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.

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.   

Of course, we encourage our users to keep everything in ACT!. If you looked at my calendar you’d see lacrosse games, blog writing, summer camps, proposal follow-ups, web demos, trainings (a custom Activity type in our ACT! database!), etc.  Personal and business mixed together.  I don’t keep my pediatrician, hair stylist and the like in my database.  I could, but I keep them separate.  I do schedule everything in ACT!.  The trick is, schedule the personal stuff or tasks not related with a Contact – like writing the next blog post – with your My Record.  The My Record is you in the database.  Not sure if you have one?  Every ACT! user does.  To check yours, click Lookup, then My Record. 

If you see someone other than yourself, you’ve given yourself a new identity.  As fun as that sounds, you or someone has typed over your My Record instead of creating a new Contact.  You’ll want to correct that, and enter your information on your My Record.

Then, next time you have an Activity not related to a business Contact, simply click the appropriate Activity icon, and choose “My Record” from the Schedule with drop down. 

Activities scheduled against your My Record appear on your calendar, just like your other Activities.  So juggling all you have to do is more concise.  If everything is in one place, you are far more likely to find it.  And hopefully in using ACT!, you’ll complete and accomplish more!

Yes, being virtual sounds very cutting edge.  There are media spots painting a world where we can magically share everything, from any computer, any device, all seamlessly and blazing fast.  I, being the good consultant, answered the question with a question.  “What if you don’t have the internet?”  This is where I hear the imaginary crickets.  Most users haven’t thought that part through.  Before you hurry and move everything to the Cloud, pause and think, do you ALWAYS have access to the Cloud?  If not, is it really best wholly rely something you don’t always have?

Most people don’t think about this, but really, what about when there is no internet?  Personally, I live on a little slice of the boondocks.  We are well off the beaten path and just barely have DSL.  There are times I have no internet.  Maybe because the field mice are overly active, or because the wind is too blustery, or who knows why, but I have no Cloud.  If I were without internet and were completely, 100% reliant on the Cloud, I’d be dead in the water.  Without my ACT! database, I can’t work.  I have no Contact info, no calendar, without that data I’d have no way to work.  I work like most of our Hosting customers.  I have ACT! installed on my computer in my office, and my office is in my home.  I sync with the main database that is on one of our servers in our Columbus Data Center.  That way, even on the sunniest, most cloudless days when I might be without internet, I have my database.  I can still work and be productive.  If I’m out of the office and don’t feel like lugging my laptop, I can get to my web-based ACT! from anywhere.  It’s truly the best of both worlds, even when there’s not a “Cloud” in the sky.

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? 

In case you haven’t heard, it’s FIXED!  Sage released Hot Fix 5, and for me, it even though I’ve read the defect fix list a few times, the only one I know is that my Company names are now just as they should be.   Neatly aligned to the left. 

Sage ACT! 2011 Hot Fix 5 can be found here – http://bit.ly/qnVqB7.  The Knowledge Base article contains a list of the resolved issues, instructions to install and a link to the Hot Fix.  Of course, if you need help you can always reach out by e-mailing support@trilogyCRM.com.

We’ve been getting calls and e-mails daily regarding ACT! “issues”.  After a few diagnosing questions, we find that the user upgraded their Internet Explorer.  Well, why not?  Microsoft flashed that little notice that it’s out, may as well, right?  Maybe not.  Have you considered what programs you use currently that may not be compatible?  I know when I upgraded to IE8 I wasn’t able to access my bank’s web site for a few weeks. That was fun.  Currently, there is no compatibility between ACT! Prem for Web and IE9.  What does that mean?  Our customers are either uninstalling IE9 and reverting back to IE8, or using Firefox.  That is some time and frustration that could have been saved. 

Our best word of advice, before you upgrade anything – your version of Office, your Windows edition, SQL Updates or yes, even something as seemingly small as IE, make sure you know what you rely on and how the upgrade will affect those applications.   Still have questions about compatibility?  E-mail us at support@trilogycrm.com.

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. 

Is there really anything worth upgrading for EVERY year?  Should you just stick with your version, because “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”.  Should you ride the version you have until you have to upgrade?  Here are some reasons you should upgrade, and tips to plan for those:

You have to have the newest, shiny gizmo.  One of the biggest reasons to upgrade every year is simply because you want to.  If you are like us, and like to have the shiny new gadget, then yes, by all means upgrade every version.  Early adopters should consider Sage Business Care, ACT!’s version of Support & Maintenance.  This ensures you have the latest version when it’s released for much less than the typical upgrade price.

You need compatibility.  This is a biggie.  A lot of our customers are replacing computers.  Those new computers have newer versions of Windows and Office.  The older versions of ACT! may install, but we can promise you, issues are on the horizon.  If you upgrade your systems, you should also budget to upgrade your ACT! software. 

