Written by   |   Oct 2 2018   |   Read 3549 times

Are you using paper-based systems, spreadsheets or Microsoft® Outlook® to manage your business relationships?

If this is your situation then you are probably spending too much time searching for information. Often, you need this information at a moment’s notice and just cannot find it. Or, once you find it, you only get part of what you really needed because different pieces of your relationship history exist in disparate places. Searching for contact information can waste valuable time and make it appear like you are not running an efficient business…or worse still, that you don’t value your customers!

How much easier would it be to provide extra special attention to your customers if you could access all your business relationship details in one place?  This is where Act! comes in. Act! is an easy to use CRM that empowers users to manage every detail of their business relationships so they can provide the best service to their customers and prospects.

Here are 5 ways that Act! can help your team to provide superior customer service.

1. Keep your contact details in one place

Maintain all your contact information, notes, history, activities, sales opportunities, related documents and relationships and more within one comprehensive, integrated view in Act!. By creating a complete view of your relationships, you’ll have all this information at your fingertips and no longer have to check multiple sources. With easy tracking and access to all the details about your contacts and their unique circumstances, your team will become well-organised allowing more time to focus attention on the customers. 

2. Be certain no task is forgotten

Manage your daily responsibilities in Act! to accomplish more every day and be certain nothing is forgotten. With Act!, you have multiple options for managing your day, week, or month using one of many calendar views, the Task List for filtering a view of all activities, and the dashboard which provides a graphical summary view of your schedule and scheduled tasks.

If you work in Outlook or Google, you can sync your Act! calendars automatically to keep activities up-to-date on both calendars. Ensure you stay on top of your deliverables by setting Activity Alarms. Any activities not completed roll over to the next day. Further, schedule an Activity Series for routine activities you perform, with multiple steps to automate redundant tasks. Because activities in an Activity Series are linked, a due date change to one will realign related activities, helping you to become more productive. All activities are linked to associated contacts so you can determine which of your contacts requires the most time and bill them accordingly. With Act!, you will realise the benefits of being productive all day, every day.

3. Impress contacts with your follow-up

Be organised and managing your customer’s expectations by communicating regularly. Keep in touch with your prospect and customer base more effectively with professional and timely marketing communications using professional-looking pre-formatted templates, Groups, and Mail Merge functionality. Save time by using pre-formatted templates for HTML, e-mails, letters (including envelopes and labels), and more. Or, for more personal communications, customise templates with your own content and branding.

Touching base with your contacts is easy because Act! enables you to track groups of related contacts. You can group contacts based on their locale, product/service interests, or with any criteria you specify, and have Act! keep your Groups up-to-date automatically. With Mail Merge, you can reach out to multiple prospects and customers at once for both e-mail or paper correspondence. Act! also has its own simple and cost-effective integrated emarketing system that enables you to create, send, and track professional, eye-catching email campaigns that take the guesswork out of marketing and follow-up. All of these communications are linked to each contact for a complete record of sent communications. You can rely on Act! to help you build strong relationships through a variety of communication options.

4. Provide a differentiated experience

With all your contact information in one place, your team will be armed with the knowledge about the intricate needs of your contacts in order to provide a differentiated experience. For example, when you receive a phone call from a prospect, just search on his/her name and get to their Contact Record in an instant using powerful search capabilities, including lookups and advanced queries, in an easy-to-use format. Because all the details are in Act!, you impress your contacts with your knowledge about their unique circumstances to build stronger relationships.

5. Drive revenue for your business

It costs about 5 times more to acquire a new customer than it does to retain and keep an existing one. There is no reason why these contacts should fall by the wayside. Rather, they should be the primary focus of your marketing and sales efforts. With Act!, you can easily manage enquiries from the first interaction through to close—ensuring no lead is dropped and driving revenue for your business. Utilise the Act! sales process or a process you customise to suit your business and selling style for managing leads each step of the way. When working a sales opportunity, schedule a follow-up activity which is populated automatically with the opportunity details— ensuring all tasks are covered as a lead moves through the sales process. And, track products on each sales opportunity, specifying product discounts and costs for each item. Even generate Instant Quotes without having to enter additional information. For a complete view of your pipeline, view the dashboard for a graphical summary view or run one of 40 pre-formatted sales reports to better understand which sales are tracking to close this month/quarter.

By keeping your relationship details in one place, you allow for easy tracking and access so you and your team can provide superior service, ensuring your prospects turn into customers and your current customers remain happy. View the video below to see how easy it is to manage your business with Act! and then try Act! free for 30 days.

Cate Dempsey

As Marketing Manager, Cate Dempsey plans & delivers marketing campaigns & content, including regular email newsletters, promotions, blog posts, and other customer communication.

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