ACT!ion eNews: Summer 2010

eNews_ACT… · 08-10-2010

Summer 2010

SAGE ACT! COMMUNITY

You are viewing this ACT!ion eNews edition in the Sage ACT! Community



	Get More from Sage ACT! Turn Your Business into an Automated Selling Machine!

	Listen to Your Sage ACT! Guru Give Your Sales Efforts a Lift with Sage Business Info Services for ACT!¹

	Your Business in Mind How to Create Effective Direct Mail that Sells

	What's New with Sage ACT!? Get More of What You Value Most with Sage ACT! 2011

	What’s New with Sage E-marketing for ACT!?² Learn What Valuable New Innovations Will be Available Soon

	Spotlight on Sage ACT! Customers Sage ACT! 2011 Earns the Approval of Your Peers

	From the Sage ACT! Vault Automate Key Sales and Marketing Tasks with Sage ACT! 2011

	Sage ACT! Technology Corner Sage ACT! 2011 Debuts an Exciting New Addition to Sage ACT! Product Extensibility Alongside Smart Tasks: Workflow Capabilities Via the Sage ACT! SDK

Get real time answers to your questions.

SAGE ACT! CUSTOMER REFERENCE PROGRAM

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SAGE ACT! WEBCASTS

Register to attend a live Webcast:

What's New in Sage ACT! 2011 Webcast

Working Smarter with Smart Tasks: Sage ACT! 2011

Or, view a recorded Webcast at your convenience

Thoughts for upcoming Issues of ACT!ion eNews? We invite you to share them here in the Sage ACT! Community. You must be a registered member to reply or post. To reply, click on the reply link at the top of this post.

^1,2 Requires additional subscription

Important Note: Import functions for Sage Business Info Services for ACT! must be performed on the web server when using Sage ACT! Premium (access via web).

Important Note: Sage E-marketing for ACT! is powered by Swiftpage™.

© 2010 Sage Software, Inc. All rights reserved. Sage, the Sage logos, ACT!, and the Sage product and service names mentioned herein are registered trademarks or trademarks of Sage Software, Inc., or its affiliated entities. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners

eNews_ACT… · 08-10-2010

ACT!ion eNews> Summer 2010

Sage ACT! Technology Corner:

Sage ACT! 2011 Debuts an Exciting New Addition to Sage ACT! Product Extensibility Alongside Smart Tasks: Workflow Capabilities Via the Sage ACT! SDK

Smart Tasks, or workflow, enables Sage ACT! users to automate a series of steps that accomplish some purpose, according to a set of rules or customization. Users can create new workflows and change the order of these steps with a graphical flow, and can customize the steps to meet their needs. Sage ACT! 2011 includes several Smart Task steps for Contacts and Opportunities: email, activity scheduling, and e-marketing steps. Third parties can develop custom steps or even fully implemented custom workflows (series of steps=a Smart Task) using the Sage ACT! 2011 SDK.

Why might a third party want to develop a custom smart task or custom step, as opposed to a traditional add-on? Because custom steps are much more granular, open, and customizable. Customers can arrange and rearrange, and customize smart tasks based on their business. Steps can be combined with other steps to perform processes. It’s unlikely that traditional add-ons can interact with other add-ons from different vendors in a useful way. But that’s exactly what happens with custom steps. Custom steps provide customers the elements to put together a complete, automated process. And, as a third party, you get the powerful scheduling / automation aspects of Smart Tasks provided to you without any development effort.

There are several different kinds of development opportunities related to Smart Tasks:

Developing custom steps
- Enabling existing Sage ACT! functionality as a custom step. For example, attaching a note or generating a history based on specific criteria automatically can be powerful steps as part of a business process.
- Enabling new functionality (extending Sage ACT!) as a custom step.
- Providing a custom step for other entities, such as a Company Smart Task.
Developing custom Smart Tasks: fully implemented series of steps
- Providing additional, complete, default Smart Tasks for all customers.
- Implementing customer-specified and deployed Smart Tasks.
- Building complex system integration and coordination as a Smart Task. Using Smart Tasks to construct an integration workflow allows the business to more easily change or customize the integration or processes in the future.

