CRM Blog


Sage ACT! Information Management System

July 29th, 2011 by

Sage ACT! Information Management

Sage ACT! information management system is a varied kaleidoscope of powerful data tools that seem to bring order into chaos. This includes detailed descriptions about different kinds of Sage ACT! products and solutions to common CRM problems. There’s a lot of things that a common business owner have not tried exploring yet and if they do, they will find that there is certainly more than meets the eye. For instance, you can install a Sage ACT! software into one self-employed person’s home office computer to make a Sage ACT! information database. You can also install Sage ACT! into hundreds of computers in one company network and even access the database from Palm handhelds and other mobile devices. This makes for a totally virtual and limitless Sage ACT! Information database network.

Benefits of Sage ACT! Information Database

What exactly are the perks of a Sage ACT! database to a business? A lot, actually. It can not only organize the names, email addresses, mailing addresses, and phone numbers of all its clients and business partners, but it also enables the business to keep a record of conversations, observations, and meetings with the same contacts that provides for a very comprehensive Sage ACT! information database. With this feature, operations can organize the database with keywords, categories, and subcategories that will make an easy task of matching clients with certain marketing goals. Moreover, businesses can also run entire marketing campaigns in mere minutes by using the database. By printing out mailing labels and a list of fax numbers, emails and messages can be sent in lightning speed to clients and even use the database’s marketing templates, graphics, and plans to create dynamic material to sell goods.

The Role of Sage ACT! to Operations

The Sage ACT! software can also help the business and its employees keep track of project deadlines, meetings, and other scheduling events with the database’s calendar feature. This is important for the business because key employees can now see their daily, weekly, and monthly project goals and client follow-ups as well as their work schedule. They can even send automated emails to customers who need specific responses on a specific time frame. The database also enables the business to forecast sales trends at the click of a button. This is equally important and highly useful, seeing that it can be conveniently exported to common programs such as Microsoft Word, Outlook, Outlook Express, MapPoint, and Excel; Win Fax; Adobe Acrobat Reader; Eudora; and Lotus Notes.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Evaluation

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 - Free Analysis PDFClick here to access and download our Free Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Analysis.

Topics addressed include:

  1. Salesforce.com vs Microsoft CRM
  2. Pros and Cons of SaaS vs On-premise CRM
  3. Crucial User Adoption Factors
  4. Total Cost of Ownership of Microsoft CRM

Free ACT! 2011 Evaluation and Feature Review

Sage ACT! Premium 2011 - Free Feature Review and Assessment PDFClick here to access and download our Free Sage ACT! 2011 Feature Evaluation and Review.

With this document, you will be able to identify the key improvements within ACT! 2011 as well as ACT! 2010.

Items addressed include:

  1. User interface enhancements
  2. Social Media
  3. E-Marketing, Mail-Merge and Online Surveys
  4. Sales Opportunity redesign
  5. Flexible Reporting, Dashboard and OLEDB interface
  6. Advanced Outlook Integration and Invitations
  7. Advanced Outlook Sync for Contacts and Calendar
  8. Simplified Importing design
  9. Smart Tasks (Workflow)
  10. Advanced Lead Management and Importing
  11. Administrative improvements
  12. and much more.

Download TCO Calculator for CRM Projects

Free CRM TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) Calculator ToolClick here to access and download our Free CRM TCO Calculator Tool.

With this tool, you will be able to identify the key TCO line items that are relevant for any CRM implementation. We have also included data for comparing CRM software systems such as Microsoft CRM, Salesforce.com, SugarCRM, Sage CRM, Sage SalesLogix and more. You will be able to view the 3 Year and 5 Year Total Cost of Ownership for both SaaS (Online/On-Demand) and Licensed (On-premise) pricing models.

TCO line items include:

  1. Annual License/User price
  2. Support
  3. Hardware (incl. Server and Users)
  4. Implementation
  5. Staff
  6. Network
  7. Mobile
  8. and much more.

