Automation…a key to productivity
In a competitive marketplace, businesses are demanding more from its employees. To keep a leg up on the competition they need to not only be more productive, but be smart about what to be productive about. Less about working harder, more about working smarter.
Having a contact management system is a step in the right direction. However, having a contact management system that has key elements automated may very well give you a leg up on the competition.
I have put together a video of a product that automates the processing of online web inquiries. This is key for businesses who have a website, and are not sure how to manage the number of emails that come in as a result of inquiries or sales through their website. It is only 5 minutes long, so I only had time to show one key feature, creating an offline copy of your online database.
Have a look and feel free to post feedback.
Travis
www.ACTasap.net
www.FreeACTtips.com
Technorati Tags: Business, contact management, email, video
A New Version of ACT!…for Realtors
This passed week I was in Nashville, TN USA attending Sage Software’s Insights Conference. This was quite an event giving consultants, resellers, and VARs across all their product lines (nearly 20) to hear from executive management and get educated on new product releases. It was also a time to make several announcements.
Allow me to share with you one thing that was discussed while I was there. It is a new version of the ACT! Contact Management software. It is called ACT! Premium for Real Estate. It is designed to bring the core functionality of customer and contact management to those in the residential real estate industry, specifically realtors.
Instead of me telling you about it here, I thought I would direct you to a brief overview video that I put together. You can find the review of ACT! Premium for Real Estate here. Feel free to post any feedback or questions, let me know you are out there!
Travis Campbell
http://www.actasap.net/
http://www.asktheactpro.com/
http://www.freeacttips.com/
Technorati Tags: contact management, sage software, video
What the Customer Values
Last Friday I installed a new ACT! system for a client, and today was the staff training. These are a savvy group of professionals with diverse backgrounds on competencies. I found it interesting to hear what they were so excited to learn. Here are a couple highlights. 1.) Their office is VERY busy, and they can’t afford to have things fall through the cracks. So, when they get an inbound phone call, instead of pulling out a pen and paper to take notes, they can instantly bring up a note taking “Record History” box and start jotting down the details that are coming over the phone. After jotting the notes, they can then find the contact to associate the history with, or create a new contact. When they click OK, the history is written to that contact, and now everyone has access to it (as oppose to a pad of paper).
2.) Group scheduling. When they realized that they can now schedule meetings with each other as well as Resources associated (conference room, projector, etc.). They breathed a sigh of relief.
3.) Sales Opportunities. They learned that all their part numbers, product descriptions, costs, and prices were already imported in the Sales Opportunities, they claimed that this would be huge for their business. Now they can do sales forecasting and generate sales funnels and reports with a click of a button and they didn’t have to manually key in all their products.
4.) Handheld sync. When I discussed with them what they can do with handheld devices that tie into the database they changed directions and purchased 2 Treos instead of Windows Mobile devices. This was a couple weeks ago. I was surprised to learn during training that they now have 5 Treos and they want them all to sync via ACT! for Palm OS (including sales opportunity information).
This served as a good reminder to me, to keep the customer central. It’s not about what I (or anyone) can do for them, it is about discovering where they place value, and offer appropriate solutions. What they place value on may surprise you. I imagine there are others out there who might benefit from these functions in your business. Feel free to offer comments or feedback.
Travis Campbell
http://www.actasap.net/
http://www.actblogger.com/
http://www.freeacttips.com/
http://www.asktheactpro.com/
Sync ACT! with Palm, Microsoft Pocket PC, or Blackberry…
Handheld devices like Palm, PocketPC, and Blackberry are everywhere, and are becoming more prevalent in the mainstream, as more and more people need to be ‘connected’ when they are out of the office. In a competitive marketplace, these little things (used properly) can offer a huge advantage when courting a customer or prospect.
What about you, do you have a handheld device? What is your story?
Earlier this week I had a TeleSeminar Consultation with an ACT! user from Houston. He is getting his Blackberry device setup to sync with his contact manager…”over the air.” This means, if he can receive a phonecall on his Blackberry, he can receive updates from ACT!, pretty amazing stuff. I mentioned to him that I had a TeleSeminar last month where we dealt specifically with these challenges (ACT! contact manager sync with Blackberry, Palm (Treo), or PocketPC. These are common challenges I see with many of my customers, and endeavored to bring “From the Trenches” experience to the call, and resources and tutorials on the replay page.
I thought I would update you all with this resource, just go to this page at ACTasap.net, register, and enjoy the call.
If you are interested in attending future TeleSeminars, goto: www.FreeACTtips.com I will keep you up to date on future calls.
Comments? Thoughts?
Travis Campbell
www.ACTasap.net
Technorati Tags: handheld, teleseminar
About
Improve Relationships. Improve Business. A key is to effectively your relationships. ACT! is a software product helping millions when it comes to managing their relatinships effectively. This Website is designed to assist its readers use ACT! effectively in their day to day operations. So login, post, browse and enjoy.
Technorati Tags: Business