Smart Tasks are built on top of Microsoft® Windows® Workflow Foundation, a technology leveraged by CRM products across the industry, including Sage SalesLogix. This technology supports not only Sage ACT! Smart Tasks and custom steps, but it enables Microsoft Visual Studio® created workflow activities to be run in Sage ACT!, as part of a Smart Task custom step. That means complex and company-specific workflows can be developed by partners for specialized and tailored solutions.

Xavier Musy
Director of Development
Sage

Did you find this article useful? Let us know by posting your thoughts here in the Sage ACT! Online Community. You must be a registered member to reply or post. To reply, click on the reply link at the top of this post.

eNews_ACT… · 08-10-2010

ACT!ion eNews> Summer 2010

From the Sage ACT! Vault:

Automate Key Sales and Marketing Tasks with Sage ACT! 2011

Do you have tasks in sales, marketing, or customer service that you repeat often and take more time than they should? Wouldn’t it be great to have Sage ACT! working behind the scenes like a personal assistant to help you remember and accomplish those tasks? Now you can automate key workflows with Smart Tasks!

Attend this live, one-hour webcast to discover how Smart Tasks can automate critical workflows including:

Scheduling activities for new leads from Sage Business Info Services for ACT!¹.
Delivering drip marketing campaigns from Sage E-marketing for ACT!².
Sending e-mails or scheduling calls with customers you haven’t heard from in a while.
Reminding you of customer birthdays, anniversaries, or other important dates.
Delivering customer loyalty marketing campaigns on time.
And much more!

Working Smarter with Smart Tasks: Sage ACT! 2011
Date: August 24, 2010
Time: 10:00 AM PDT / 1:00 PM EDT
Register to attend

Stephanie Spangler
Sr. Product Marketing Manager
Sage

Did you find this article useful? Let us know by posting your thoughts here in the Sage ACT! Online Community. You must be a registered member to reply or post. To reply, click on the reply link at the top of this post.

Important Note: Import functions for Sage Business Info Services for ACT! must be performed on the web server when using Sage ACT! Premium (access via web).

Important Note: Sage E-marketing for ACT! is powered by Swiftpage™.

^1,2Requires additional subscription

eNews_ACT… · 08-10-2010

ACT!ion eNews> Summer 2010

Spotlight on Sage ACT! Customers:

Sage ACT! 2011 Earns the Approval of Your Peers

Recently, some of your colleagues previewed the new features and capabilities in the soon-to-be-released Sage ACT! 2011. The verdict is in: Users are very excited about these new enhancements:

Improved usability and user interface
Ability to sync existing Sage ACT! contacts with contacts in Microsoft® Outlook® and keep an updated schedule in both places
Automated workflows with Smart Tasks
New source of leads with Sage Business Info Services for ACT!¹

Here's what your peers have to say about Sage ACT! 2011:

Improved usability

“I am still very impressed with how far Sage has taken the development of ACT! in version 2011. I have worked with my actual database and everyday tasks seem a little bit zippier to me with no lag whatsoever.”
“Each iteration of this product makes tasks easier and more manageable. Thank you for implementing user suggestions, as well.”
“Wow, great new features. I'll need to get used to everything so it is real easy to use, but so far I am wonderfully impressed.”

Microsoft® Outlook® synchronization

“Very nice to have Outlook contact sync!!”
“Outlook sync is definite improvement.”
“Very stable--the Outlook interface works like a charm.”

Smart Tasks

“I love this new feature [Smart Tasks].”
“Smart Tasks is the most important function: allows for real automation of tasks that save time.”
“They [Smart Tasks] are intuitive and easy to use.”
“Liked the ease of use for Activity scheduling, particularly the automatic email.”

Sage Business Info Services for ACT!

“Smart Tasks is awesome, as is Sage Business Info Services for ACT!. Definitely going to use both of those a lot.”

Jennifer Holm
Product Marketing Manager
Sage

Did you find this article useful? Let us know by posting your thoughts here in the Sage ACT! Online Community. You must be a registered member to reply or post. To reply, click on the reply link at the top of this post.

Important Note: Import functions for Sage Business Info Services for ACT! must be performed on the web server when using Sage ACT! Premium (access via web).