Nationwide CRM Consulting and Training

With locations throughout the United States, Accent Gold Solutions is able to provide CRM training, consulting and implementation service whereever you are. Please contact us to find out the best way to get your CRM project underway. Remember, step 1 is to figure out what your business requirements are, and step 2 is to select the proper CRM system for your individual needs.

Being certified in various CRM systems such as Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Sage SalesLogix CRM, Sage ACT!, SAP CRM and more, we are confident we can advise you as to the proper CRM software to fit your business.

 

CRM Training Classes-Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, User, Administrator

Whether you are in Honolulu, Hawaii or Glendale, Arizona, we can get your CRM solution designed, implemented and trained so that your users will love it and use it. We define our success by your CRM adoption rate. So call us to get started!

Microsoft CRM 2011 Review Webinars

Join us for our webinar series as we explore the points outlined below – and hope to provide you valuable insight about this top-rated CRM solution. We hope that our comparison with Salesforce.com will help you on in your CRM evaluation.

Recorded Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Webinars registration

Search terms for Compare CRM:

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Video Blog: Sage ACT! 2011 – Testimonial: 5 Reasons I Chose ACT

July 5th, 2011 by

 

Reasons to choose Sage ACT!

Sage ACT! 2011 is helping me with my small business. It feels like a personal assistant. It’s got a place for notes, history and contact details. It even includes social media data like Facebook and LinkedIn. Here are some benefits of Sage ACT:

(a)    Top Selling CRM

ACT! has been the #1 seller for over 20 years. Almost 3 million customers!

(b)    Small Business CRM

ACT! was actually designed for small businesses! ACT! decided to focus only on the features that people use on a regular basis.

(c)    Inexpensive CRM System

ACT! has a great price point. No need for super servers and costs that will creep up on you later.

(d)    Simple and Easy CRM Software

ACT! was easy to learn. Tests show that tasks in Salesforce.com take on average 37% longer than in ACT!.

(e)    Flexible and customizable CRM

ACT! is easily customizable. Not just field creation but screens that are exactly the way I want them. Not just a grid of fields. But exactly how I want to place them. Sweet.

If you need help with Sage ACT! – or if you simply need a presentation or review of ACT! by Sage Premium, please don’t hesitate to contact us. If you have questions regarding the CRM cloud or web CRM tools, please let us know. Our trained staff of CRM consultants would be glad to assist you.-

Free ACT! 2011 Evaluation and Feature Review

Sage ACT! Premium 2011 - Free Feature Review and Assessment PDFClick here to download our Free Sage ACT! 2011 Feature Review.

With this document, you will be able to identify the key improvements within ACT! 2011 as well as ACT! 2010.

Items addressed include:

  1. User interface enhancements
  2. Social Media
  3. E-Marketing, Mail-Merge and Online Surveys
  4. Sales Opportunity redesign
  5. Flexible Reporting, Dashboard and OLEDB interface
  6. Advanced Outlook Integration and Invitations
  7. Advanced Outlook Sync for Contacts and Calendar
  8. Simplified Importing design
  9. Smart Tasks (Workflow)
  10. Advanced Lead Management and Importing
  11. Administrative improvements
  12. and much more.

Free TCO Calculator for CRM Projects

Free CRM TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) Calculator ToolClick here to access our Free TCO Tool.

With this TCO tool, you will be able to identify the key line items that are relevant for any CRM implementation. We have also included data for comparing CRM software systems such as Microsoft CRM, Salesforce.com, SugarCRM, Sage CRM, Sage SalesLogix and more. You will be able to view the 3 Year and 5 Year Total Cost of Ownership for both SaaS (Online/On-Demand) and Licensed (On-premise) pricing models.

TCO line items include:

  1. User License
  2. Support
  3. Hardware (incl. Server and Users)
  4. Implementation
  5. Staff
  6. Mobile
  7. and much more.

