ACT Training Courses on lynda.com
As many of you know I spent two lovely weeks in Central California last May recording training videos on Outlook 2010. I want to let you know that they are now available on the lynda.com website– and that you can watch yours truly on You Tube talking about the courses.
For those of you who might not be familiar with lynda.com I’d describe it as an online software school. You can take out...
Closing Up Those Database Cracks
I see it all the time. The typical CRM user fires up his software and is greeted by numerous alarms. At that point he deftly hits the “Select All” and “Snooze” button. Drip. Drip. I can almost hear important information dripping through the cracks of the database!
Oh, alarms – how do I hate thee? Let me count the ways. First of all, too many of you routinely snooze your alarms. ...
E-Faxing and ACT
Sometimes the things that seem so obvious to me aren’t quite as obvious to the typical ACT user. A case in point is sending a fax directly from within ACT.
Ten years ago one of the first things I showed new ACT users was how to modify the existing ACT fax coversheet. Back then most of my clients were using WinFax to link ACT to their fax machine, or printing out a coversheet and feeding it into...
Synching ACT to Your Smart Phone
I ran a webinar this week on synching smart phones to your ACT database. Presenting with me was my old friend Rushang Shah of Companion Link software. Rushang looks like the guy selling replica watches out of the trunk of his car; the last time I saw him he must have had a dozen different cell phones in his brief case. Although I’ve used Palm, Blackberry and Windows Mobile devices in the past,...
Four Hidden ACT Software Easter Eggs
This being Easter weekend I thought I’d share a couple of my favorite ACT Easter eggs. In case you’re not familiar with the term, a software Easter egg refers to a bit of hidden code in the software. Although these Easter eggs are all represented by fields and aren’t necessarily hidden, they do tie into other parts of ACT which you might not be aware of.
ID/Status: Although I hate the name,...
How to Lose 10 Database Pounds
I’ve lost ten pounds since the holidays! Having been on the Injured Reserve list with a knee injury for over a year I packed on the extra weight. I’ve been fortunate enough all my life not to have to deal with weight loss issues so I wasn’t sure what to do. Quite frankly, the thought of paying hundreds of dollars for artificial meals or drinks wasn’t appealing so I tackled the problem...
Keep It Simple, Stupid!
Many years ago my husband and I attempted to wallpaper our dining room. Of course it didn’t help that we began work on this DIY project two weeks before Thanksgiving and were under a time crunch. I carefully set up a table in the garage where we applied the paste and carried the soggy paper through the house and into the dining room. Needless to say by the end of the trip the paper was in shreds. ...
It’s A Smaller World Than We Think
I recently ran across a wonderful story in the Washington Post about two high school kids who stumbled across an abandoned baby on their way home from school 20 years ago. The baby, only hours old when the kids found her, were ultimately turned over to authorities. The child was eventually adopted but not before the kids had a chance to visit her in the hospital and gift her with a teddy bear. ...
Singing the Customer Service Blues
Once upon a time life was much simpler – at least if you believe everything you see in “Leave It To Beaver” re-runs. Dad marched off to the office every day while Mom stayed home and dusted. Not once did you hear Dad cursing because he couldn’t find his software activation code and the gentleman at tech support couldn’t speak English, or watch Mom navigate through a maze of “Press 1...
Protecting Ourselves from Ourselves
My dad taught me that when I pointed my finger at someone (or something) I was in fact pointing two fingers back at myself. Think about it the next time something goes wrong with your computer.
I recently corresponded with a very irate ACT user. He had tried in vain to install ACT without success. He had hired a “computer expert” who had tried to help him, again with no success. Of course he pointed...
