A couple of obscure questions came up this week about using Sage ACT! Software and also one that many people think is a “gotcha.”

Q – When using Swiftpage for a newsletter, it will not recognize my secondary contacts. How do I include them in my email blast?

A – Sage ACT! only recognizes primary email addresses. This can also be a problem for insurance agents, stock brokers and financial planners who capture spouse and child data in their ACT! contact management systems. The best time to figure out how to email secondary and additional contacts in a company or family is before you build your database. But if you’re past that stage already, then consider “promoting” your secondary contacts to primary contacts, then linking them via the Relationship tab (in ACT! 2008 – 2012).

Q – I work in St. Louis, MO, and I have 10 users on my ACT! contact management system. They like to “freelance” the entry of the city name as STL, St.L, or Saint Louis. The Edit List feature won’t let me fix the variations to standardize the list. It drives me crazy.

A – The city field can be modified in Tools > Define Fields. Go in and clean up all the variations on the drop-down list. Then check the profile setting to “Limit to List” which will allow users to choose a city name only from the drop-down menu. If you need to add a city, go back into Tools > Define Fields to do it. To fix the mistakes already in your database, do a lookup of your entire database in the List View. Tag records that have non-standard entries. Then Lookup Selected. Use Edit > Replace Field to standardize the city names to “St. Louis.” (This process works on any field, but run a backup of your database before you use the Edit > Replace Field feature, as changes will overwrite any value in that field and cannot be undone.)

Q – I’m using an old version ACT! Software. If I want to use all the new features in ACT 2011 or 2012, I have to upgrade to Microsoft Office 2010. That’s a little costly.

A – What can we tell you? Software companies are in the business of releasing new software to provide more features and a better user experience. Unfortunately, those pesky software engineers want to be paid for what they create. Cloud computing (like Salesforce.com) promises to change all that, but the trade off is you pay for your software in perpetuity, kind of like a data plan on your smart phone bill (but typically several times that much).

As value added resellers of Sage ACT!, we frequently witness the utter lack of attention spent by many of our clients on planning their technology upgrades–until something stops working, crashes or they inadvertently upgrade something they shouldn’t have.

We’re all for not spending money you don’t have to, but if your technology is more than 3 years old or you plan to purchase new workstations, laptops or tablets, have a chat with your IT expert first. Make a list of all your software (including your server software) and find out what the system specs are for each program–especially the mission critical ones like your contact management or accounting software.

Laptops used to be on an 18-month obsolescence track; we’re sure it’s much faster than that now with all the new devices released seemingly every month. Do not expect or assume that all your toys will continue to work in harmony. Upgrading any part of your technology may trigger a domino effect.

Even internet browsers can cause a conflict. Swiftpage Email, for example, is not yet compatible with Firefox 4.0.1, and Firefox has no “downgrade” after you upgrade. So before you upgrade anything, check it out with IT or each software app’s technical support center to find out what will be compatible with your current technology if you upgrade.

If you have any questions about whether ACT! will play nicely with any of your current or prospective software apps, call us at 1-314-485-4350 or use our Contact Us form to ask.

Times may be tough right now, but if you have a website, a database and a story to tell, I bet there are at least 5 database marketing strategies you’re overlooking that if executed would fill the gaps where you’re leaving money on the table.

Since the beginning of the year, I have worked on 3 special projects that are great case studies for growing a business from nowhere to somewhere in a very short period of time. One is an internet-based business, but the others are real “brick and mortar” companies.

These projects are in very different markets. Because I am working in completely different industries at the same time, I am seeing core principles that are not obvious, but are critical to your success.

Below is a short description of the work I’m doing.

1. Training/Special Events Company – This company needed a consistent way to follow up with inquiries to its website for training and consulting. It also lacked a pre- and post-trade show follow-up system to market to all its leads. I wrote drip marketing copy they used to launch 2 campaigns. One trade show follow-up message generated a $14,000 order in a single day.

2. Business Services Company – This company sells a product that his customers “don’t know exist” so no one knows to look for it on the internet. Therefore, search engine optimization (SEO) was not working to generate sales leads. (Yes, believe it or not, there are still MANY products and services like this in the offline world, and F2F meetings still work best to sell them.)

I recommended a more traditional marketing approach that included buying a targeted mailing list, hiring a telemarketer to capture email addresses, sending a series of educational drip marketing messages, then following up with a phone call to schedule a meeting.

Within 2 weeks of the first campaign launch, the project generated $20,000 in revenue. This formula continues to bring in consistent revenue, even as my client has expanded his business model to other target audiences. (BTW, I wrote the ad, interviewed and hired his telemarketer. Then I trained her properly to maximize my client’s sales opportunities. Every detail is strategy).