Nationwide CRM Consulting and Training

With locations throughout the United States, Accent Gold Solutions is able to provide CRM training, consulting and implementation service whereever you are. Please contact us to find out the best way to get your CRM project underway. Remember, step 1 is to figure out what your business requirements are, and step 2 is to select the proper CRM system for your individual needs.

Being certified in various CRM systems such as Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Sage SalesLogix CRM, Sage ACT!, SAP CRM and more, we are confident we can advise you as to the proper CRM software to fit your business.

Microsoft CRM Training - Online, Onsite, Public Classes

Whether you are in Modesto, California or Hampton, Virginia, we can get your CRM solution designed, implemented and trained so that your users will love it and use it. We define our success by your CRM adoption rate. So call us to get started!

Microsoft CRM 2011 Review Webinars

Join us for our webinar series as we explore the points outlined below – and hope to provide you valuable insight about this top-rated CRM solution. We hope that our comparison with Salesforce.com will help you on in your CRM evaluation.

Recorded Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Webinars registration

Search terms for Compare CRM:

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Configuring ACT with Microsoft Outlook as your E-mail Client

June 11th, 2011 by

Configuring Sage ACT with Microsoft Outlook

Sage ACT and MS Outlook

Sage ACT! 2011 E-Mail will work through Microsoft Outlook versions 2002 (XP), 2003, 2007, or 2010. It is important to note that in order for Sage ACT! and Microsoft Outlook to properly integrate, ACT! must have been installed after Outlook was installed. Therefore if you installed or upgraded Outlook after you installed ACT!, you will need to uninstall and reinstall ACT! prior to setting up Outlook as your email client for ACT!

>>Click here to read this PDF article including the screenshots.<<

 

Microsoft Outlook and Sage ACT

To set up Microsoft Outlook as your e-mail client within Sage ACT!, please use these following steps:

1. Select the Tools menu, and then select Preferences. The Preferences dialog box will appear.

2. Click on the E-mail & Outlook Sync tab and select the E-mail System Setup button.

3. The following E-mail Setup Wizard will appear. Please select the Next button at the Welcome to the E-mail setup Wizard dialog box (if necessary).

4. The E-mail dialog box will now appear:

5. Make sure to select to enable the MS Outlook e-mail system check box, and then select Next. The following E-mail – Outlook Address Books dialog box will appear:

This next page of this wizard will allow users to add up to three Sage ACT! databases as address books to Outlook.

6. After selecting Next, the E-mail Editor dialog box appears:

7. For the Select an e-mail editor option, 2 options are now available to choose from: ACT! Email Editor or Microsoft Outlook (recommended). Here are your choices.

(a)  The ACT! Email Editor: When you select the E-mail option from the side toolbar the ACT! E-mail program will launch with your Outlook folders displayed. If you click either the Write menu, and then click E-mail message, or click the contacts e-mail address hyperlink from the E-mail field, the ACT! E-mail program will launch with your Outlook folders displayed (if not already open) and the default ACT! e-mail template will appear properly addressed.

(b) Microsoft Outlook: When you select the E-mail option from the side toolbar, click the Write menu, and then click E-mail message, or click the contacts e-mail address hyperlink from the E-mail field the default Outlook e-mail template appears properly addressed. You must open Outlook to view your folder when using this option.

Please Note: If you choose the Microsoft Outlook option, you must setup an ACT! address book to enable history and attachments controls. You must also disable Microsoft Office Word as the editor for Outlook e-mail messages. For help on how to do this, please use the following three steps:

a. In Outlook, click the Tools menu, and then click Options. The Options dialog box appears.

b. Under the Mail Format tab, clear the Use Microsoft Office Word <version> to edit e-mail messages check box.

c. Click Apply and OK.

