Kristi Smith Consulting | Business Solutions That Make Sense
  • Home

Handheld Contact for ACT! is now available for the iphone!

4/30/2010

 
Sync ACT! to Mobile Device
Handheld Contact for ACT! has serviced Blackberries, Pocket PCs and other Smartphones for a while now but finally - iphone users in the US and Canada can also access their ACT! database anytime, anywhere!  We know so many (including yours truly) who have been eagerly awaiting its arrival; and just as you'd expect from HHC, it is fantastic. They did a remarkable job of streamlining the program while still maintaining its most important functions. Most importantly, it runs smoothly and accurately while being very user friendly. I have to say it was worth the wait.

When opening the HHC app, you have 4 viewing choices - contacts, tasks, sync status, and menu. There is not an option to view your calendar, which is a drawback but not necessarily a deal-breaker. All of your calendar activities are listed in the task list allowing you to view all meetings, calls, to-dos, etc. that you have scheduled (or uncleared).

Handheld Contact for ACT! on the iphone gives you the ability to:
  • Customize the standard ACT! Contact fields that sync.Choose up to 50 custom ACT! Contact fields to sync.
  • Call or e-mail contacts directly from Handheld Contact. (And history items are automatically created for you.)
  • Quickly add or edit history after you complete a call or e-mail.
  • View activities.
  • Add new and custom activities.
  • Clear activities for yourself and others. 
Plus, Handheld Contact provides unlimited, secure syncing and unlimited support.

The HHC iPhone app is free. If you are an iPhone user and have an active Professional Edition HHC subscription, login to the app store and download it today.

Otherwise, contact us to try them both free for 14 days - or call us at (847) 520-0860. To continue using both HHC and the iPhone app at the end of your trial, you'll need a Professional Edition subscription. Basic Edition subscriptions are not compatible with the Apple iPhone - for some a potential drawback. However, for less than $15 per month, you'll enjoy the convenience of having your ACT! database with you at all times.


Can You Refer a Good Referrer? The Power of Referral Marketing

4/26/2010

 
The Referral Engine
KSC had the fortunate opportunity to get a free, advanced copy of the soon-to-be-released book, The Referral Engine by John Jantsch. All I can say is, the Duct Tape Marketing master is sure to have another hit with his straight-forward approach to the often-overlooked but best marketing medium - referrals. (Subscribe to the right by April 30, 2010 for a chance to win your own copy!)

People have a wonderful, seemingly innate desire to help others. If I asked you today to recommend a couple of restaurants near your office, what would you say? First, you'd think about the restaurants you've been to and the quality of each based on their menu, price, service, quality of food, etc. Then, you'd tell me your top 2 or 3 great restaurant options, right? Now think of how frequently we get recommendations we didn't ask for - someone tells us about a great sale, book, play, movie, gadget, electronic, etc. We are constantly (and usually subconsciously) announcing our favorite things to others. As a matter of fact, it's been common-place for so long that Julie Andrews devoted a whole song to telling us about "a few of her favorite things" in 1965 (scroll down to listen!).

On the flip side, if I asked for your help in choosing a local restaurant that means I trust your opinion on the subject and feel confident you will steer me in the right direction. People trust, and are more likely to follow, the guidance and recommendations of a friend, colleague, mentor, or even a stranger (ever been swayed by a product review?) over the boastings of an unfamiliar company.

In The Referral Engine, marketing expert John Jantsch addresses the power of referral marketing and how you can tap into your customers' innate desire to help others by recommending your product/service. Mr. Jantsch (whom I don't know well enough to call 'John' - and by well enough, I mean at all), once again, proves his marketing expertise by offering practical tips and techniques we can easily use to create loyal customers that will happily refer quality leads to our company.

As he states in The Referral Engine, "The secret to generating referrals lies in understanding the 'Customer Referral Cycle' - the way customers refer others to your company who, in turn, generate even more referrals. Businesses can ensure a healthy referral cycle by moving customers and prospects along the path of Know, Like, Trust, Try, Buy, Repeat, Refer."

The Referral Engine is scheduled to go on sale May 13th.
Pre-order it through Amazon.com today!



P.S. Just so you know... at KSC, we appreciate referrals and have made it a goal to let our clients know it. If you have found value in working with us and/or enjoy our blogs, please let someone else know. Thank you!

You can join us on Facebook, Twitterand LinkedIn too! 


You have to admire Julie Andrews' passion...



Drip Marketing Like a New Employee

4/5/2010

 
Drip Marketing
If you've tuned into my recent webinars, you've heard my analogy of drip marketing being the best employee a company could have. Yes, it is a tongue-in-cheek statement. However, when I explain the analogy to new drip marketing clients, they begin to view the initial drip marketing efforts involved in a whole new light. Let me explain... A drip marketing campaign is a highly-effective tool for automating your marketing messages - and for freeing up your time to pursue other business activities (attending baseball season-openers, for example). To create a successful drip campaign, there is some initial pre-planning and email template creation involved, and it does take considerable time to set-up. So people often ask me, "Well then, how does this actually save me time and money?"

And here is where my analogy comes into play. I simply ask you to consider Drip Marketing (DM) a new employee for just a moment and let's look at how it can successfully contribute to your business.

