Quoting Premium 9.0-thousands of unique products, Can we still use the opportunity lists?

[mrennaker]

We are using act premium 9.0. We are trying to use the opporunities tab to generate quotes, but are finding it tedious.  They type in the name and then the item number, but if they need to edit the name the item number is deleted and they have to type it again.  Is there a way to load 1000s of unique products into the system?  Or if we loaded in our most used item names and numbers could they still type in the unique names and number when needed?  These problems are making ACT almost useless and we are considering another crm.  I need to find a way to make this work and any advice or help at all would be greatly appreciated.

[ghollister]

The reason the item number is deleted is that in the Product List, each item has a unique name and item number.  So if you change the name, then the item number there is no longer associated.

In answer to your question on loading unique products, you can put the prodcuts into a .csv file and then import them into ACT!:

- Go to Contact/Opportunities/Manage Product List

- Click the Import button and select the .csv file that has your prodcut list

The .csv file must have all four columns present...Name, Item Number, Cost, Price and each item must have data in all 4 fields (no blank cells).

[mrennaker]

I have been told (and maybe incorrectly) that it wouldn't be possible for us to import them from a csv because we have too many product numbers, and because in addition we have to be able to add custom item names and numbers from time to time.  Is this untrue?  What is the limit of products I can add before ACT goes crazy?  If I do add all these products can I still type in 'special' ones that aren't in my list as needed? If I am able to do all this, how difficult would it be to find the correct part number out of 1000s on there?  I am pretty new to the quoting process so any advice or help would be greatly appreciated.