Managing contacts with ACT! 2005: covers ACT! 2005 and ACT! 2005 Premium for workgroups

351 Pages·2004·10.01 MB·English

by  Timothy and Edward Kachinske

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For Judith
–TK
For Dana
–EK
Managing Contacts with ACT! 2005
Foreword
Long before CRM became a hot buzzword, and during a time
when ACT! was really the only major contact and customer
management software available, I became a diehard ACT!
fanatic.
Now, after more than 18 years on the market and with more
than 4 million users worldwide, ACT! is the best-selling contact-
and customer-management solution. The world is full of ACT! fanatics.
In 1989, I joined Contact Software International (the original creator of ACT!)
as a sales rep and traveled the country demonstrating ACT!.After a short
while, I became the first product manager for ACT!. Then, in 1993, ACT! was
sold to Symantec. Years later, in 2000, Pat Sullivan (the founder of Contact
Software and original co-creator of ACT!) bought ACT! back, and I returned
to ACT! to be the General Manager for the ACT! division, working again for
Pat.
In 2001, we started developing what is now known as ACT! 2005. The new
ACT! 2005 is a complete re-write and represents the largest development
investment ever made in the ACT! line of products. ACT! 2005 is the first
major application written entirely on the .NET platform.
We’ve added more than 250 major new features to ACT! 2005. In addition to
those features, you’ll find that we’ve also added thousands of minor navigation
and feature enhancements. Just about every part of the ACT! interface has been
overhauled to incorporate feature requests and recommendations we’ve
received from customers over the years.
The stability of ACT! has been dramatically increased with the introduction of
a Microsoft SQL Server backend database, and it’s now possible to have more
than 50 users and more than 100,0000 contacts in a single ACT! database. The
addition of a company entity makes it possible to track both accounts and
contacts. We’ve added a new opportunity view, and the ability to track
multiple products per opportunity with customizable opportunity user fields
makes the new version of ACT! an even better tool for salespeople.
Synchronization, activities, groups, administration, and other popular aspects
of the program have also seen major improvements in this version.
In this book, Edward and Tim Kachinske do a great job explaining ACT!’s
functionality in a straightforward and easy-to-reference format. Managing
Contacts with ACT! 2005is an essential resource for anyone looking to get the
most out of ACT! 2005.
Greg Head
General Manager, ACT!
Senior Vice President, Best Software
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Managing Contacts with ACT! 2005
Acknowledgments
There are many people to thank for the behind-the-scenes efforts that made
this book possible.
It has truly been a pleasure working with the Premier Press and Course ILT
staff. Thanks to Stacy Hiquet, Andy Shafran, and Mike Springer for believing
in this project and for lending it such tremendous support.
Kudos to our great project editor, Estelle Manticas, for putting up with us and
providing excellent feedback.
Special thanks to our technical editor, Sanford Silver. Sanford is a Senior
Support Analyst for the ACT! product; he served as an invaluable wealth of
knowledge throughout the writing process. Sanford knows more about the
ACT! SDK than either of us will ever forget.
Many people on the ACT! team helped us as we learned the new version of
ACT!. They are: Bob Anderson, Joe Bergera, Brad Burks, Brian Cagney, Poppy
Casper, George Egan, Kyle Frankel, Donna Hacker, Greg Head, Bryon Jones,
Beth Kohler, Chuck LaRosa, Dan Lever, Melissa Lorch (Quack!), Richard
McMakin, Doug Meyer, Richard Nordstrom, Clifford Roberts, Lindsay
Sullivan, Debra Williams, and Michaela Zwinakis.
Much of the text of this book was adapted into ACT!’s official course manuals,
also published by Course Technology. Ted Cooper, the Director of Partner
Programs for Best Software’s Small Business Division, was instrumental in
getting this deal off the ground. Thanks, Ted! We appreciate your persistence
with the project.
ACT! 2005 was a complete product rewrite, and many parts of the user inter-
face changed with each beta update. Thanks to Paul Selby, we were always
working with the latest beta build. Every few weeks, Paul uploaded a new
version of the software for us, and without his help, we would have outdated
screenshots and incorrect instructions in this book.
We will be forever indebted to Paul Burke and Rick Cannon for laying the
groundwork that made this book and so many other things possible. Hopefully
we didn’t violate too many of your ten rules in this book, but if we did, get
your rubber stamp ready!
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Managing Contacts with ACT! 2005
About the Author
EdwardandTimKachinskeare longtime ACT! fanatics and recognized
leaders in the ACT! and sales automation industries. They are the principal
partners in Innovative Solutions, a platinum-level ACT! consulting and
training company based in the DC/Baltimore area. Both Edward and Tim are
ACT! Certified Consultants and ACT! Premier Trainers.
Just after selling ACT! to Interact Commerce Corporation in May 2000,
Symantec (the former owner of ACT!) turned to Innovative Solutions to train
their sales staff and set up ACT! synchronization for their corporate licensing
sales group.
In 2002 and 2003, Innovative Solutions was ranked in the top one percent of
ACT! resellers by Best Software, the makers of ACT!. ACT! selected Edward to
teach a train-the-trainer class at the 2001 Annual ACT! Certified Consultant’s
conference. In 2002, Best Software chose Innovative Solutions to co-host the
Mid-Atlantic ACT! 6.0 product-launch event. In 1999, Edward co-authored
the textbook used in the ACT! Certified Consultant training class. Edward sits
on both the ACT! and ACT! for Web Partner Advisory Councils.
Together, Edward and Tim have written a total of 32 ACT! course manuals
covering versions 3, 4, 2000, 6, and 2005. Their ACT! 6.0 course manuals
were ranked the best selling ACT! add-on product in any category by the ACT!
Add-On Store. They are co-authors of the official ACT! 2005 course manuals,
also published by Course ILT.
Edward and Tim are co-Editors-in-Chief of ACT! Advanced eNews, a quarterly
newsletter published by Best Software. The PDF newsletter covers key topics
for ACT! power-users and workgroup administrators. Tim writes the monthly
advice column, “Ask Tim,” for both ACT! Advanced eNewsandACT! Extra, the
official ACT! print newsletter.
Edward freaks out when the ground under him isn’t paved, but Tim is quite
content to spend the whole day fishing without so much as a nibble. Tim is the
Fishing Editor of American Scouting Digest, the largest circulation-independent
scouting magazine.
viii
Managing Contacts with ACT! 2005
Contents at a Glance
Introduction ......................................................xxix
Chapter 1
New Features.........................................................1
Chapter 2
Installation and Conversion.................................19
Chapter 3
Working with Contacts ........................................27
Chapter 4
Companies and Divisions.....................................47
Chapter 5
Lookups and Queries............................................53
Chapter 6
Contact List View .................................................83
Chapter 7
Using Groups........................................................93
Chapter 8
Scheduling Activities..........................................109
Chapter 9
Opportunity Management .................................141
Chapter 10
Letters, Envelopes, and Labels...........................163
Chapter 11
Performing a Mail Merge...................................173
Chapter 12
Document and File Management.......................187
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