Attaching Outlook Email to an ACT! Contact

How many of us just click right through the install messages of new software because we are anxious to get started. It is easy sometimes to click so fast that you miss important install instructions.

A long-time ACT! user contacted me after hearing my podcast with BusinessWeek and wanted to know how to attach emails in Outlook to his ACT! contacts. The ACT! 2008 by Sage (version 10) installation walks you through connecting these two softwares to allow you to do things like this. However, earlier versions informed you during the install that you would need to manually complete an additional step to create a link between ACT! and Outlook. If you are one of those that missed setting up an Address Book in Outlook, follow these simple instructions.

First, to see if your link is already set up, in Outlook, click Tools, Options. Do you see an ACT! tab? If so, then the connection between ACT! and Outlook has already been set up and you can stop reading.

1. In Outlook, click Tools, E-mail Accounts… (or Services if you are using an earlier version of Outlook)
2. Select Add a new directory or address book and click Next>
3. Select Additional Address Books and click Next>
4. Select ACT! Address Book and click Next>
5. Your ACT! database and user name should be displayed here. Browse to select a different database if you like.
6. Enter your User name and any associated password.
7. Click OK, OK to acknowledge that you need to restart Outlook and Finish
8. File, Exit from Outlook and then open Outlook again. The Atach to ACT! Contact(s) icon is added to the Outlook toolbar.

But wait, we’re not finished yet. You need to also set up a default history option.

1. In Outlook, click Tools, Options.
2. On the Mail Format tab, verify that Use Microsoft Word to edit e-mail messages is not checked.
3. On the ACT! tab, click the History Options button.
4. Select a default history.
5. OK.

OK, now we’re done. So, try attaching any email in your Inbox to an ACT! contact (select the message, click on the new icon on the toolbar, select the contact and click OK). You can now delete the email from the Outlook Inbox. A copy of the email is now attached to your ACT! contact.

Roadrunner

I noticed when it was time to send out yesterday’s tips newsletter that I still have quite a few email addresses that are @houston.rr.com. Those email addresses will be going away sometime later this year (since Comcast has taken over the local Roadrunner operations.

I realize that it is probably hard for people who have those addresses to remember who they need to send updates to. So I created a quick template that said:

I notice that you have one of the Road Runner email addresses that will be expiring soon. Don’t forget to let me know your new email address when you get it.

Once I had the simple template completed, all I needed to do was a lookup. In the newer version of ACT (what would you expect me to be using?), I clicked…

1. Lookup, Advanced, Advanced Query
2. Created the query that says Email Address “Contains” “houston.rr.com”
3. Clicked OK.
4. Then I clicked, Write, Mail Merge…. well you can probably take it from there.

So now I have people emailing me back with their new email addresses.

If you are using an older version of ACT!, you could click Lookup, Keyword Search, in the “Search for” area, type houston.rr.com. In the “Search in” area, uncheck all options by ”E-mail Addresses.” Clicking Find Now will give you the list that you need.

ACT! 2008 Dashboard

What many might not realize is that you can change your Preferences to make the Dashboard your default opening view in ACT! (instead of the normal Contact Detail view where you see your own name each time you open ACT!). This way, I can see my days schedule at a glance and a few other important views. 

I have modified my Dashboard view so that I also have an activity list of only the calls that I need to return. I have a component that shows only the scheduled appointments for our key consultants in the coming week so I can keep track of everyone’s availability. And finally I have a panel that shows the things that I am behind on. It is a great way to start my day (except for viewing the list of things I am behind on).

ACT! 2008 Releases

I’ve been working daily on the ACT! 2008 beta software since late March. It has been an amazingly stable product. Installed great. You can read about the primary new features on my website.

BusinessWeek Podcast

Years ago I was introduced to Michelle Nichols by a mutual acquaintance that is a sales trainer. Michelle has since started writing the Savvy Selling column for Business Week. Recently she contacted me and asked if I would like to do a podcast interview with her. (Gee, let me think about that for a few minutes. Do I want a podcast on Business Week?) Of course.

I sent her a few articles that I had recently written and she selected the “10 Mistakes that Sales People Make with their CRM” as the basis for our interview. It was a lot of fun. You can download and listen to the podcast here.

So the morale of the story is this. Keeping up with your contacts over the years can many times reap really cool rewards.

Creating Your Own Blog

Blogs are the hot tool of the day in the Internet marketing world. Since your ranking in Google and other search engines are determined in a large part by the sites that link to you, blogging can play a major part in your ranking. If you decide to create your own blog, you should take maximum advantage of the marketing potential by creating a Technorati Profile.