One of the features of Act! is the ability to create Word templates that can then be auto populated with fields from the act database. The classic details pulled into the document are company name, contact name, addresses, etc.
A tip we often show is adding last contact interaction information such as the last time the contact was called or had a meeting. If you use the Act! calendar and clear out the activities, Act! automatically records that information as Last Reach (phone calls), Last Meeting, Last Email and Letter Sent. You can take advantage of that information to create email templates to send out and check in with your client.
Here’s an example. You can do a lookup in Act! for contacts that have not been contacted for 60 days. Build a Word template which asks the client how things are going. Tell them the last call recorded was “last reach” or the last meeting was “last meeting” but have those dates automatically filled in on the template. We created a template for a customer that said: “Hi, it’s been a while since we touched base with you. Our last conversation was “insert the last reach field here”. We’ve got exciting news about some new services. You can visit our website at …….to learn more." It turned out to be pretty effective in getting people to visit their website.
Another thing you can do is have a standard document that is sent out when a new client has been added. Most organizations have a sales rep or key contact within your organization and you can add their name based on a field in Act! You provide your contact information, hours of operation, etc. And you can do this for everyone that has been added in the last week simply by looking up the create date and doing a mail merge.
One last idea is something we’ve done many times. Often organizations have forms they need to complete when products are sold. One client had 9 forms that needed to be filled in for vehicle registration, state and city forms, etc. All we had to do was add a few more fields for data not already being captured and put all 9 forms in one Act template. A process that used to take several days of manual typing, copying and pasting now took minutes. Such a simple idea with tremendous impact.
Look at forms, letters or emails you send out on a regular basis. I am betting many of them can be set up as templates in Act! This is yet one more automation trick.
The next article on Word templates will show how to embed Excel spreadsheet capabilities into a Word template and adding formulas to tables in Word as well.