contact us through our web site.

www.bigbluemarketing.co.uk

How to Justify Buying an iPad 2 on Expenses

2011-03-28T13:33:00.000+01:00

Bob, I need to buy an iPad2, It’s essential for my work as a salesman.

Couldn't you use a laptop?

No, they’re too bulky and too slow to fire up.

So, you could use a laptop, but you prefer not to. So how about swapping your laptop for the iPad?

No, I definitely need both. The laptop is for writing reports and creating spreadsheets, the iPad is for other essential stuff.

Such as?

Checking e-mails.

That’s what your Blackberry is for.

Checking directions to client’s premises.

Please don’t tell me you plan to be looking at your iPad whilst driving?

Checking client’s share prices.

Do we care about our client’s share prices?

We might if they’re going down the toilet.

Granted.

I need an iPad to update our Sage ACT CRM database on the move.

Tell me if I’m wrong but ACT! don’t have an iPad App, do they?

True, but if I sign up to the additional Handheld Contact service I can get all my ACT! CRM information on my iPad.

All your information?

I can get some of my ACT! CRM information on my iPad.

So this is a extra cost service?

It will save a fortune in the long run.

If I ever see a single charge for iTunes you’re fired.

Fair enough.

Need Sage ACT! - http://www.bigbluemarketing.co.uk/act-by-sage-2011-v13-1-c.asp

Need Handheld Contact for iPad - http://www.handheldcontact.com/products-sync_act_with_iphone.php

Floor Screen Using Explanation

2010-06-14T10:56:00.000+01:00

Last week I purchased a portable projector screen to use on clients' premises when I'm running an ACT! by Sage training course.

Not surprisingly, the facilities available vary enormously from company to company. Some have state of the art training rooms complete with projectors and interactive whiteboards, whilst others have only the office they work in and a beige coloured wall on which to shine a projector.

And so it was that the decision was made to buy a portable screen.

The screen that was delivered was, to be honest, larger than I had envisaged, and I'm not totally convinced that it will even fit width-ways in the car.

However, any design problems were forgiven after reading the instructions that came in the box.

I don't know why, but I suspect the writer did not have English as their first language.

ACT! by Sage Trivia - The Duke

2009-07-28T15:10:00.000+01:00

ACT! users are probably familiar with the Demo database that gets installed with ACT!, but what might have escaped you is the fact that some of the Contacts and Company names in the ACT! demo database have connections with films and film stars.

Duke Industries is named after "The Duke", John Wayne. The contacts in Duke Industries also have John Wayne connections, including....

Nathan Cutting Brittles: John Wayne's character in the film "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon", (1949)
Kirby York: John Wayne's character in the film "Fort Apache", (1948)
Ethan Edwards: John Wayne's character in the film "The Searchers", (1956)
John Chance: John Wayne's character in the film "Rio Bravo", (1956)
Sam McCord: John Wayne's character in the film "North to Alaska", (1960)
Stony Brooke: John Wayne's character in the film "Santa Fe Stampeed", (1938).
Rockwell Torrey: John Wayne's character in the film "Rio Grande", (1950)
Marion Morrison: John Wayne's real name. (1907 – 1979)

If you find any more celebrity connections, please let me know at ACT.Celebrities@bigbluemarketing.co.uk

Pendolino Man

2009-06-09T12:40:00.000+01:00

Pendolino Man

A remarkable discovery has thrown the world of anthropology into turmoil. Until now it has been commonly accepted that the Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis ), the sub-humanoid creatures that inhabited Western Europe until around 40000 years ago had become extinct, having been wiped out by the forerunners of modern day man (Homo sapiens).

There is now strong evidence to suggest that in fact the socially inept Neanderthals were not completely wiped out as previously thought, but that a small group survived and then evolved into an entirely new species, tentatively called Homo pendolinus or "Pendolino Man".

Modern day Pendolino Man looks in every way similar to Homo sapiens which is the result of convergent evolution, whereby species under the same environmental influences tend to acquire the same physical attributes in order to be competitive within that environment. However Pendolino Man is the first recorded example of a new species being defined not by anatomical attributes but by socio-psychological ones.

To understand this we have to look at the social behaviour of their ancestors. Whereas Homo sapiens was socially advanced, forming large communal networks, the weakness of the Neanderthals lay in their inability to form social groups, which in turn lead to their failure to move from a hunter / gatherer existence to a more advanced farming culture.This ineptitude of the species has been carried through to modern times and is best exhibited on crowded commuter trains in the early morning or in the evening. Pendolino Man can be recognised by his overwhelming desire to ensure that no-one else is sitting next to him.

