ACT How-Tos 2016

Table of Contents

1. How to Create a Contact
2. How to Create a Company
3. How to Link a Company to a Contact
4. How to Enter Activities
5. How to Enter Opportunities
6. How to Create a Group
7. How to Send a Mail Merge to a Group

How To Create a Contact
1) This is the side menu; it appears on the lower right hand of your screen. Click “Contacts”

2) There is a ribbon at the top of your screen. In this top ribbon, click “New”

3) Fill in all relevant fields: “Contact,” “Company,” “Title,” “Department,” “Salutation,”
“Phone,” “Mobile,” “Fax,” “E-mail,” “Address,” “City,” “State,” “ZIP,” “Country,” and “Web
Site.”

4) Select the following from the drop-down menus in their fields (small downward-pointing
arrows are next to the fields themselves): “ID/Status,” “Sales Rep,” “Industry,” “Prospect
Temperature,” “E-Mail Method” (which will be “Swiftpage” if they are newsletter recipients
and “Outlook” if they are not) and “Holiday Cards.” Everything you need will be in the drop-
down menus; do not type in these fields.

5) There is an additional drop-down menu entitled “2015 Holiday Card.” Do not enter anything
into this field or alter any information that is already there when updating contacts. If you
have information about 2015 holiday cards for this prospect, send it to Jessica; she owns
“2015 Holiday Cards” and will update it for you. Please DO select from the Holiday Card
Drop Down Menu which labels prospects, customers, etc, for any contact you want to send
a card to.

6) When you click out of this window, your contact will be auto-saved. Check to see if it
matches the following example before leaving the window:

7) When this contact is updated (for example, if they switch companies or have a new e-mail
address) be sure you edit these same fields in the existing contact. Do not create a new
contact.

8) If a contact’s e-mail address stops working, simply delete all information in their e-mail
field so that it is blank. Do not write “nolongerthere” in the e-mail field. This will create a
false e-mail address ([email protected]) and you will continue to receive
bounce notifications. Go to the field “Last Results” (directly below “E-Mail” and type “no
longer there,” or, if you prefer, “E-mail bounced” and the date).

9) If you send an e-mail to a contact and receive notification that they no longer work there,
you will sometimes be notified who to contact in their stead. Record this new information
under “Last Results.” If necessary, create a new contact page for the person you should be
e-mailing.

How To Create A Company
1) In the side menu, click “companies.” In the top ribbon, click “New”

2) Fill in all relevant fields in “Business Card:” “Company Name,” “Phone,” “Fax,” “Address,” “City,”
“State / ZIP,” “Country,” “ID/Status,” “Industry,” “Sales Rep.”

3) As before, for “ID/Status,” “Industry” and “Sales Rep,” select from the drop-down menu; do
not type in these fields. Your completed result will look like this:

4) Click “add/remove contacts” to add any pre-existing contacts to this company. (For example, if
you added a contact, and were unable to find their company name in order to link them to a
company, you may have needed to create this company in order to link them to it. You can add
that person to this company now.)

5) Select “Edit Criteria”

6) Fill in the fields as follows: “Company,” “Contains,” “[NAME OF COMPANY].” The end result
should match the following screencap. Click “OK.”

7) Because this is a dynamic list, your company should now auto-update to include any contacts
who work here.

8) If a contact is not auto-added, go to “How To Link A Company To A Contact”

How Link A Company To A Contact
1) Find your contact in ACT
2) Click ellipsis next to “Company” to link.

3) If the company is in ACT, the result will be auto-suggested. Be sure to search a few terms
and check spelling if it does not come up right away. For example, “Proxy PR” does not
come up, but searching for “Proxy” returns the right result.

4) If you find your company, click “OK.”
5) If not, consult the instructions for “create company”

How To Enter Activities
1. Go to side menu and click on “Calendar”

2. Double-click anywhere on the calendar. You do not have to find the right day – you will set the
correct day and time in the next window.

3. Select correct answers from drop-down menus in the next window: “Activity type,” “start date,”
“start time,” “end date,” “end time,” “duration,” “regarding,” “resources,” “priority,” “color,”
“ring alarm.”

4. For “Activity type,” you can record the following activities: “Appointment,” “Call,” “Meeting,”
“To-Do,” “Personal Activity” and “Vacation.” Record anything along these lines.

4) Type in the following: “Location” and “schedule with” (type your prospect’s name; ACT! will link this
to the correct prospect if that person is in ACT!)

5) Connect this to a company or group by clicking the ellipsis button next to “associate with.” You will
see this window:

6) Find your company or group, click on its name, and click the yellow highlighted arrow. This
will add it to a list of associated companies or groups for the activity. You should see this:

7) Repeat the process to add all necessary companies or groups. Make sure do do this; it will
cause your activity to be recorded under that company. Then click “OK.”

8) You will be returned to the “Schedule Activity” window. Check to see that your associated
companies or groups are now listed, then click “OK.”

How To Enter New Opportunities
1) In the side menu, click “Opportunities”

2) Click “New” in the top menu.
3) Select the following from drop-down menus: “Probability,” “Open date,” “Est. Close Date,” “Act.

Close Date” (if you have it), “Margin vs Equity,” “ID Status,” “Vendor,” “Leased Products,”
“Process” and “Stage.” It is especially important to select process and stage; double-check to
make sure these are filled out.

4) Select the following from the “Status” menu: “Open,” “Closed – Won,” “Closed – Lost” or
“Inactive.”

5) To add a contact, select “add/remove contacts.”

6) Search for your contacts in the “look for” menu. When you have located the correct contact,
click the highlighted arrow. Do this as many times as necessary to add all relevant contacts, then
click “Okay.”

How To Create A New Group
1) Click “Groups.” On the top ribbon, click “New.”

2) Fill in the group name and click “Add/Remove Contacts”

3) In “Add/Remove Contacts,” click “Edit Criteria”

4) Follow the instructions for editing criteria found in “How To Create A Company.” Groups are more
flexible and can be updated according to several criteria. If I were to create a Group of every
Education contact, for example, I would edit the criteria as follows:

5) To sort your group by additional factors (Sales Rep, Prospect Status, etc.) click “add to list” and go
through the same process.

6) Click “OK” when you have added all necessary factors.
7) Your group will auto-populate and will automatically update with any new contacts who meet this

criteria