This one goes out to our Sage ACT! 2011 hosting customers. Sage recently released Sage ACT! 2011 SP1 Hot Fix 6. This release does contain schema changes, and if your remote database is not on the same version as your main database, you will not be able to synchronize. Simply put, since our Sage ACT! 2011 servers are now running HF 6, all remote users must install HF 6 to successfully synchronize.
To check your version, from within ACT!, click Help, then About ACT!.
The version should read 13.1.11.0, Hot Fix 6. Here is a Knowledge Base article to help you update to the correct version – http://bit.ly/zshwen. To simply download and then apply the Hot Fix use this link – http://bit.ly/xXlNBk.
Even if you are in a self-hosted environment, the mis-matched versions may apply and could be the root of a sync error. It’s also worth investigating the Hot Fix. There are several key bug fixes worth installing. Just remember, all databases, host and remotes, have to be on the same version for everyone to sync successfully in this case.
A customer asked us recently, “How often should I upgrade?” A purely numbers driven sales person might say, “Every version, silly!” We answer a bit more realistically, with more consideration for our customer.
So many software companies have adopted the new version every year philosophy. Why do they do this to us? A struggle for software developers is achieving recurring income. When you put out a good solid software product, people buy it, they love it, but they may not upgrade for several versions. So as the software company, you search for a way to bolster a continuous stream of revenue. One way is the annual release. Continue reading →
I had an interesting conversation with a customer recently. This customer was considering leaving ACT! and moving to SalesForce. While discussing the benefits of ACT! and comparing against SalesForce, the customer asked, “Don’t you see the day that everything is cloud-based?” We hear this, or some version of this, nearly every day. Customers frantically trying to figure out ways to move their businesses into the “Cloud”, nervous they’ll be left behind some technology barrier otherwise. Spoiler alert: they stayed with ACT! and are quickly adding new ACT! users. Continue reading →
Have you ever bought something new and you just love it? Then you notice this one flaw that catches your eye? From that moment on that flaw is this annoyance you just can’t disregard. Well, we were right there with you when Sage ACT! 2011 was released. Packed with so many great new features that were obviously based on things we the users asked for. Love it. Still love it, but that Company field!
Yeah, it drove us crazy too. You are working with your Contacts, glance down at the Company field and, what? I can only see the last few letters of the Company’s name. Annoying right? Continue reading →
We’ve shown you how to add a couple cool buttons to your Sage ACT! Toolbar in previous posts – the Sync Now & Refresh buttons. What if you have a document you are constantly creating - a proposal maybe. For me, it’s our ACT! Hosting Agreement. Clicking Write, then Other Documents, finding the custom Template, well with all those clicks, you’re just asking for a mouse finger sprain! You can create a custom toolbar button and generate that Template with one click! Continue reading →
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? Continue reading →
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. Continue reading →
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://www.trilogycrm.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. Continue reading →
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? Continue reading →
We recently developed a summer training series for a customer, yes we do that too, and during that session a user asked, “what if I just want to schedule a dentist appointment? I don’t wanna enter my dentist, but I need the appointment on my calendar.” This is one of those things as a 12 year ACT! CC and user of ACT! since 1993 that I take for granted. It’s a great little tip, really.
One of the great things about ACT! is the relationship to the Contact. If you are new to ACT!, it’s something we long timers take for granted. Unlike PIMs (personal information managers, like Outlook or your Blackberry), in ACT! it’s about the Contact. If you schedule a Call, you schedule it with the person you are calling. This perpetuates the lifecycle of sales. Histories prompt follow up. Clearing Activities creates Histories. Documents get merged and attached to Contacts, and all the while these ACT! items are related to the Contact. That’s the ACT! experience. Everything in one place, related to your Customers and Prospects. Continue reading →
