Archive for January, 2014

Is your ALF too big for its britches? It’s time to clean house.

We will periodically get calls from customers complaining that ACT syncs run forever or their ACT database is running too slow.  Before killing the computer, as the graphic alludes to, instead it’s better to look at what is the root cause of the problem.  Usually, at this point we ask a couple of questions then […]

Calling leads – when do you stop calling? It Depends.

Recently, I read a great article talking about calling prospects.  The main point of the article was that not all leads were equal – you needed to mix it up when reaching out to potential clients.   One of the questions people often ask is how many times should a prospect be called before you […]

Collapsing blank lines in ACT reports – including envelopes and labels

You can configure fields on ACT! Envelopes, Labels and Reports to collapse for contacts with no data in that field by enabling the Collapse if blank attribute for that field on the template. Follow the steps below: From the Report Designer and the Envelope, Label or Report template; right-click the field you wish to collapse for contacts with no […]

Groups in ACT – the power of Consolidation

I love creating groups in ACT – or for that matter, in any CRM.  It’s a way of consolidating contacts into meaningful relationships.  Examples are christmas lists, prospects, do not call or email, and many others.  A client of mine has a “big spender” group – really.  You know what that one contains – it’s […]

Increase or decrease the number of results from the ACT Universal Search

By default, ACT will return 50 results whenever you do a search using Universal Search.  To increase or decrease this number, do the following: Close ACT!. Open Windows® Services screen and locate ACT! Service Host. Right click on the service and select Stop. Using Windows Explorer, browse to the Sage ACT! installation directory. 32-bit operating system default: C:\Program […]

Customer Relationship Tracking – Why it works

Everyone who reads my blog knows by now that we work with Customer Relationship Software.  It’s one of the applications in the aresenal of tools used by businesses to increase sales and customer loyalty.  We use it ourselves as well.  When you are a smaller business, you need every trick in the book to stay […]

Universal search in ACT never returns data

You do a search using the Universal search box in the uppr right corner,but it nevers finishes.  Here’s what to do. Close out of Act! on all machines accessing the database From the server, press the Windows key + R on your keyboard In the Run dialog, type services.msc and press enter Right-click on Act! […]