Your version is no longer supported.  If ACT! is a major part of how you track your daily business, this is  dicey.  Sage currently supports the three most current versions of ACT!.  Sure, we have several customers chugging along just fine on older, unsupported versions. We warn those customers often that if something comes up that we can solve, there is nowhere to escalate the issue.    

You like the new features.  This is the no brainer.  You’ve seen the marketing.  You’ve talked to your trusted TrilogyCRM ACT! CC and you know the product is solid, and there’s the feature you’ve been waiting for, that’s a sure time to upgrade.   

When in doubt, call us.  A good ACT! Certified Consultant will be candid.  We know your business, your implementation of ACT!, and can tell you if an upgrade makes sense.

Once you have your template ready to go, here’s how to add your custom button:

1. Click Tools then Customize
2. Click Menus and Toolbars 
3. Click the Custom Commands tab
4. Click New
5. Enter your “Command name”, you can use the name of the Template name if that’s easy to remember
6. Click Browse to find the Template or command
7. Change the file type to “All files” to find something other than an executable, like a template
8. Find and Highlight the file for the command and click Open
9. Click Add Command

Now you have linked the template to a command.  You are now ready to add a button to your Toolbar.

1. Still in the Customize Menus and Toolbars dialog box, click the Commands Tab
2. Under the Categories, select Custom Commands
3. Highlight and drag the Command to where you’d like to appear on the Toolbar and release

Now, the next time you need to generate that template, simply Lookup the Contact and click your custom button.

There are some great ACT! add-on products that allow accounting insight right within ACT!.  One is a product by Effective Solutions, QBSalesData for ACT!. QBSales Data is what we use internally.  It allows us to create new QuickBooks Customers directly from Contacts in ACT!. This saves us a ton of typing and double entry, and it virtually automates adding new customers to QuickBooks.

QBSalesData creates custom fields in ACT!.  These fields pull communicate with QuickBooks to pull in the Current balance, Current Year Sales and a host of other accounting information. The great thing about this product is that the data is stored in ACT!.  That means that accounting information now syncs out to your remote users and is available via ACT! Premium for Web. There are a ton of other features included in the product. You can see a product video here.

QBSales Data is $159/user, and users you want to have access to your QuickBooks data need licenses.  Call (866) 303-0276 to get a demo of the QBSalesData product or to order your license.  And, be sure to tell them TrilogyCRM sent you.

Every time a situation like this comes up, I think of one of my favorite Christmas movies.  I know it’s Africa hot out there, at least here it is, so really, a Christmas movie?  Yes, Miracle on 34^th Street.  One of the marketing miracles in the movie was their Santa.  Being the “real” and righteous Santa, he pointed the customers to competitors when he knew their store didn’t have things the mom’s were looking for.  The craziest part was that the customers came back to Macy’s for other stuff because of their experience. 

It sounds completely insane, right?  I can tell you from my personal sales experience, I’ve never had higher appreciation from a prospect than when I say, “you know what, we aren’t a fit, you should check out that other product”.  We’ve even had a few of those come back to us, when they have moved on to another company.  They remembered and appreciated our candor, and our prescriptive sales approach.  When they do, I’m able to pull them up in ACT! and see the History of the past conversation and pick up where we left off.  I even jot in the Details of my History the name of the product they went with.  So, if they were using SalesForce, I like to bring up and ask about their experience with SalesForce.  There is a comfort on the other end of the phone that we remembered their story.  The bigger point, aside from the nice ACT! tie-in, know what you sell.  Know and admit when it’s not right for the customer.  Nothing’s worse than having an unhappy customer, especially if you forced the square peg through the round hole.  Leaving them happy, even happy with another solution, can feel pretty good, especially when they come back around.

One thing every Windows user should do is check and set your Automatic Updates.  By default, updates are stealthily applied to your machine.  In the background, your Windows downloads and then applies the updates Microsoft feels are important.  Of course Microsoft doesn’t take into consideration that your ACT!, bank account or Wizard 101 account won’t work on IE 9, or that the SQL update will break your installed version of ACT!.  Check out this Microsoft KB article – http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306525 - and then check and edit your own settings.  On my machines, I go with download them, but let me choose which ones to apply.  That way I maintain control of what Windows updates are installed and can be ahead of what it might impact. 

If you’ve updated to IE 9, whether because you wanted the latest and greatest and didn’t think it would be anything but cool, there is still hope.  You can remove IE 9 and go back to IE 8 so that your APFW, and likely other sites, behaves the way you expect.  Here is an excerpt from Microsoft’s Knowledge Base:

Remember, always look before you leap, even when it’s just leaping to a new computer-related update.