¹Additional subscription required.

eNews_ACT… · 08-10-2010

ACT!ion eNews> Summer 2010

What's New with Sage E-marketing for ACT!?:

Sage E-marketing for ACT! is more powerful than ever before!

New Template Manager and Advanced Template Editor offer valuable innovations to Sage E-marketing for ACT!¹—available early September.

Edit imported HTML templates with the new Advanced Editor.
Organize and edit templates easily with the enhanced Template Manager.
Store images and documents in the provided libraries for effortless future access. Documents include text files, Microsoft® PowerPoint® and Excel® files, and Adobe® Acrobat® PDFs.
Publish and distribute templates quickly with the Template Manager.

Paul Buckley
Senior Product Manager
Sage

Did you find this article useful? Let us know by posting your thoughts here in the Sage ACT! Online Community. You must be a registered member to reply or post. To reply, click on the reply link at the top of this post.

Important Note: Sage E-marketing for ACT! is powered by Swiftpage™.

¹Additional subscription required.

eNews_ACT… · 08-10-2010

ACT!ion eNews> Summer 2010

What’s New with Sage ACT!?

Get More of What You Value Most with Sage ACT! 2011

Sage ACT! 2011 helps you get more of what you value most—time and money—by automating key activities and unlocking a rich source of new leads.

Sage ACT! Smart Tasks helps you automate the things you need to get done every day. Sage Business Info Services for ACT!¹ pulls highly targeted prospect lists from Hoover’s™ and puts that data directly into Sage ACT!. You’ll also save time with improved integration to Microsoft® Outlook®.

Automate key activities with Smart Tasks.

When it comes to automating workflows in sales, marketing, or customer service, Smart Tasks just get it done. Smart Tasks will set in motion the most basic or advanced processes that allow Sage ACT! to take care of things like reach out to customers that haven’t heard from you in a while or notify you of any sales opportunities that have been stalled. Smart Tasks will even contact customers that are missing key information from their contact records with a survey that automatically plugs that information back into Sage ACT!.

Get started with one of 10 pre-loaded Smart Tasks and accompanying email marketing templates³, or make changes to fit your needs. You have total control over the timing, contact lists, and opportunities for each Smart Task. Set up Smart Task guidelines for your entire team so your company’s best practices are followed.

Unlock a rich source of new leads with Sage Business Info Services for ACT!.

Sage Business Info Services for ACT!² adds rocket fuel to your sales and marketing machine by pulling highly targeted prospect lists and business information from Hoover’s™ directly into Sage ACT!. With access to data about more than 65 million companies and 85 million executives, you’ll find new leads based on the traits you’re looking for and ensure that your Sage ACT! database contains complete contact information.

Sage ACT! 2011 includes a free version for basic company, financial, and industry information. For more robust, detailed information, sign up for a subscription and receive a special small business subscription rate.

Reduce double entry with improved integration to Microsoft® Outlook®.

Sage ACT! manages all the details of your business relationships and Microsoft® Outlook® manages emails, basic contact details, and meetings across your team. Now you can have the best of both worlds and integrate your Sage ACT! and Outlook contacts, plus keep your calendars in sync.

Sync your existing Sage ACT! contacts with what you keep in Outlook. It doesn’t matter where your contacts were created or changed, everything will be kept updated in both places. And, you have the option to control which contacts are synced back and forth.

Keep your busy schedule updated in both places, no matter where you add or modify activities and meetings. Sage ACT! will help you cut back on meeting conflicts with rules that handle them automatically. And, you can choose which activity types in Sage ACT! sync back to Outlook so that your Outlook calendar remains free of your Sage ACT! to-dos.

See Sage ACT! 2011 in a live webcast!

Get an insider’s preview of the exciting new features and enhancements in Sage ACT! 2011 during an upcoming, live webcast. You’ll have an opportunity to interact with the presenter and ask questions.

     What’s New in Sage ACT! 2011
     Dates: Every Wednesday
     Time: 12:00 PDT / 3:00 EDT
     Register

Brian Benner
Marketing Director
Sage

Did you find this article useful? Let us know by posting your thoughts here in the Sage ACT! Online Community. You must be a registered member to reply or post. To reply, click on the reply link at the top of this post.