Please Note: If you choose the Microsoft Outlook option you will not be allowed to add any other e-mail programs to the ACT! E-mail client such as Outlook Express or Lotus Notes®. It is recommended that you select the ACT! Email Editor option if you would like to setup more then one E-mail client in ACT!.

  • Note: Edit Signatures: This option is available only when using the ACT! e-mail program option. You may select your default signature that will appear in a new message from the drop-down. For detailed information on how to create an e-mail signature in ACT!, please refer to the following Knowledgebase Answer:

Tip: How to Create a E-mail Signature in ACT! (ACT Knowledge Base ID: 22073)

8. Click Next to advance the E-mail Setup Wizard. The E-mail – Record History dialog box appears:

On this next screen, you are empowered to select the type of history recording option when you send e-mail to ACT! contacts. Selecting Make History Private will create private Histories when using the selected recording option. The Record History options available are:

  • • None
  • • E-mail Subject Only
  • • E-mail Subject and Message (Recommended)
  • • E-mail Subject, Message and all Attachments

9. Click Next to advance to the next page in the wizard. The Email – Attach to ACT! Contacts dialog box appears:

From this page of the wizard, you are able to select how ACT! should attach messages as history records. The same options from the previous page in the wizard for history recording are available from list. In addition, you can choose the options for the Quick Attach function. Click Next and the E-mail – Activity page appears.

10. From the Select the application that displays the activity alarm list, select ACT!, Outlook, or both applications to be used with the iCalendar feature.

You can also select an option for creating an ACT! activity when accepting an Outlook meeting invitation:

  • • Edit and create activity: This is the default and this setting means you can edit the activity in either calendar
  • • Automatically create activity: This setting means you will not receive a confirmation of the activity being scheduled on your ACT! calendar.

To have ACT! create contacts when it cannot match addresses, select Create contacts if they are not found.

11. Click Next to proceed and the Finishing E-mail Setup dialog box appears:

12. Select Finish to close the Finishing E-mail Setup dialog box.

Free ACT! 2011 Evaluation and Feature Review

Sage ACT! Premium 2011 - Free Feature Review and Assessment PDFClick here to access and download our Free Sage ACT! 2011 Feature Evaluation and Review.

With this document, you will be able to identify the key improvements within ACT! 2011 as well as ACT! 2010.

Items addressed include:

  1. User interface enhancements
  2. Social Media
  3. E-Marketing, Mail-Merge and Online Surveys
  4. Sales Opportunity redesign
  5. Flexible Reporting, Dashboard and OLEDB interface
  6. Advanced Outlook Integration and Invitations
  7. Advanced Outlook Sync for Contacts and Calendar
  8. Simplified Importing design
  9. Smart Tasks (Workflow)
  10. Advanced Lead Management and Importing
  11. Administrative improvements
  12. and much more.

Free TCO Calculator for CRM Projects

Free CRM TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) Calculator ToolClick here to access and download our Free CRM TCO Calculator Tool.

With this tool, you will be able to identify the key TCO line items that are relevant for any CRM implementation. We have also included data for comparing CRM software systems such as Microsoft CRM, Salesforce.com, SugarCRM, Sage CRM, Sage SalesLogix and more. You will be able to view the 3 Year and 5 Year Total Cost of Ownership for both SaaS (Online/On-Demand) and Licensed (On-premise) pricing models.

TCO line items include:

  1. Annual License/User price
  2. Support
  3. Hardware (incl. Server and Users)
  4. Implementation
  5. Staff
  6. Network
  7. Mobile
  8. and much more.

CRM Consulting and Training

With locations throughout the United States, Accent Gold Solutions is able to provide CRM training, consulting and implementation service whereever you are. Please contact us to find out the best way to get your CRM project underway. Remember, step 1 is to figure out what your business requirements are, and step 2 is to select the proper CRM system for your individual needs.

Being certified in various CRM systems such as Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Sage SalesLogix CRM, Sage ACT!, SAP CRM and more, we are confident we can advise you as to the proper CRM software to fit your business.