3. E-Commerce Site – This client sells a single downloadable product to a very specific niche market online. Traffic to the website was high but she believed she was not converting enough of that traffic to sales. We worked to make her site “stickier” and began a “re-marketing” initiative to give non-buyers a second bite at the apple. Sales conversions increased by 15% the first month and continue to tick upward.

The commonality among each of these projects was the story they had to tell. While not the same story, they all had laser-focused stories to tell to their target audience. In fact, their stories were so powerful when told to the right people, the products and services “practically sold themselves.”

If any of their stories have inspired you, please know that if you are struggling in your business with how to find more sales, there is always more you can do to leverage key assets you already have: your website, your marketing database and a good story to tell.

If you’d like to discuss “how,” contact me for a free strategy session. If you have a story to tell me about how you found new business, please use the comment box below and share it.

In the past few months I’ve looked in every nook and cranny of my business for ways to cut costs, especially the “hidden” costs that you don’t realize are adding up. Like inefficient use of time.

Turns out one of our big time sucks is sales quoting. Some of our services are straightforward and easy to quote…maybe take a minute or 2. But our really lucrative opportunities often take a couple of hours to research, price and “pretty up,” so the sales quote “look and feel” matches the value of our work.

In fact, it turns out we have been spending approximately $25 per sales estimate we create. I checked with some of my clients, and plugged in their numbers, and we got a range from $20 – $150. And as we all know, not every estimate turns into a sale. So this seemed like a great place for a re-think on cost savings.

I liked the solution I discovered so much, I decided to resell the quoting software to estimate-intensive, sales-driven organizations. Now instead of one-size-fits-all quotes going to my low-end and high-end opportunities, I can match the quote template to the project.

For example, the image on the top left is the “Celebrity Sales Quote” sales template. It puts your products’ images front and center, almost like a catalog, with complete product descriptions, part numbers, a catchy title–whatever info you have or want to show. But a Quick and Dirty Line Item Sales Estimate may be all you need if need to get something out fast and keep it simple. Finally, a third option is a formal Narrative Sales Proposal, which may be appropriate for responding to an RFP or other situations where the person presenting your products and services is not you. I did one like this years ago that was almost 50 pages. Today, I could create it once in my sales quoting software and use pieces and parts of it for any estimate, and it would only take me a matter of minutes.

On Tuesday, December 20, I’ll be holding a free 60-minute webinar demonstrating how a sales quoting system reduces the cost of calculating estimates and gives the competitive advantage of being first bidder to respond (because you’re so fast!)

Want to find out more? Register here. If you can’t make it live, I’ll be posting the recording here after the holidays.

CRM (Customer Relationship Management) can be complex, but I wanted to break it down into what any software package can do. Watch this brief (2:45 min.) video for a quick overview.

BrainSell Technologies is please to announce their acquisition of The CRM Connection, the second Colorado acquisition that BrainSell has made this month. The CRM Connection (www.thecrmconnection.com) joins BrainSell with a plethora of CRM expertise, including ACT!, SalesLogix and SugarCRM.  We’re super excited to welcome The CRM Connection into the BrainSell family!

“We are very excited to have joined the BrainSell Technologies team,” said The CRM Connection’s Managing Partner John Kaufman. “Our clients and alliance partners will all benefit from the  additional resources and software solutions they provide.”

Current CRM Connection customers will continue to receive the same caliber of support from their existing contacts. However, customers will also benefit from BrainSell’s extensive team of Sage ACT!, Sage SalesLogix and SugarCRM engineers, as well as ERP and marketing experts if they choose to increase sales with cutting edge technology like Marketing Automation and integrated ERP.

“This is a win-win acquisition,” said BrainSell President and CEO, Jim Ward. “BrainSell brings onboard a top reseller of Sage ACT!.  Heck, they ended 2011 as ACT!’s  11^th largest selling reseller in the U.S. They also have SalesLogix expertise, which is a fantastic added resource to our top SalesLogix team. On top of that, The CRM Connection recently added  SugarCRM into their portfolio, which brings perfect synergies to BrainSell’s portfolio and helps our rapidly growing SugarCRM practice keep up with demand.  Put that together with our two acquisitions of ERP partners this past month in Colorado and we have a fantastic western region team.”

The CRM Connection is based out of Denver, Colorado, but they also have offices in Michigan and New York.

Click here for the full press release.

The Sage ACT! 2012 Roadshow will be held on Thursday, July 28, 2011, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Fort Lauderdale Westin Hotel, 400 Corporate Drive, Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

The event will feature presentations by Karen Fredricks, the woman who wrote the book (actually 7 books) on ACT! and representatives from Sage North America which is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona.  Prior registration is required and includes complimentary hors d’oeuvres. There will be raffles for free ACT! 2012 software, ACT! addon products, books, and training videos. Attendance will be limited to the first 100 who register at http://act2012.eventbrite.com/.