Pendolino man employs a number of different strategies in a psychological battle against possible occupants of the adjoining seat.

The first part of the strategy is in the initial booking of a seat on the train. Although Pendolino man finds any sort of social interaction extremely unpleasant, he will out of necessity go through the procedure of pre-booking his seat. This is now helped of course by the fact that you can do this on-line rather than having to talk to a real person. The key point here is that they will always book a window seat, with a table and power socket. Now, when they get to their allocated seat they do not sit in the one they booked, but the one next to it, by the aisle of the train. This ingenious piece of evolved behaviour has a number of effects which deter potential occupants of the empty seat.Firstly, any passenger looking for somewhere to sit will see the empty seat and then check the display above to see if it has been reserved. The display of course will be showing the window seat as reserved, and the occupied aisle seat as free, so it looks like the occupant of the aisle seat simply beat them to an available position.

The next ploy is to fill the reserved window seat and table with as much stuff as possible, so Pendolino man's coat goes on the table and his bag goes on the seat. There is now immense psychological pressure on any foreign invader eying up the vacant seat since they now have three barriers to overcome. Are they going to sit in a reserved seat? Are they going to ask Pendolino Man to get up to let them occupy the reserved seat? And are they also going to ask Pendolino Man to move all of his stuff? I think not.

However, our cunning Neanderthal traveller has not finished there. He has even more weapons in his armoury.The most important of these is.... his laptop computer. This delivers a triple-whammy. In the first place it puts another physical barrier directly between a potential invader and the empty seat. Secondly, by appearing to be filling in some complicated spreadsheet Pendolino Man not only looks engrossed in vital calculations of national significance, but he can also completely avoid eye contact with standing passengers, who would therefore now have to both attract his attention and interrupt his work in order to access the empty seat. The coup de grace however is the laptop power lead. This he plugs in to the only socket by the window and ensures that the adapter goes on the seat on top of his coat and the cables are clearly visible on top of the table. This one behaviour alone is enough to render most Homo sapiens completely helpless. The thought of having to ask Pendolino Man to unplug his laptop is just too much of a social leap and frankly they would rather stand all the way from London to Birmingham rather than face the embarrassment of trying to shift our Neanderthal.

So there we have it, Pendolino Man is alive and well. If you want to check the facts for themselves just hop aboard the 17:23 from Euston to Wolverhampton on any Friday evening and you will be able to see their strange rituals being performed in almost every carriage whilst large numbers of the timid Homo sapiens stand in groups outside the toilets.

Jeff

Bing!

2009-06-04T16:22:00.000+01:00

A new search engine was launched by Microsoft on Monday this week. It's called "Bing".

I wonder how long it took the marketing department to come up with that one.

It's unique selling point is that it is supposed to be more intelligent than Google, so the idea is that if you search for "Strawberry Jam" it recognises that you are looking information on preserves and not for stuff relating to a 1980s pop group.

Anyway, I've been doing some SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) recently and our position on Google has been steadily improving, so I couldn't resist seeing where we appeared in the Bing listings. So, I typed ACT Software Training in the search box, selected UK search and hit return.

And there we were....

Number one.

First

Top of the page

Numero Uno

Ahead of all the rest

Four days later we are still there. I must be doing something right!

Jeff

ACT! Users Need Rules, Boundaries and Limitations. Part 1 - Rules

2009-04-27T17:36:00.000+01:00

As any ACT! Whisperer will tell you, if you really want to be the master of your ACT! software you have to impose some rules, boundaries and limitations on the users.

The point is this, you need to be able to control what what contacts and information is going into your database and in what format.

In part we can achieve this by configuring the ACT! database settings to restrict who can access specific records ("boundaries") and what what they can enter in any specific field ("limitations). But that still leaves many fields which by their nature have to allow free text entry. To control the data entry in these fields we need some guidelines, a style-sheet, some ACT! Rules.

So, take a single sheet of paper and give it a title ACT! Rules

Now write down exactly what you want your ACT! users to put in your database and how you require them to enter that information. Then get everyone together and explain the rules. Tell them why they are being imposed. Get a sign off from everyone that they understand what is required of them. Everyone gets a printed copy of the ACT! Rules!

Let me give you an example.

Let's define exactly what categories of contacts are going to go into our database. Looks like a no-brainer doesn't it. Customers and Prospects of course.

