Holiday Marketing with Sage ACT! 2012

Use the holiday season to let your prospects and customers know that you are thinking of them personally.

Now is the time to make sure your prospects and customers know they are on your mind.  If you count the number of times you “touch” your base with some type of communication, remember the next few months are a welcomed time to reach out for no other reason than to let them know how much they mean to you.

Using Sage ACT! allows you to make the process easier by helping you to find them, and their addresses, quickly.  The features within Sage ACT! best-suited for the task at hand are described below.

Creating Your List
There are multiple ways to identify who to send your holiday email or card to within Sage ACT!.

Lookup by Opportunities Won.  Find the contacts with whom you have done the most business this year.  Look for the top opportunities Closed Won within the custom date range most relevant to your need.  Select all the opportunities on the list, right-click the selected, and choose Create Lookup.


Lookup by Contact Activity. Also consider a Lookup from your Contact records using the Contact Activity from the Lookup menu, selecting your preferred date range and contact types from the available filter.



Define Fields. Analyze your business and evaluate the processes you use to close business.  Does your existing database include all the ways you would categorize your contacts?  ID/Status and Referred By may not be enough. 

Consider adding a field like Role to describe whether a contact is a "Decision Maker", an "Advocate", a "Gatekeeper", or a "Speedbump", something we would not find on their business card, but should be right next to their Title field on your ACT! layout.


Sending
Sage Email Marketing for ACT!  (SEMA)  Use your built-in broadcast email tool to send good wishes directly to your list’s inbox.  Make your own, or use one of the many handy templates in the library.  If you need a free account (limit of 50 per day) then use this link (prior to version 2010) or sign up right from your toolbar in ACT!  


Zip City will build your first template for you when you set up your new SEMA trial... for nothing.  Call 503-381-5654 to get your holiday message out now.

Export to Excel
Once you have selected your list of recipients customize your columns to show only the fields relevant to your mailing and then click on the Export to Excel button on your toolbar.  The resulting list will be configured exactly as you see it in Sage ACT! and can then be used to send to your third-party service provider.

Plan ahead and acknowledge your best contacts by offering them the best of the season, easily, with ACT!

Making Printing Labels a Snap!
Purchase a Dymo Labelwriter 450 model printer and integrate it with ACT! to make printing labels a snap! Call me to learn more or schedule a time to have me set it up for you.

Good design is good business.

Bevan Wistar
ACT! Certified Consultant
www.zip-city.com
bwistar@zip-city.com
503-381-5654