Fresh Meat? Fresh Tofu?  I have always stated that one of the most important fields in act is the ID status field.

Ideally, I always try to only have one choice per letter in any drop-down field. This makes it easier for those of us with less-than-perfect typing skills to enter our choice in a field. If client, or customer for that matter, is the only item that begins with the letter C in a drop-down field, all you have to do is hit the letter C on your keyboard and act will populate the field with client. Do you see where I’m going with this?

I was working with the client named Alisa and we were trying to come up with an alternative name for cold leads. Because we were already using clients as one of our options in the ID status, I didn’t want a second choice that began with the letter C.

Alisa suggested “Fresh Meat.” Perfect. We didn’t have anything else that began with the letter F.

The key is to keep things simple when using act. Use the ID status for all of your contacts. Make sure data entry is as simple as possible and worth doing rather than a chore.

As the husband of a registered dietitian, I felt obligated to find a less carnivorous choice for my vegetarian and vegan friends. Therefore, I offer up the choice of Fresh Tofu as an option in the ID status field.

Thanks Alisa.