So what about "Suspects" (= unqualified leads)?
Or Sub-Contractors?
Or Your Suppliers?
Or Your Business Professionals (e.g. your accountant)?
Or Your Personal Contacts?
Or Competitors?
Or Our own employees? (ACT! users will be there by default).

See what I mean; the list could go on and on.

Now, there are no rights and wrongs, here, it's for each business to decide what information they need to capture. If there is one guiding principle however it is that ACT! is primarily a Sales and Marketing tool for your business, and anything that dilutes the quality of the contacts in ACT! should be left out.
So our first rule might read.

Rule 1. Contacts to be entered: Customers, Prospects, and Employee's only.

Next, let us define the style we are going to use when filling in data. We want "Proper" formating, i.e. names with a leading capital and the rest of each word in lower case. Why? well what ever you type in is exactly how it's going to be printed out if we generate a letter or other document from ACT! so it matters.

Rule 2. All names and addresses to be entered in "Proper" format, i.e John Smith

Now define how you want to handle those critical full stops (periods if you are on the other side of the pond) in abbreviations. If you have a contact called "R Jones" do you enter the name as "R Jones" or R. Jones"? That full stop is probably one of the main reasons contacts get missed out when doing a lookup. If I do a lookup for "R Jones" and the name is in ACT! as "R. Jones" you won't find him. Again, there's no right or wrong, but make a decision and stick to it. My own rule is that I never put stops in data fields in my database.

Rule 3. Never use fullstops in abbreviations

Next, what's the minimum amount of information you will accept in a new contact record? The answer depends a little on what you are going to do with the data, but assuming you are probably going to send a letter, an email and make a phone call at some point you require.

Rule 4. The minnimum information required before creation a new record in ACT! is as follows:
1.Surname
2.First name or at least an initial (having just a first name really confuses ACT!)3.Full postal address including Zip/Postcode
4.Telephone Number
5.E-Mail
6.Your business might also require additional information. If so, specify it.

Rule 5. Who are the ACT! Database Administrators (best to have more then one).

Rule 6. Who is responsible for ACT! Database Maintenance and Backups?

Get the idea? The ACT! Database administrator is also responsible for periodically checking that the rules are being followed and for taking remedial action if they are not. By applying some rules we can control what's being entered into our ACT! database, which means that records are easy to find, and we dont have mistakes and omissions when we are doing searches or setting up groups later on.

If you would like more information about on-site ACT! training and coaching in the UK please visit my web site at http://www.bigbluemarketing.co.uk/act-software-training-10-c.asp

A Strange Coincidence

2009-04-23T14:07:00.000+01:00

Now here's a stange thing.

Yesterday I went to a place called Hale near Manchester to run some ACT! training for a PR company there.

As far as I can recall it's the first time I've ever been to Hale, and what a lovely little place it is. The high street is quite up market and full of coffee shops, bistros, art galleries and the like. All very bohemian, and no doubt not unknown to the Manchester United team and thier other halves.

Anyway, the training all went well, and that was that.

This morning item three on my ACT! to-do list was to create another ACT! training video, which I did. It was only after it was done that I spotted that the ACT! Contact that I had used from the Demo database for the video was "Lucy Connor" of "Studio Designs". Guess where the ficticious Lucy is based? That's right, Hale, near Manchester.

Spooky or what?

If you want to see the short videos you can see them here http://tinyurl.com/cgubo6

I'll be adding more as time goes on so you might want to bookmank the page.

Jeff

Social Networking and CRM Make Poor Bedfellows

2009-04-23T14:03:00.000+01:00

Social networking is the new black. It’s huge, and it’s not too surprising that it has already been exploited by commercial interests. This is a shame. It seems that every time someone comes up with a new site to “make friends and chat” it gets taken over by commercial interests keen on finding a new way to make a buck.

A whole new raft of “Social Networking Marketing Consultants” has sprung up like the little fleas on the bigger fleas to help businesses sell more though this medium, whilst at the same time developing their own careers.

There is no doubt that a great deal of business will be done through this route. At its simplest level the premise is that customers will make buying decisions based on recommendations offered by the social networking community. The idea is that a “personal” recommendation is more persuasive than the conventional sources of information from advertising and promotions alone.

This new fad has not escaped the providers of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software who are now rushing to see how they can integrate the social networking sites into their business sales and marketing software.
Can I be the only person on the planet who sees this as a largely pointless exercise in the Business to Business world?