Attendees will have an opportunity to interact with Sage ACT! representatives and have a sneak peak at some of the new ACT! 2012 enhancements.

Karen Fredricks, an ACT! Certified Consultant, Platinum ACT! VAR and Premier ACT! Trainer, will conclude the event with a presentation of her Top 10 Favorite ACT! Tips & Tricks.

Attendees will have the opportunity to network with each other and the Sage representatives as part of the event.

According to Fredricks, “I like to think of the Fort Lauderdale Road Show as an ACT! celebration.  I held a similar event at the Westin in 2002 to launch ACT! 6.  Then, as now, ACT! users eagerly anticipated a look at the new ACT! features.  Ironically, the Scratch Pad feature is a modern version of the old Side ACT! functionality that was so popular in the earliest ACT! versions.”

For further information, contact Karen Fredricks of Tech Benders at 561-470-5450, Ext. 1.  To register for the event go to http://act2012.eventbrite.com/.

With all the hype about Cloud Computing, all the benefits of having your data and programs has never been more promising. But what happens when The Cloud goes dark? It certainly does happen!

Unless you have a copy of your data on your computer or handheld device,  you’re cut off from your information.  Users who have experienced this say it feels far worse than a broken computer or cell phone.  Why?  Imagine opening your email to find that it’s all gone. Your contacts? Gone too.  Accounting data and the ability to generate invoices, pay your bills and more?  Gone!  The fear stems from not knowing if you data is gone permanently or temporarily compounded by when the system will be off-line.

I am not suggesting that The Cloud is not a safe and viable way to store your data and use software programs.  I meerly share this with you so you can be prepared before it happens to you and inevitably it will.

This is has happened to Microsoft, Google, SalesForce.com and other “big name” cloud technology providers.  Click here to review The 10 Biggest Cloud Outages of 2011 (so far).

Over time I’ve tried various card scanners and integrated software that made them work with CRM applications, including Sage ACT! 2011 Premium. The current scanning solution I recommend is the Scan Shell 800NR from Card Scanning Solutions.

The 800NR hardware appears to be more reliable. With other solutions, I ended up sending the unit back for a replacement every year or so, even though covered under warranty was a pain and motivated me to look for another solution. Other products did not include the integration with ACT that I was looking for, as all I wanted to have to do was scan and review the contact information without any extra steps involved.

The Scan Shell captured most business cards, scanning them successfully, and if a duplicate entry was about to be created you are asked if you want to proceed. One thing I have noticed is that when some business cards do not scan successfully, it has to do with the graphics and font that were used — as a result I have to manually enter these cards. As a professional I would ensure that your business card is actually scannable as more and more people are using automating technology to save time and money.

Here is a link to the Scan Shell 800NR solution and enjoy!

As a technology services provider, we find ourselves repeatedly answering the same question for our customers:  Which Cloud is Right for Me?

Deciding whether or not to move your business into the cloud can be a complex decision – mainly because of all the options available on the market today.  Type the word Cloud in any search engine and you will find a million different possible choices. Trying to sift through all of the options for many business owners can be a difficult task on a good day.  Here are a few pointers that I found to be helpful when taking that first foray out into the wonderful world of Cloud technology.

First, evaluate your current business environment and decide what actually needs to be in the cloud. Knowing what information you want to be in the Cloud is a critical step in determining the type of technology you will need. Listed below are a few examples of what you may want to put into the Cloud:

• Regular backups of your critical data.
• Web access/hosting of software applications you may use such as ACT!, Outlook, QuickBooks etc.
• Files you want to be able to share with other users in your organization or trusted business partner.

Once you have decided what information you want in the Cloud, the next step is to decide what type of Cloud works best for you. Common types of Cloud (i.e. hosted solutions) include:

• Hosted data services – This form of hosting is great for off-site backups or hosting of a particular software application (like ACT!, Outlook or QuickBooks).  A hosted data service enables you to pick and choose what areas of your business need to be in the cloud.
• Hosted servers – This is a great option to consider if you looking to share files, share multiple applications or possibly put your entire company’s data and computing power in the cloud.  Due to the multitude of options in this area, our term “hosted servers”  is a generic term and for the purposes of this article, serves as a guide rather than an exact type of service.

A third area to consider relates to some of the logistics of Cloud computing:

• Who within your company will need access to what’s in the Cloud?
• What additional hardware or software will you need to make your data easily accessible once it’s in the Cloud?
• How much space will you need to have hosted? This is particularly important when addressing the need for an online backup solution or the renting of server space.

By carefully considering the questions listed above, you have now armed yourself with enough information to start narrowing your focus for the type of Cloud that will best work for your business.