Many years ago my husband and I attempted to wallpaper our dining room.  Of course it didn’t help that we began work on this DIY project two weeks before Thanksgiving and were under a time crunch.  I carefully set up a table in the garage where we applied the paste and carried the soggy paper through the house and into the dining room.  Needless to say by the end of the trip the paper was in shreds.  After we had pretty much mangled the project we called in a professional who just looked at us and shook his head.  He finally managed to ask why we hadn’t simply set up our table in the dining room.  Quite frankly the thought never occurred to either one of us, nor had the concept of purchasing pre-glued paper.

I consider myself a fairly smart person.  However, I also know my limitations, and know when I need to call in the experts.  I’ve learned over the years that money I spend on a consultant, book or course is well worth its price when I compare it to the time it might take me to eventually wave the white flag and concede defeat. 

To paraphrase Ben Franklin, “he who teaches himself is taught by a fool.” 

I run into folks all the time who prefer the DIY route when it comes to software.  I understand the desire to tinker with software; after all, I do it myself.  Unfortunately, many of those folks who teach themselves usually make the same mistake that I did when I tried my hand at wallpapering:   they didn’t keep it simple.  As I work to untangle the convoluted system that they created – which, by the way, doesn’t provide them with the functionality that they had initially hoped for – they often mutter something like, “Gee, that was easy!”  It’s amazing how simple tasks become when we actually know what we’re doing!

My suggestion is that if you really want to master a software title, learn from a pro.  There are a number of avenues available to you.  I write for Wiley Publishing who have created For Dummies titles on over 2,000 topics; they even have a book that covers wallpapering!  I recently created and recorded training videos for lynda.com; for a yearly subscription you have access to online learning courses on hundreds of software titles.  If you prefer that up close and personal approach hire a good consultant; just make sure that the consultant specializes in the specific area you need help with.  Don’t settle for a computer guy who “is really good;” it’s your time, your money and your business.  Get help from an expert who will be able to simplify the learning process.

Karen Fredricks
www.techbenders.com
blog@techbenders.com

Throughout my career, I have been fortunate enough to tweak ACT! in a variety of ways for a variety of people including a yoga temple that trains disciples to a private capital investment firm.

Since ACT! cannot possibly “all things to all people” right out of the box, here are some my favorite addons.

10. TableMaker Pro

In a matter of one hour, I solved a problem for an air cleaner manufacturer that’s plagued them for 2 years. TableMaker Pro allowed me to create a custom table (grid) that can track whether a customer has purchased one or more air cleaners. For 17 years, ACT! users either had to make a difficult grid or track it in yet another system. Now, my client can quickly extract important marketing data that allows their marketing to become more targeted.

9. One-Click KPI

Management wants reports. Sales people, generally, don’t like the entering in minutia. So, why not make a macro that works across multiple sections of ACT! ? With one button, I can create a “service call” custom activity and schedule a follow up for 10+ days with an alarm.

Data Entry. Done.
Reporting. Done.

8. Oak! Merge

ACT! import tools are efficient for new leads, but what happens if you want to update only one or two fields with external accounting data ? Within ACT!, it’s a gamble. With OAK! Merge, I have confidence it will match as expected. I can run different previews, save my import maps and even create an automation script. With OAK!Merge I can merge a ticketing system’s “home address” fields;then, update a check-box to see if they have attended a certain type of show.

7. Calendar View Plus

Some of my clients use the “print calendar” feature when they leave the office. ACT!’s calendar printer does not offer flexible options. With Calendar List Plus, I was able to solve an administrative assistant’s repetitive tasks in about 10 minutes with Calendar List Plus.

6. Crystal Clear Essentials

ACT!’s built in report writer cannot effectively tell me how many calls each sales rep made, sorted by date. In 20 minutes, I install Crystal Clear Essentials. Problem solved. They offer several more reports, but I use this one right away.

5. TopLine Dash

When I want to empower my clients to get easy-to-build custom reports, I turn to TopLine Dash. In about 30 minutes, I was able to generate a report that displays both the number of history records and future activities on one screen. What plagued the president of the company for 1 year was solved in an afternoon. Now, they can dig in to the program any time and acquire hundreds of custom combinations.

4. Company Wizard

One of my clients went from a ‘contact-centric’ view of ACT! to a ‘company-centric’ view of ACT! rather quickly. After we taught them how to duplicate contacts at each company, how was I going to tell them to manually match up thousands of contacts to dozens of companies ? Another client imports data from InfoUSA then she needs to create company records and link to them.

Rather than telling a client more manual labor needs to be done, I install CompanyWizard. In about 45 minutes, I can save them days of data cleaning.

3. CompanionLink & HandheldContact

My clients run out and buy the latest PDA; then, ask me if works with ACT!. Companionlink allows me to have greater flexibility on how the data arrives on the handheld and supports more devices than the links that come out-of-the-box. I have been able to hookup iPhones and Blackberry’s to ACT! Another great application is I can send the contact data to Outlook; then sync it to an unusual PDA like a Motorola Q or Psion.

Handheld Contact allows me to constantly update my ACT! database while I am on the road, and it’s always “on” and I don’t have to wait for ACT! to load up on my PC if I need a phone number. As companies rely more on the sales rep to enter data, the Blackberry allows me to update meeting notes immediately after the meeting. I know after a long day of travel, the last thing I want to do is data entry as a whole separate process.

2. Durkin Toolkit

I can finally rename the contacts, companies, opportunities and group tables of ACT!. I can build custom tables and I have to unwrap its potential. For the non-programmer like me, I see this tool as the “deepest” tool to redesign the ACT! interface. For instance, I can finally customize the “Edit Opportunity” screen and re-arrange the fields as I see fit.

1. SwiftPage E-Mail

Many of my clients want to do e-mail marketing. ACT!”s built in merging program works with 200 records at the most. It’s tedious and difficult to deliver large campaigns via ACT! alone. SwiftPage allows me track my success rates by creating call lists, creating a score cards, managing surveys and managing opt-outs. The program has more capabilities than I list here; however, the most underlooked feature is I can manage one list. Rather than managing lists from multiple databases, my clients can effectively e-mail market their clients.