If I look at my own customer database less than 5% of the contacts are Jo Public, the rest are Businesses.The reality is that I can now go to a named contact in my database and have it automatically pull related information from social networking and other web sites. Now updating my contact records with qualified, meaningful data such as stock market price, business news, or such-like can undoubtedly add value, but linking social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter is unlikely to bring much to the table.

I may be fascinated to know that Tania of Manchester is having cornflakes for breakfast, or that Stephen Fry is currently walking through Horse Guards Parade (he actually is, apparently) but unless I’m planning to sell Tania cornflakes or Stephen Fry an A-Z map of London the information is of no value to my business and frankly I want it nowhere near by carefully developed and lovingly maintained CRM database. Let’s face it, most of what is written on social networking sites is banal twaddle.

I’m sure there is money to be made out of exploiting the social networking sites, but for those of us in the B2B environment they are of little more than a distraction to the real work in hand.

Brush Your Teeth - Check and Repair

2009-04-16T10:50:00.000+01:00

I had a desperate email from an ACT! user yesterday who was still using ACT! 6 (there are a lot of you out there - you know who you are..).

Problem was that ACT! simply refused to open.

The common reason for this is that the user has not be regularly doing "database mainenance" on their ACT! database.

Look, a database is not a 'fridge. With a fridge I can reasonably expect that I can use it many times a day for years on end without a problem. A database (any database) is (a) a complicated thing, and (b) is made up of thousands upon thousands of files on your computer. Here's the news: files break, get over-written and corrupted. There, I've said it. Under normal circumstances, just by using your computer, something will eventually break. Call it entropy theory or Sods Law, but as sure as night follows day it will eventually break.

Fortunately, ACT! comes with some tools which minimise the chances of this happening in the first place and other tools that might be able to fix things if they have gone wrong.

Firstly, we have "Check and Repair". This can be found under Tools > Database Maintenance. (in ACT! 6 it's called Compress and Re-Index). Run this at least once a week.You can think of this as general house-keeping. I makes sure everything is neat and tidy and is therefore running as quickly as possible. In ACT! 2009 (V11) you can even schedule this to happen automatically, which I do myself, daily along with scheduling a daily backup.

Next option is to head for ACT! Diagnostics. This is a little known utility which gets installed by default whenever you install ACT! It is usually recommended that you don't play with this unless you know what you are doing as it can have a detrimental effect if used wrongly. However you will have at your disposal a range of maintenance options (depends on the version of ACT! you have). With ACT6 you can get the details here http://tinyurl.com/d75p3w . Running "Scan and Repair" until you get all green ticks will often sort out problems of ACT!6 databases not opening correctly.

So minimise potential problems by following a simple rule; brush your teeth, take a shower, backup ACT! then check and repair your ACT! Database daily for a healthier, stress free life.

A New Release of ACT! Hits the Streets

2009-03-11T13:01:00.000Z

Hot news! I've just heard that ACT! 2009 V11.10 will be available from 21st March 2009.

So, what changes have been made to ACT! 2009 v11.10?

ACT! 2009 v11.10 introduces a number of software improvements, which are documented in Knowledgebase Article 23645.

Some of the key improvements include:

Improved installation experience - There are now two installation options, Typical and Custom. It now takes fewer clicks to complete the Typical Installation, whilst the Custom installation is more flexible than ever.

Related Contacts - Using the new Related Contacts feature, you can create key relationships between contact records. For example, if Contact A has an influential relationship with Contact B, this can be recorded for future sales or marketing campaigns. For more information about this new feature, please refer to Knowledgebase Article 23893.

Licensing and Activation - ACT! 2009 v11.10 detects whether a proxy server is being used. Upon activation the user can connect and register their ACT! software through their proxy server.

A couple of points of interest to note:

Firstly this release is billed as 11.1 not 11.01 as we might have expected. This would indicate that it is more significant than a few bug fixes, and indeed it is.

The biggest change is a new feature, the Relationship tab.

The relationship tab allows us to capture relationships between contacts in our database.

For example, let's say we are a company selling log cabins. In our database we have contact records of all our customers and prospects to whom we actually make the sale. In addition, we have contact names for installation sub-contractors who do the installations for us, architects who can draw up the plans, and contacts in the local authority planning departments who approve the plans.

What we can now do is go to our customer's record and in the Relationship tab put a link through to the other contacts in our database who are involved in the project, which is something I've been asked for on more than one occasion.

As a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software package ACT! has always been a great way to monitor and control our relationships with our database contacts, what we can now do is monitor and control relationships between contacts, which is a really powerful tool.