Important Note: Import functions for Sage Business Info Services for ACT! must be performed on the web server when using Sage ACT! Premium (access via web).

^1,2Requires additional subscription

³Three of the pre-loaded Smart Task templates require a subscription to Sage E-marketing for ACT!.

eNews_ACT… · 08-10-2010

ACT!ion eNews> Summer 2010

Your Business In Mind

How to Create Effective Direct Mail that Sells

So you’ve got these great leads through Sage Business Info Services for ACT!¹, which pulls highly targeted prospect lists and business information from Hoover’s™ and puts it directly into Sage ACT!. How do you reach out to them?

Creating effective direct mail promotions is not as hard as you might think. The most important piece of advice is this: KISS (which we all know stands for keep it simple, stupid). Remember, this is not the forum for complete explanations about your product or service. Think of it more as a teaser, a way to spark interest and prompt an action.

What kind of direct mail should you send?

With direct mail, the old tried-and-true methods still work, but that shouldn’t stop you from trying something new. We’ll go over three here, but really you are only limited by cost and your imagination!

Postcard

Postcards are an eye-catching and inexpensive way to generate leads, but only as a way to promote an offer or provide concise information. There is no room for lengthy explanation. You can even print through online printers, so do your research first. To get the cheaper postcard rate, the minimum size of any postcard you can send in the U.S. mail is 3.5" x 5", and the maximum size is 4.25" x 6". Larger postcards are more noticeable and provide more room for copy, but you have to pay more postage.

Sales letter

In the age of email marketing, you might think that a simple business letter no longer works. But the opposite is true. While not flashy, a letter may be read all the way through, unlike most other pieces. Plus, unlike a postcard, you have room to go more in-depth. To generate sales leads with a letter, you may want to offer something free, such as a brochure, sample, demo, evaluation, or information kit.

Self-mailer

Ranging from the more traditional folded piece to attention-grabbing shapes, self-mailers are more versatile and eye-catching than postcards and letters. Typically, a self-mailer is rectangular, folded down, and gives you the whole inside for copy. Of course, these also cost more to print, fold, and mail.

One of the newest things on the market is a self-mailer in the form of a shape, like an apple or chalkboard to promote educational seminars. They definitely stand out in the mail, but cost more than other methods. Look for companies such as ShipShapes™ who specialize in this type of direct mail.

What should you write?

The most important—and most difficult—part of a direct mail piece is a compelling headline that sums up your offer, a benefit, or a pain point you are addressing. Make sure the heading isn’t too long (one line or a short two lines is good). Make sure the headline and any accompanying visual are supported by the content. Don’t try to fool your audience with an outrageous or silly claim or visual. You will only hurt your business reputation and brand.
Make the offer prominent. Discounts or special offers with a firm expiration date work well in grabbing attention and prompting action. If appropriate for your business, coupons are a sure-fire way of getting the customer/prospect to at least look at the offer and try something new. Use only one call to action (multiple calls to action dilute the message and can be confusing).
Since people tend to skim, short and/or bulleted paragraphs work best, with “active voice” headings throughout that sum up the benefits of your offer or product/service.
Be conversational, genuine, real. Establish a rapport. Find the “unique voice” of your company and consistently write in that voice. Be interesting and not overly technical. Know your audience and their challenges. Ask yourself: is this relevant to my audience? Have I made it compelling enough to read all the way through, then take action?
Include a phone number and a URL, if possible, so your audience can respond in the way that’s most convenient for them. And when they call or go to your website, be sure to ask for their email address when you are fulfilling the offer or request. That way, you can put them on your email list and begin lead nurturing.

With the right list and the right communication, you can turn leads into customers!

Joyce Ethridge
Senior Copywriter
Sage

Did you find this article useful? Let us know by posting your thoughts here in the Sage ACT! Online Community. You must be a registered member to reply or post. To reply, click on the reply link at the top of this post.

Important Note: Import functions for Sage Business Info Services for ACT! must be performed on the web server when using Sage ACT! Premium (access via web).

