Chicago  ACT! USER GROUP

Meeting Notes

Meeting Date: May 1998

NEWS YOU CAN USE:

The 4.0.1 patch for ACT! has been released. This update for ACT! 4.0 users is available via Symantec’s LiveUpdate feature or on diskette from Symantec (800-441-7234) or from E Tech Systems (847-352-4770). To access LiveUpdate, execute the command HELP, LIVEUPDATE. The patch includes fixes for WordPerfect users (WordPerfect 8 and 7.0.2 are now supported) and includes minor bug and performance enhancements. For example, if you sort a lookup prior to printing labels, a report, or envelopes, contacts will now print in the sorted order.

Please note that the next meeting of the ACT! User Group will be on September 15 (the 3rd Tuesday of the month instead of the usual 2nd Tuesday). Also, remember: ACT! User Group meeting notices are now available via e-mail. If you would like us to send you meeting reminders, simply send a message to info@etechsys.com.

MEETING FEATURE: "Zero-Cost" Marketing Using E-Mail and ACT!

Let's say you’ve just introduced a new product and you are about to embark on a road trip to promote it. You target three major markets, select your ACT! contacts by doing a lookup by city. You then assemble a "mailing" package including a new product announcement/letter, a spec sheet, and a price list. Each letter is individually addressed to a specific contact at each company and is customized (using a merge field) to include the contact's city in the body of the letter (as in "I will be in Los Angeles on the 29th."). But, instead of printing out dozens of letters on stationery, stuffing envelopes, and licking stamps, the whole package is sent via e-mail. Enter "zero-cost" marketing. Alan Lee, ACT! Certified Consultant, gave us a look at how this can be done.

Getting Started:

The first step is to select e-mail software and to configure ACT! to accommodate it. Your initial attempt at sending e-mail from ACT!, will be met with the launching of a SETUP ‘wizard’. Several options for e-mail are supported including: MS Exchange, cc:Mail, CompuServe, and Internet mail using an ISP (Internet Services Provider) of your choice in combination with an e-mail application like Eudora. Note, America Online is not compatible with ACT!. Mass mailers take note. ACT! is not the program for sending out 500,000 e-mails to the masses. Instead, ACT!’s strength lies in its ability to send out individualized/customized messages to contacts. (And to track these and other interactions for contacts.)

For good results, Alan suggested using Eudora 3.0.5 or 4 (not the freeware version). Be sure to install Eudora as a separate application before using it in conjunction with ACT!. In other words, get Eudora working before attempting to integrate its operation with ACT!.

Creating the E-mail Message

The next step is to create an e-mail template. One good way to do this is by opening an existing e-mail template. Simply edit it and re-do it to suit your needs. Then type the body of the letter. Add fields as necessary to individualize the message in the same fashion as you might do for form letters. For example, you may write "I am planning to be in the <City> vicinity and would love to have the opportunity to call on you at <Company>. E-mail messages can be designed to look like letters complete with heading, date, and salutation.

Now save the template. Make sure to use the SAVE AS command to avoid overwriting the original template. Follow this by doing a lookup to select the contacts you’d like to send the message to.

TIP: You can spell check your e-mail using the ALT F7 key to activate ACT!’s spell checker.

Sending the Message:

Execute the command: WRITE, MAIL MERGE. Select the e-mail option (under 'Send Output To') and choose the set of contacts you'd like to mail to and which template you'd like to use. Note that you can attach e-mail messages to contacts by checking the appropriate check box. This allows you to keep a record of exactly what was sent, to whom, and when.

Additional Features

One of the bonuses of ACT! 4.0’s e-mail interface is that you can do neat things like schedule a meeting with one of your contacts, then send "the meeting event" (via e-mail). This will automatically send the activity as an attachment allowing the recipient to merge the contact and/or activity into their database and view the event on their calendar. Plus you can also attach complete contact records or lookups to e-mail messages, as in "Here are ten new contacts I met at the trade show. Please add them to your database and send product information out to each".

Q: Could you explain the major difference between MS Outlook and ACT!?

A: Sure. Outlook is basically tailored for sending e-mail messages and scheduling. Unlike ACT!, Outlook does not permit you to have more than one database. There is no "notes" and "history" nor is there any reporting capability.

Q: Can I use ACT! 3.0 and 4.0 on same network?

A: Yes, ONLY if your ACT! 3.0 software has been updated to version 3.0.8. Note, if you have version 3.0.6 or earlier, you must first update to 3.0.7 before updating to 3.0.8. CAUTION: when using ACT! 3.0 and ACT! 4.0 with the same database, NEVER respond ‘yes’ when prompted by the question "do you want to convert to an ACT! 4.0 database".

Q: The (custom) fields I created in ACT! 4.0 show up on some workstations in the office, but not on others. Why is this and how can I fix it?

A: First, make sure you have the same layouts selected on each machine. To check the name of the layout, click on the layout tab located at the bottom center of your screen. (The tab has a small up arrow on it.) Be on the lookout for a layout which someone modified but inadvertently saved under its original name! If your workstations are all on the same network, make sure that the name as well as location of the contact layout is identical for each machine. The command to check this is: EDIT, PREFERENCES, General tab, Default Locations box, select ‘Layout’ as the File Type. A good place is on the network drive, dude.

OUR NEXT MEETING

will be held on the 3rd Tuesday of the month, September 15, 1998, instead of on the 2nd Tuesday of the month due to the Labor Day holiday. The meeting will be held at the Schaumburg Prairie Center for the Arts Lecture Hall located at 201 Schaumburg Court (just off Schaumburg Road, between Plum Grove and Roselle Roads). Have a pleasant summer!

The ACT! User Group (a SIG of the C.C.S.) holds meetings on the second Tuesday of the month, eight months out of the year. User Group meetings are free and open to all C.C.S. members. Call E Tech Systems at 847-352-4770 to get meeting notices or e-mail us at info@etechsys.com.

E Tech Systems is an ACT! Certified Consulting firm and Symantec Authorized Training Center. E Tech has installed, configured, and customized ACT! for dozens of companies and trained hundreds of ACT! users. Alan Lee can be reached at E Tech at 847-352-4770 or via e-mail to alee@etechsys.com.

© Copyright 1998 by Alan M. Lee. Other nonprofit computer user's groups may reprint this material providing credit is given the author and C.C.S. Future rights for publication reserved by Alan M. Lee. ACT! is a registered trademark of Symantec Corporation.

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