Microsoft CRM Training - Online, Onsite, Public Classes

Whether you are in Newark, New Jersey or Shreveport, Louisiana, we can get your CRM solution designed, implemented and trained so that your users will love it and use it. We define our success by your CRM adoption rate. So call us to get started!

Microsoft CRM 2011 vs Salesforce Review

Join us for our webinar series as we explore the points outlined below – and hope to provide you valuable insight about this top-rated CRM solution. We hope that our comparison with Salesforce.com will help you on in your CRM evaluation.

Recorded Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Webinars registration

Search terms for Compare CRM:

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Comparison CRM-Compare CRM Softwares in Detail

April 6th, 2011 by

Comparison CRM: Salesforce.com vs ACT! vs Microsoft CRM vs SugarCRM

The world of CRM Softwares has clearly heated up in the last 6 months. Microsoft has already brought out their newest version, Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 online and on-premise. SugarCRM released version 6 and has ramped up with 6.1 and Mobile 1.0. Sage ACT! released ACT! 2011 Premium. And Salesforce is excited about their Spring release. With all these, and many other, top-notch CRM solutions, the task to compare CRM Software has become quite challenging and confusing.

Let’s take a look at the keys to a comparison of CRM softwares.

CRM – Compare how Stable and Cloud-oriented is the Manufacturer

The CRM softwares market seems to be consolidating. Although there will always be a place for Contact Management tools, especially among SMBs, the market is trending to more compete solutions. Contact Managers will be required in the B2B world, while B2C companies will be searching for robust and complete CRM systems. That means stable products that “just work” and don’t require much troubleshooting. Typically this will be found in online products – as stability is much easier to manage in a web product.

Compare CRM Software: Simplicity of the CRM Rollout

Find out how easy it is to implement a particular CRM system. Again, please note that this is usually simpler with a web based CRM system.

CRM Softwares – Compare User Interfaces

When you compare CRM software - in your product demonstrations and tests, make sure that you think hard about how easily your users will be able to actually use the software. For example, if you are a Microsoft Office based company, then a product such as MS CRM 2011 might make more sense. If you visually compare CRM software systems such as Microsoft CRM, Salesforce, SugarCRM and ACT, you will notice clear differences. SugarCRM and Salesforce have similar interfaces, yet one requires more scrolling and clicking than the other. ACT and Saleslogix have likely the most flexible interfaces. Yet, in our experience, the flexibility of the GUI (graphical user interface) can sometimes cause a slight lag in the speed with large numbers of records.

Compare CRM Softwares – Long-Term Pricing and Costs

Comparison-CRM Pricing and Costs. Your will obviously be comparing costs of your CRM system. We advise you to not just focus on the initial hosting/licensing and implementation costs – but to make sure that your 3 year TCO (total cost of ownership) is alligned with your budget. To be sure, each vendor will do their best to provide you a great initial cost. But we have seen some manufacturers substantially increase their costs after a 12 or 24 month period.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 - Free Analysis PDFComparison CRM-Microsoft CRM 2011 vs Salesforce

==>Click here<== to receive our Free Analysis of how Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 stacks up with Salesforce.com.

CRM-Compare based on these topics:

  1. Salesforce.com vs Microsoft CRM
  2. Pros and Cons of SaaS vs On-premise CRM
  3. Crucial User Adoption Factors
  4. Total Cost of Ownership of Microsoft CRM

Sugar CRM 6 - Free CRM Assessment PDFFree CRM Softwares Assessment of SugarCRM 6

==>Click here<== to access and download our Free Sugar CRM 6 Evaluation PDF.

With this document, you will be able to identify the key enhancements within Sugar CRM.

Topics addressed include:

  1. Calculated Fields
  2. Favorites and Favorites Dashlet
  3. Twitter and Social Media integration
  4. Reporting (filtering, scheduling)
  5. User interface improvements (there are many!)
  6. Sugar Mobile 1.0 details
  7. and much more.

