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 →
Most sales gurus will tell you that staying in touch is one of the most important things we can do as good sales people. Some go so far as to prescribe a minimum number of touch points you should make. I’d like to think I know a thing or two about selling. I’ve been selling since I was 16, everything from cold call telemarketing to my current CRM career. And, yes, I’ll brag a bit. Trilogy has been in the top 25 for Sage ACT! sales for the last 7 years. If you ask me what the most important staying in touch tactic is, I have to go with remembering to stay in touch.
So, how can you ensure that? Schedule it in ACT!, of course. Continue reading →
If you work with us, you know we do not push products we don’t believe in. If we haven’t tried it, used it, or received positive feedback about it we don’t sell it. Sage ACT! E-marketing is one that if you aren’t using it, you probably should.
Almost daily we receive questions about how to send e-mail campaigns. Without dredging too deeply into why you shouldn’t just blast out of Outlook, skipping the soap box speech on CAN-SPAM rules, and glossing over putting yourself at risk of being black listed, (all very direct hints that those are bad things) we thought we’d point out a great utility that’s literally built into ACT! – ACT! E-marketing. If you send out newsletters, announcements, or just regularly scheduled touch base e-mails, you really need this add-on.
You see Sage ACT! E-marketing every time you open ACT! and likely don’t even realize it. It’s that button in the toolbar with the fluffy little cloud behind it.
There is also data dropped right in your database if you subscribe to ACT! E-marketing. That is the tab you probably click on and immediately close because you don’t know what that dialog box is that splashes your screen.
ACT! E-marketing is a safe way to send out glossy, professional e-mails. Because it is powered by Swiftpage, it includes web reports and tools that help you hone your e-marketing based on real results. You can track open rates, manage opt-outs, all those things you need to know to be a nimble e-marketer.
You should check it out. Free, live demos of Sage ACT! E-marketing. Or, give us a call, we’d be happy to talk about how we leverage Sage ACT! E-marketing.
One of the great things about ACT! is its flexibility. You can tailor so much of the application to fit your process. Yes, we know most people install it out-of-the-box and never even relable a single field. (Shameless plug, we can help with that!) One of the simple ways you can customize ACT! to your process is by creating Custom Activity Types. Because each company’s process is slightly different, the old Meeting, Call and To-do options just don’t cover it. We have customers across almost every imaginable industry. Pharmaceutical reps need to track their doctor’s office “Drop Ins”, another company needs to schedule “Equipment Deliveries”, and yet another has and Activity Type of “Install”. Sure they all have Calls, Meetings and To-dos also, but they have those just outside the box items that warrant a custom type. In the latest versions of ACT!, you, or your trusted TrilogyCRM ACT! CC, can customize the Types. Continue reading →
Summer means sunshine, swimming pools, beach vacations, and . . . software previews. Sage ACT! 2012 is coming to Columbus for a special preview prior to its release this Fall. This year, we are happy to sponsor the Ohio edition of the Sage ACT! 2012 Road Show. The ACT! 2012 Road Show is a great, FREE way to see the latest product features right in your backyard. We’ll have Sage employees on hand to showcase what’s new and improved. Continue reading →
If you keep up, you’ll notice we love pointing out things that ACT! users don’t necessarily notice. We get it, there are a lot of pretty buttons. So many to click on, too many to know them all. Well, we’ve tasked ourselves with keeping you in the know regarding the ones that can make your live easier
Fairly often, customers ask things like can they can print a report of all of their sales reps top accounts in their territory. Or, they might want to see a report of all of their customers that came from a particular referral source. First thought, as an ACT! CC, do you really want a report? A report is typically something canned, and is typically in a stagnant format. Then, do you really want to print it? Most of the time, it’s not a report the customer is looking for. It’s a list they want. And, what they want in or on that list is a moving target. That’s why we love the Export to Excel feature. It’s been there for a few versions, but it’s one of those, “show me that again” features we love to show off in demos and trainings. Simple and effective. Continue reading →
We found out today that TrilogyCRM was awarded the Top Performer Award for our Region, for the Fiscal Half of 2011. Sage Software presents these awards to the top performing ACT! Certified Consulting firms on the half and full year. We have a talented team, that works so well together. Recognition like this Top Performer award help us to continue to shine. We’ll display the trophy proudly. Of course, we’d like to say thank you to our team for your hard work and dedication to the product and the company!
Sometimes, when you are in the customer service business, your hard work and effort to make and keep the customer happy go un-noticed. Then there are the times, from out of the blue, when we receive a glowing recommendation. Those completely unsolicited praises are the ones that truly mean the world to us!
This e-mail is from a current TrilogyCRM client to a prospect. The prospect contacted our customer to find out about their experience working with Trilogy. This email made most of us blush, and reminded us our jobs are worth it.
Hi Jack,We started using Trilogy approximately 8 months ago. We have been using ACT! for 2+ years and I am extremely pleased with Trilogy for the following reasons:
- Customization: We are a third party logistics company that specializes in providing customized solutions. Therefore, we needed ACT! to be altered to fit our different services and solutions. Trilogy was able to meet all of our needs.
- Level of Expertise: Throughout the customization process, we had a vision of what we wanted. Trilogy knows ACT! inside and out, and provided suggestions that we didn’t think of. They have the foresight to know what is the best solution for what you want.
- Responsiveness: Part of my duties as Marketing Manager is to help our Sales force download, manage, and upload. They had many questions throughout the process and was able to rely on the customer support Trilogy provides. There were extremely responsive – every time the reply was less than an hour! They also have live customer support via their website/ live chat which provides immediate assistance.
- Customer Service: Overall, they have the mentality that the customer is the boss. They have excellent customer service and do whatever it takes to keep you satisfied with their service.
The challenges we have faced with ACT! have been met head on with Trilogy quickly responding with assistance or suggestions. I highly recommend them.
If you have any additional questions, please don’t hesitate to call me.
Regards,
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Jaime McLiverty | Manager; Marketing | Unyson Logistics – A Hub Group Company
O.K., so it’s 11:45 at night and you need to run this report to send to your boss for the 8:00 a.m. staff meeting, you run the report and get an error message. Now what? During normal business hours you can always reach out to support@TrilogyCRM.com, but that email may or may not be read at 11:45 at night. And, in this economy, why not take advantage of the free option? Anytime, 24/7, and always free, you can use the ACT! Knowledge Base.
Go to http://kb.sagesoftwareonline.com and click on the Search option. Then, pick your Product (choose “ACT! by Sage Family of Products”), and choose your ACT! version. In the “Search by Keyword” field, type in your error message or question.
The results can be all over the place, but if you have a specific error message your odds are good to get a direct hit. When searching based on general questions and how-to’s, like “how do I mail merge”, can be more difficult. With resourceful wording, and once you get the hang of searching, you can definitely find answers.
The ACT! Knowledge Base is the tool that we use when find ourselves with an error message that we haven’t seen before. The directions are well written and usually include pictures to help you along. So, next time you find yourself in an ACT! bind, remember you always have a free resource – the ACT! Knowledge Base.
It’s always fun to point out features in ACT! that we know a customer hasn’t noticed. There is a little tab in ACT! that a lot of users overlook – the Relationships tab. The obvious use is to track the basic Org Chart type information. It’s a great place to relate managers to team members, sales reps to sales managers and the obvious assistants to the person in charge. When working with our customers, we may have an IT Contractor, a Sales Consultant, or an ACT! Certified Consultant related to the customer. Those are all relationships we’d like to keep tabs on, or should we say, keep on this tab. Continue reading →