¹Requires additional subscription

eNews_ACT… · 08-10-2010

ACT!ion eNews> Summer 2010

Listen to Your Sage ACT! Guru

Give Your Sales Efforts a Lift with Sage Business Info Services for ACT!¹

Sage Business Info Services for ACT! is a cloud-based service that pulls highly targeted prospect lists from Hoover’s™ and puts them into Sage ACT!. Tap into a database of 65 million companies and 85 million contacts to build lists based on location, size, industry, type, people, and more.

You can use the information from Sage Business Info Services for ACT! to improve your company’s sales results in several ways. To find new leads, build a prospect list based on key characteristics that best match your business’ sales model. Better develop information about your existing prospects and even your customers when you import additional key contacts and review company history and product information.

Build highly targeted prospect lists. Build a list in just a few steps using 40+ search criteria where you can specify location, size, industry, type, people, and more. Or, conduct a keyword search when looking for specific keywords, people, and companies. Once you get the leads you need, import them directly into Sage ACT! so you can begin qualifying right away.
Find and import key company contacts. Target key decision makers within a company you’re selling into by viewing a listing of additional high-profile people that work within that company—all done from the main contact view in Sage ACT!. Click on contact names for more detail to determine if you want to import their information into Sage ACT!.
Enhance what you already know about contacts and companies. Augment your database with information like a person’s title, biography, job history, and phone numbers. Add new company information, including a company’s history and overview, products and operations, and key financial data. Even get to industry info, like a listing of competitors so you can target similar companies.
Be in the know on the latest company news. Get breaking news from a variety of news sources, including leading global sources, local publications, trade publications, and market journals. Company news appears in a timeline format for easy viewing of the most recent news. Click on the stories you’re most interested in and review them in Sage ACT!. For a consolidated summary of news, subscribe to company alerts and receive a report for the companies you’re following via email.
Get to what you need from inside Sage ACT!. You have direct access to contact and company profiles, company financials, company contacts, industry info, and company news, pulled from Hoover’s™, a D&B company.

Sage ACT! 2011 includes a free version for basic company, financial, and industry information. To receive more detailed information, sign up for a subscription and enjoy exclusive savings available to Sage ACT! customers.

Jennifer Osborne
Owner
Osborne Communications

Did you find this article useful? Let us know by posting your thoughts here in the Sage ACT! Online Community. You must be a registered member to reply or post. To reply, click on the reply link at the top of this post.

Important Note: Import functions for Sage Business Info Services for ACT! must be performed on the web server when using Sage ACT! Premium (access via web).

¹Requires additional subscription.

eNews_ACT… · 08-10-2010

ACT!ion eNews> Summer 2010

Get more from Sage ACT!

Turn Your Business into an Automated Selling Machine!

Would you like to automate some of your daily sales, marketing, and customer service tasks, so you can have more time to focus on big opportunities? Sage ACT! Smart Tasks—included with Sage ACT! 2011—connect a series of steps into a workflow that can schedule calls, send emails, and more.

Think of Smart Tasks like your personal assistant, sending emails for you and adding activities to your calendar automatically, based on directions you set. Smart Tasks get the job done. You'll notice you can get more done each day and you have fewer small items left on your to-do list.

You define each Smart Task using an easy, drag and drop visual workflow wizard. You can set up a Smart Task to sequence the steps based on completion, for example, scheduling a call after it has delivered an email marketing campaign. Or you can fix the time intervals between steps. For example, after an opportunity moves to the closed stage of the sales cycle, wait three days and then send a new customer welcome email.

With a good set of well-designed Smart Tasks, sales persons and business owners can work more efficiently and stay on top of important follow up activities. Using Smart Tasks, you can implement multi-stage—yet affordable—marketing campaigns, and time the sequence of communications to achieve the best results. Smart Tasks can also help you promote higher customer satisfaction by automating tasks such as sending surveys or requesting up-to-date contact information.

New capabilities in Sage ACT! 2011 are designed to help busy professionals save time and money by improving productivity throughout the organization. Automate key activities so that you can get more accomplished every day and expand your business with a rich source of new, highly qualified leads. With Sage ACT! 2011, you can quickly build an automated selling machine inside your business!

Download a new white paper!

To learn more about what Smart Tasks can do for your sales, marketing, and customer service efforts, read our new white paper The Automatic Selling Machine.