This feature is going to be really powerful. And it's free of charge if you already have ACT! 2009 V11.00. If you have an earlier version visit our web site at bigbluemarketing.co.uk to see how you can save money on an upgrade.

I'll get back with more details when I've had a chance to evaluate the product in more detail.

Jeff

The Legal Eagle and the Dentist's Chair

2009-02-18T14:49:00.000Z

What do you think of when you hear the phrase "London Offices"? If you are like me the first vision that comes to mind is probably plush, glass-fronted, high-rise office space with spectacular views over the Thames. To be sure, there are many offices in London that would fit that description. However, the vast majority of offices in London are at the other end of the scale, occupying Dickensian buildings with three or four floors, linked by a winding, creaking wooden stair-case.

I found myself in one such building yesterday where I was setting up an ACT! database for a law firm with chambers in the legal heartland of the city near Lincolns Inn Fields. The premises were situated on a narrow lane, and the address lead me to a modest door adjacent to an extremely long list of names of the barristers presumably encarserated within.

I was introduced to the senior clerk of chambers and shown to a meeting room on the first floor where we set to work developing an ACT! database suitable for marketing the legal profession. We added a range of custom fields to the database to accommodate such things as DX (Document Exchange) numbers and the type of work in which the solicitors specialised. I then managed to import 1500 solicitors names and addressed from their Meridian legal database into ACT! I have to say it went like a dream.

After a couple of hours I asked for directions for the gents toilet, and was told it was "just up the stairs". So I set off up a gloomy staircase and on the next level I had a choice of two doors, both open. The room on the left seemed to have tiled walls so seemed the most likely candidate. I walked in, only to be faced with a man flat out on a dentist's chair with the dentist engrossed in drilling the poor man's mouth. His assistant who seemed as startled as me ushered me out of the room, and eventually directed me to the toilet - on the floor above.

Now I know many companies share office space but I really wasn't expecting to find a dentist operating out of a legal practice.

If you are a law firm (or a dental practice) who would like to boost your marketing activities by using ACT! software do get in touch via www.bigbluemarketing.co.uk

Turns out Charles Dickens was a legal clerk.

It's Only Words

2009-01-28T09:10:00.000Z

Had a call yesterday from someone who was having trouble with an ACT! template in Word. What he was trying to do was quite simple; he was just adding the address fields separated by a comma and a space to a document template.

The weird thing was that when he used the template parts of the address were shown in Arial, which is what he wanted, but other parts were in Times New Roman. What's more the variety appeared within a single field. So an address would appear as:

23 Railway Cuttings, East Cheam

I fixed the problem by clicking and dragging through all of the address area to select both fields and spaces, then selecting the font as Arial. Worked a treat.

(You will probably need to be over a certain age to recall who lived at that address).

Jeff

Variety is the Spice...

2009-01-26T13:28:00.000Z

Last week was really busy, delivering ACT! training to Leeds University, a training consultancy in Ross on Wye, an energy company in Newark and finally an amazing hologram company in London.

Wow, that's a range of different requirements. One of the things I do with clients is work with them to modify and customise the plain vanilla software that comes out of the box so that it closely fits the way their company works. This really makes ACT! fly and it becomes a key business-critical tool in an organisation.

On Friday I even managed to meet up with my daughter in London for a meal before the trip home (Chutney's in Drummond Street, just up from Euston Station - thoroughly recommended!).

The only down-side was that I got to the station to find all trains north were cancelled (again). So, I then had to hike up to Euston Square and make my way over to Marylebone and travel north on an incredibly overcrowded Chiltern Line, finally arriving home just before midnight.

What a week.

Jeff

Meanderings of an ACT Software Trainer

2009-01-26T12:28:00.000Z

I'll admit that as a career it wouldn't suit everyone, but you know what; I really enjoy being an ACT! trainer. I suppose I could have been a piano teacher or flying instructor but for the fact that I can't play the piano or fly a plane.

For anyone who doesn't know, ACT! is a piece of software that is used by all sorts of organisations to control and monitor their interactions with their customers / clients / members. It is estimated that somewhere in the region of 3 million people use this piece of software in their day to day sales and marketing activities.

My role is to train people not just how to use the software, but how to do practical things with it. I therefore travel extensively throughout the UK, both by car and by train, and visit a wide variety of companies and meet all sorts of interesting people.

This blog records some of my thoughts along the way.

http://www.bigbluemarketing.co.uk/