Motorola Droid

I just ordered one today and Verizon Wireless offers a 30 day money back guarantee.  It runs version 2 of Google Android OS and there is another HTC phone they launched today as well but it only runs version 1.x.  Looking forward to hooking up and synching wirelessly with my ACT database!

Task List Plus for ACT!

Need to reschedule multiple activities at the same time in ACT?  I use TaskListPlus by Durkin Computing.  It’s a great add-on tool for ACT.  This way you don’t have to reschedule each individual task but rather you can to all of them at one time.  Alternatively you can wait for the to rollover the next day but I like to keep my Task List clear and focus on only what I need do doing.

Windows 7

I upgraded my laptop and workstation server to Windows 7 over the weekend and it went pretty well.  The server was a smooth upgrade as it natively started with Vista but the laptop was originally loaded with XP and the went to Vista so I had to nuke and pave and start over on that one.  Make sure you back everything up first, including Outlook so you can get your data back after the upgrade!

New Windows 7 OS is fast and easier to use than Vista, kind of like XP on steroids.  Here’s a tip:  when you open programs they show up in the Task Bar which is adjacent to the Start button, so don’t pin the programs as short-cuts to the taskbar as well since it get’s confusing.  I just pin the programs to the Start Menu and now when something is in the Task Bar area I know it’s because a program is actually open.  Try it, you’ll see what I mean.  Before you just had shortcuts in the task bar and open programs showed up somewhere further over to the left.

PF

Social Media Whitepaper

Check out this excellent white paper on social media and how ACT! can help you tap in to a whole new world of intelligence about your prospects and clients.

http://download.act.com/docs/Guide_to_Social_Media.pdf

Why Choose ACT!

ACT is a proven market leader with 2.8 million users worldwide and is the #1 selling Contact and Customer and has been for over 20 years.  ACT! was designed for and highly recommended by small businesses and salespeople and leads the industry with its ease of use.  It can be highly customized and is affordable now and into the future and works with a variety of business solutions including Outlook, QuickBooks, Excel and has a plethora of add-ons from 3rd party vendors. 

Coordinate the efforts of your team and have visibility into whats been done, what’s on the horizon and sales to date!  Manage relationships, do key word searches, be more productive, market effectively, sell more and measure results — ACT! does all of this and more.  You can even run ACT! on your laptop and sync and go and continue to use the database offline and also sync it with your favorite SmartPhone device.

The beauty of ACT! is that you can run it locally to save on monthly hosting fees associated with other solutions like SalesForce and Microsoft CRM Online, and you can even enable web access to your own database instead of relying on a hosting partner.  So you have a choice with ACT! as to how you want to deploy your shared database and how to access it as well.  If you want to have it hosted you can do that as well. 

With ACT! you get to decide what’s right for your business instead of someone else telling you that you have to choose between hosted or on-premise solutions and cannot have the best of both worlds.  You can blend access methods using the same database and the competition simply cannot do this and they cost a lot more as well.

What is a Contact and Customer Manager?

More than an email system like Outlook and spreadsheet like Excel and easier to use and less costly than a Customer Relationship Management solution like SalesForce or Microsoft CRM, a Contact and Customer Management System like ACT! 2010 Corporate Premium keeps all the details of your relationships in one organized place.

And now you can not only keep track of phone numbers, emails, notes, meetings and activity history and documents, but now also Social Media profiles and more!

Get a complete view of the folks you do business with and develop long-lasting relationships so they come back for more and new referrals keep coming in!

Check out what the Aberdeen Group has to say about the choice between Contact Management and Customer Relationship Management systems.

http://www.aberdeen.com/summary/report/perspective/5825-AI-customer-relationship-management.asp

Motorola Droid on Verizon Wireless to Challenge iPhone

Looking forward to release next week of Android device from Verizon Wireless and Motorola.  I have been waiting along time as the covereage on Verizon is probably the best and that includes data coverage in addition to voice.  I held off going with the iPhone as I read about the battery life and lack of coverage on the AT&T network, perhaps in 2nd and 3rd tier markets.  What will be even cooler is that you can sync your ACT! database up to Google with CompanionLink middleware and it will sync out to your device for free.  Hope Verizon does not lock down the GPS though and force to use a tether like they did on other phones in the past.

http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2009/10/23/motorola-droid-preview/

ACT! now supports Social Media Integration

I just installed ACT! 2010 on a client’s system and using best practices it went off without a hitch.  ACT! runs even faster now and includes new Dashboards, is 32-bit or 64-bit compatible and works with Office 2003 or Office 2007 and XP or Vista.  Some folks are already using it on Windows7 as well.

The best part though is that there is a new Tab for Social Media sites so you can do a Look-Up and then click on a link to see if the Prospect your are working is already Linked-In, using FaceBook or Twitter, as well as other sites!   Talk about doing your homework before a Sales Call.

As a Top Sales Performer and Marketing Star in a former life in Corporate America, I can tell you that this is how it should be!  Easy to use, keep track of your Prospects, Customers and Pipeline, and be able to Report against it all – Simply!

ACT! costs 1/2 as much as other solutions like SalesForce and MSCRM so buyer beware when another vendor tries to talk you into their solution.  I am certified on ACT! running the last 5 versions up through 2010 and also on MSCRM 4.0.  I have been trained in SalesForce as well and have the cost comparisions and real customer feedback.

My intent is to do what is right for the customer, whether that is ACT!, MSCRM or to confirm or steer them in another direction.  It is a homogeneous market out there and a hosted solution for one type of business is not necessarily the right choice for other.  I do both.

PF

ACT! is easier to implement and is less expensive to deploy than MSCRM or SalesForce

ACT! is cool because I can self host it and port forward to sync from my laptop at a lower cost than MSCRM or SalesForce. I also use QuickBooks link on the Server so I don’t have to enter contacts twice. Then I use Tapi.IT and C3IP and love the click and dial and History logging with VOIP service. From there I scan business cards with Scan.IT and print Labels and Stamps with Dymo. Also using Scan and Organize to view all files from within ACT to keep everyone tied back to Contacts and of course SwiftPage and integrating it with my website and to track interest and follow-up. All of this functionality that is relatively straight forward to implement and of course Snap-In tools as needed to keep things moving forward. Now you can also create new tables, dashboards and manage drip marketing. This is fun!

ACT 11.1 Corporate Premium and Importing Data

If you are importing alot of data then using ACT to do the job can be problematic and frustrating. Instead there are a number of tools out there designed to streamline this process. One such tool I’m using now it OakMerge version 11. It is simple to use and all you need is a copy of Office on the system or server and it does not touch every record and mess up sync databases for remote users.