Free CRM TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) Calculator ToolFree TCO Calculator for CRM Projects

Click here to access and download our Free CRM TCO Calculator Tool.

CRM-Compare with this tool, and you will be able to identify the key TCO line items that are relevant for any CRM implementation. We have also included data to compare CRM software systems such as Microsoft CRM, Salesforce.com, SugarCRM, Sage CRM, Sage SalesLogix and more. You will be able to view the 3 Year and 5 Year Total Cost of Ownership for both SaaS (Online/On-Demand) and Licensed (On-premise) pricing models.

Comparison-CRM TCO budget items include the following:

  1. Annual License/User price
  2. Support
  3. Hardware (incl. Server and Users)
  4. Implementation
  5. Staff
  6. Network
  7. Mobile
  8. and much more.

Free Excel CRM Comparison Tool - Comparing 10 of the Top CRM SolutionsCRM Softwares-Free Excel Tool to Compare CRM Software

CRM-Compare the various CRM packages with this tool we created. Click here to access and download.

With this tool, you will be able to identify the key similarilites and differences between 9 of the top CRM systems, including Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Sage SalesLogix, GoldMine, Sage ACT!, Pivotal and more.

Comparison-CRM Topics include:

  1. Key CRM Features
  2. Pricing (Licensing, etc..)
  3. Available Modules (e.g. SFA, Marketing, Service, etc)
  4. Feature Details (Sync, Call Center, Quoting, E-commerce, Lead Management, Security, Workflow, and much more.
  5. Hardware and Network support (Microsoft, Linux, etc…)
  6. Industry/NAICS

Microsoft Dynamics Comparison: Salesforce vs CRM 2011 Webinar

Join us for our Microsoft Dynamics Comparison webinar as we explore the points outlined below – and hope to provide you valuable insight about this top-rated CRM solution. We hope that our Microsoft Dynamics comparison with Salesforce.com will help you on in your CRM evaluation.

Recorded Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Webinars registration

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Sage ACT Training Webinar – design your database Part 3 of 3 (How to create new fields)

March 31st, 2011 by

 

ACT CRM Training Webinar – Designing Database Fields

This third Webinar in our ACT Database Design Training series builds on the 2nd part (editing drop-downs) and concentrates on Defining Fields as an ACT CRM database administrator. The functionality described here works for ACT 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011.

Highlights of this ACT CRM training webinar include:

  1. How to edit an existing field
  2. Beware: You may not want a character field. You might prefer a currency, date or decimal field.
  3. Limitations in re-using or converting an existing field or User field
  4. Limitations in Naming your fields (Watch out for special characters such as hyphens and slashes)
  5. The value of Mandatory Fields (using Allow Blank). We DO NOT recommend making fields mandatory.
  6. What are Primary fields and are they valuable.
  7. Associating a drop-down can be done at any time.
  8. Multi-select vs Single-select
  9. The value of Limit To List for Drop-Downs. Beware, If you Limit To List, then multi-select will malfunction!
  10. Do you want to Show Descriptions?
  11. Type Ahead should be enabled.
  12. Default value
  13. Field Format can prove valuable (e.g. Social Security Number), but is rarely used
  14. Be careful in defining your Field Length. Don’t just accept the default value of 50. Keep it short if possible.

Do you need advanced ACT by Sage 2011 help or support? Do you have questions about Sage ACT add ons? Or do you simply need a review or demo of Sage ACT 2011 Premium, including its features and options for upgrading? Please don’t hesitate to contact us!

Do you require a comparison of CRM products such as ACT by Sage 2011 Premium, SalesLogix 7  (web, cloud), SugarCRM 6 (Open Source, hosted, SAAS), Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 (integrated, workflow, web based online CRM) vs Salesforce (SAAS, online web based CRM)? No worries! Just give us a call!

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