Robb Shirey

ACT! and Quickbooks

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From time to time, we receive requests to add fields into ACT! that really should be tracked in an accounting system.  We always explain that ACT! is for your sales and contact management, and Quickbooks, Peachtree, or any other accounting package should be used to track receivables or COGS.  Generally speaking, each program serves a very specific purpose – one for tracking Contacts, the other for tracking numbers.  That distinction is a consulting issue we like to make clear, but there is value to sales seeing some accounting data.  Wouldn’t it be helpful if a sales rep could see that a customer has an outstanding invoice before they sell the next deal? Read more

Michelle Scott

If it doesn’t fit

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One of the hardest things when selling is realizing when a sale doesn’t fit.  It takes a lot to gracefully walk away.  Or, harder still, knowing the right solution isn’t in your stable and then pointing the customer in the right direction.  Because one of our biggest products is actually our service, this is something we’ve learned over the years.  There are a lot of choices, and this probably hits home with anyone that sells.  We can’t be the perfect fit for everyone.  ACT! or ACT! hosting, and the services we offer aren’t what everyone needs.  And as hard as we try, we certainly can’t make everyone happy.  Read more

Michelle Scott

Help! IE 9 installed and ACT! won’t work

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For the last couple of weeks, about one out of every five e-mails we receive are ACT! Premium for Web issues caused by Internet Explorer 9.    Things like, “all of a sudden, I can’t get to my database”  or APFW users are getting the “cannot display the page” nasty-grams from Internet Explorer.  What a lot of users don’t understand is that Microsoft pushes updates to your machine, depending on your Windows Update settings, sometimes without you even realizing.  The best medicine here, per the old adage, is prevention.  One of our earlier posts touched on this also -http://famous-loaf.flywheelsites.com/2011/04/what-will-that-upgrade-impact/.  We try to ensure our customers are in the know, but you have things to do, businesses to run, sales to close, and we know computer things happen.  Read more

Michelle Scott

New fangled sales technique?

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I spend a lot of time reading, watching and soaking up information about sales and marketing.  The marketing side being my “past life” and something I’m still very interested in, and sales being my thing.  It’s what I love and a talent I constantly hone.  I like to joke that I wish God gave me the gift of a singing voice, instead He gave me sales.  In a lot of articles, blogs, tweets and YouTube videos lately, Sales Coaches and Marketing Experts preach that the old way of selling is dead.  You need to leave the “old” ways behind.  It’s all about technology, social media and changing it up.  Is it?  Read more