As you know, with any new hire, you need to invest some initial time training and over-seeing that person. He/she needs to become familiar with the basics, such as how to clock-in, where the office supplies are located, how to use the phone/computer/other systems; then, you move into the meatier elements that help them perform their core job responsibilities. When you think about it, a lot of initial effort goes into training that person to work independently. Then what happens? They quit a year later - and the process starts again. (Insert very large sigh.) With DM, you never have to worry about that! Hence, why I call it the best employee you'll ever have. Look at the other benefits:
  • It's cost-effective: With a subscription rate as little as $30/month or at most $150/month, it will likely be the cheapest "salary" you pay. DM has no benefit requirements, it won't call in sick or take vacations - in fact, it works 24/7 and 365 days/year. It won't lie or steal your trademarked secrets or coveted office supplies. DM saves you money, while it makes you money! 
  • It's efficient: You spend some initial time developing a thorough, well thought-out campaign, and once it's launched, it will automatically send what you want, to who you want and when you want it sent. You can rest easy while on that much-needed tropical vacation knowing your customers are still receiving your important messages. In fact, unless you tell them, they'll never know you were gone. Can someone say, "Pass me my 9 iron, and another fruity umbrella drink, please?!" 
  • It will save you time long-term: It eliminates the time spent scrambling to send out another thrown-together marketing piece; the time spent before each email questioning who to send it to and when; the time on the tropical golf course talking your assistant through how to send that email blast you forgot needed to go out. Also, Swiftpage allows you to easily duplicate your campaigns and simply tweak the templates with new or updated info, eliminating future upfront time. 
  • You can easily view and analyze your campaign results: The Swiftpage reporting tools track the results of your email blasts and allow you to export the results into excel or, for ACT! users, you can upload that data directly into each contact's record. Then, upon your tanned and well-rested return from said tropical get-away, you can follow-up with them without missing a beat.
  • It helps you to build better business relationships: By continually and consistently reaching out to your leads and clients, you are nurturing that relationship and building their trust and loyalty. People buy from people they know, like and trust. You want that to be you!
An automated marketing system, like DM, can not only help you save time and money, but best of all, it can lead to increased sales and referrals. And an "employee" doesn't get much better than that.

By the way, anyone seen my sand wedge??



    Loading

    Picture
    Subscribe To Our Newsletter


    Archives

    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    August 2010
    April 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009


    Categories

    All
    8x8
    ACT! 2011
    ACT! 2013
    ACT! Activities
    ACT! Add On
    ACT! And Outlook Integration
    ACT! Backups
    Act! Connect
    Act! Customization
    Act! Database Maintenance
    ACT! Dynamic Groups
    Act! Emarketing
    Act! Features
    ACT! For Events
    ACT! For Mobile Devices
    Act! For Web
    Act! Personal Info Tab
    Act! Personalization
    Act! Premium
    Act! Premium Cloud
    Act! Promotions
    ACT! Reports
    ACT! Searches
    ACT! Social Media
    Act! Technical Support
    ACT! Tip
    Act! Update
    Act! V16
    Act! V17
    Act! V18
    Automated Marketing
    Automation
    Browser Issues
    Business Ethics
    Business Hours
    Business Humor
    Business Intelligence
    Business Tools
    Call Lists
    Chrome
    Cloud Communications
    Cloud Hosting
    Contact Layout
    Contacts
    Content Marketing
    CRM Integration
    Customer Appreciation
    Customer Relationships
    Customer Retention
    Database Conversion
    Digital Marketing
    DIY
    Drip Marketing
    Duplicate Entries
    Efficiency
    Email
    Email Marketing
    Events
    Export
    Exporting To Excel
    FAQ
    Favorite Contacts
    Favorite Lookup
    Fill The Pipeline
    Filtering
    History List
    Holidays
    How To
    Import
    Integration
    Intuit
    Labor Day
    Leads In ACT!
    LinkedIn
    Microsoft Office
    Mobility
    Newsletter
    Opportunities
    Organization
    Outlook Integration
    Payment Processing
    PayPal
    Payroll
    Productivity
    Prospects
    Queries
    QuickBooks Online
    QuickBooks Payments
    QuickBooks Payroll
    Relationship Building
    Sales Pipeline
    Sales Review
    Slack
    Social Media
    Social Media Marketing
    Spring
    Strategic Planning
    Subscription
    Summer Projects
    Swiftpage
    Sync ACT! To Mobile
    Task List
    Technical Issue
    Technical Support
    Trade Shows
    Training
    Upgrade
    Upgrade ACT!
    Voice Over Ip
    VOIP
    Web API
    Web Browsers
    Webinar
    Web Info Tab
    Windows 10
    WuFoo

Kristi Smith Consulting     |    (847) 520-0860    |    info@kristismith.com


This Web site is owned by Kristi Smith Consulting, LLC. Kristi Smith Consulting, LLC is independent from Swiftpage and is not authorized to make any statement, representation or warranties or grant any license or permission on behalf of Swiftpage regarding any product, service or Web site content. Certain materials made available on or through this Web site are owned by Swiftpage and cannot be used without the prior written permission of Swiftpage; such materials have been released to KSC as a Swiftpage Authorized Business Partner and are used with permission from Swiftpage ACT! LLC. | www.swiftpage.com | All images displayed are the property of Kristi Smith Consulting and may not be copied or used without prior written authorization from a Kristi Smith Consulting administrator.