A few months ago I was invited to speak to the members of the Mentoring Program at the Phoenix National Association of Women Business Owners.  The group is designed to partner new entrepreneurs with experienced business owners, learning best practices and achieving professional goals more effectively.  The group leader requested a presentation to demonstrate how ACT! software is utilized in tracking one’s goals.

First of all every business should have a business plan with goals and objectives; a business without a plan is like putting together Ikea furniture without the instructions.  The entrepreneurs were in the process of learning how to create a plan for their business and mapping out objectives, focusing on goals critical to their success.  Any business goal must be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time Bound) with clearly defined steps to achieve the goal.  Increase sales 30% to $2M in 2009 or introduce a new product line in 1^st quarter 2010 with an estimate 1^st year sales of $150K are examples of SMART goals.

OK – so what does this have to do with ACT!?    You can use ACT! to put your goals and steps into action by creating Activities in ACT! or assign Activities to other users, then carry-out the steps to attain your goals by completing the Activities.  If your goals include sales you can create and track your opportunities. Gain insight into the execution of achieving your goals by utilizing ACT! reporting , you can monitor performance and review your successes and determine improvements.

Kick it up a notch by customizing ACT! for your goal tracking.  You can create custom Activity Types of Goal and Goal Step.  Using the Goal Step Activity you can schedule due dates for each goal step and using the Goal Activity represents the completion or end date of the Goal.  You can create a Goal Dashboard that monitors you goal Activity Types and include panels that show what is due today, this month, all goals, all goal steps and those that are past due – never let a goal or action get overlooked.  If tracking sales as a goal, include a sales gauge with your company’s sales target.  An example of a Goal Dashboard can be found at:  www.actplatinum.com/ACTBusinessGoalsDashboard.pdf

Every business can use ACT! Software, it’s a dynamic CRM system ideal for tracking sales, marketing endeavors, customer service and support, and daily business operations – key components to the success of any business. Use ACT! to put your business plan in action, accomplish the goals you set and achieve business success!

So you purchased ACT! Software for yourself, your team, or your company and now you need to know the best way to learn how to use the program for your business. Choosing the right training solution is a balance of resources: time and money.

After installing ACT! Software you will find several included training tools located on the program’s Help Menu:

Reading and viewing all the included content can take days, weeks or even months and may not translate to your real world use of the program.

• Help Topics is a source for information about using ACT!, use the Contents, Index, and Search tabs to find the information and includes step-by-step instructions for specific tasks
• ACT! New User Quick Start Guide is a 116 page PDF file, covers the basics of using ACT! for new users
• Feature Tours are online flash videos that show how to use an ACT! feature

The fastest and most comprehensive way of learning ACT! Software is to participate in a hands-on training session. Live classroom training frees you from workplace distractions so you can focus on learning the program and hands-on provides practice that reinforces the skills and aids in retention.  In 4-6 hours you can learn the basics of the program to get started. Many training companies not only have basic training, but also advanced sessions to increase your knowledge and utilization of the software program.

Before investing in any training make sure the training company has ample experience with the ACT! Software products.  Prior to hiring our company, a client spent $5,000 with a national training company for an ACT! 2009 for Web hands-on training session for 10 employees.  What they actually received were training materials for ACT! 2008 for Windows (a completely different version and product) and an instructor, who had no previous experience with the software product, did not know the differences between the windows and web products, and found it difficult to answer any student questions.  Needless to say the client did not find the session to be the best use of their training dollars.

The key to getting the best value for your training budget is to find a training company with an instructor who is an ACT! Software expert. The instructor should know the feature differences between the products and versions, with real world experience to be able to answer any questions on your business use of the software.  Sources to find training companies with experienced ACT! Software instructors are http://www.actplatinum.com/CRMA.html or http://www.act.com/partners/apt/index.cfm

If you want to save time in learning the ACT! Software program invest in hands-on training, if you don’t want to spend money you will need to invest your time.