Katharine Stalcup
Senior Product Manager
Sage

Did you find this article useful? Let us know by posting your thoughts here in the Sage ACT! Online Community. You must be a registered member to reply or post. To reply, click on the reply link at the top of this post.

jobwish · 08-12-2010

Please tell me when the 2011 is going to be available for download? I'M DESPERATE TO GET THE MICROSOFT OFFICE 2010 COMPATIBLE VERSION ASAP.

ACT!ion eNews: Summer 2010

Sage ACT! Technology Corner: Sage ACT! 2011 Debuts an Exciting New Addition to Sage ACT! Product Extensibility Alongside Smart Tasks: Workflow Capabilities Via the Sage ACT! SDK

Welcome to ACT!ion eNews

What's New in this Issue

Sage ACT! Online Community

Sage ACT! Customer Reference Program

Sage ACT! Webcasts

Sage ACT! Technology Corner:

Sage ACT! 2011 Debuts an Exciting New Addition to Sage ACT! Product Extensibility Alongside Smart Tasks: Workflow Capabilities Via the Sage ACT! SDK

From the Sage ACT! Vault: Automate Key Sales and Marketing Tasks with Sage ACT! 2011

Welcome to ACT!ion eNews

What's New in this Issue

Sage ACT! Online Community

Sage ACT! Customer Reference Program

Sage ACT! Webcasts

From the Sage ACT! Vault:

Automate Key Sales and Marketing Tasks with Sage ACT! 2011

Spotlight on Sage ACT! Customers: Sage ACT! 2011 Earns the Approval of Your Peers

Welcome to ACT!ion eNews

What's New in this Issue

Sage ACT! Online Community

Sage ACT! Customer Reference Program

Sage ACT! Webcasts

Spotlight on Sage ACT! Customers:

Sage ACT! 2011 Earns the Approval of Your Peers

What's New with Sage E-marketing for ACT!?: Sage E-marketing for ACT! is more powerful than ever before!

Welcome to ACT!ion eNews

What's New in this Issue

Sage ACT! Online Community

Sage ACT! Customer Reference Program

Sage ACT! Webcasts

What's New with Sage E-marketing for ACT!?:

Sage E-marketing for ACT! is more powerful than ever before!

What's New with Sage ACT!?: Get More of What You Value Most with Sage ACT! 2011

Welcome to ACT!ion eNews

What's New in this Issue

Sage ACT! Online Community

Sage ACT! Customer Reference Program

Sage ACT! Webcasts

What’s New with Sage ACT!?

Get More of What You Value Most with Sage ACT! 2011

Automate key activities with Smart Tasks.

Unlock a rich source of new leads with Sage Business Info Services for ACT!.

Reduce double entry with improved integration to Microsoft® Outlook®.

See Sage ACT! 2011 in a live webcast!

Your Business in Mind: How to Create Effective Direct Mail that Sells

Welcome to ACT!ion eNews

What's New in this Issue

Sage ACT! Online Community

Sage ACT! Webcasts

Sage ACT! Webcasts

Your Business In Mind

How to Create Effective Direct Mail that Sells

What kind of direct mail should you send?

Postcard

Sales letter

Self-mailer

What should you write?

Listen to Your Sage ACT! Guru: Give Your Sales Efforts a Lift with Sage Business Info Services for ACT!

Welcome to ACT!ion eNews

What's New in this Issue

Sage ACT! Online Community

Sage ACT! Customer Reference Program

Sage ACT! Webcasts

Listen to Your Sage ACT! Guru

Give Your Sales Efforts a Lift with Sage Business Info Services for ACT!1

Get More from Sage ACT!: Turn Your Business into an Automated Selling Machine!

Welcome to ACT!ion eNews

What's New in this Issue

Sage ACT! Online Community

Sage ACT! Customer Reference Program

Sage ACT! Webcasts

Get more from Sage ACT!

Turn Your Business into an Automated Selling Machine!

Download a new white paper!

Re: Spotlight on Sage ACT! Customers: Sage ACT! 2011 Earns the Approval of Your Peers

Give Your Sales Efforts a Lift with Sage Business Info Services for ACT!¹