Sometimes I have days when I don’t feel like working. But I have to. We all have these kind of days on occasion.  I think. Here is a quick act tip to help you to be more productive when you just need to get out of the office.

I use a tool called Handheld Contact which puts my act database on my iPhone. Act in the cloud offers the same ability, but I prefer to work with Handheld Contact on my iPhone. Why? Handheld Contact has simplified the way we view and work with act on a small device such as my iPhone. This is not a knock on act software, but simply kudos for the folks at Handheld Contact for making act look better on a small device that needs to have mobile-ready access to software such as act.

This past summer I was having one of those afternoons when I really wanted to be outside because it was a beautiful summer’s day. Here in New England, greater Boston, we have to take advantage of all those days when they are here. But I was feeling sort of guilty because I knew I needed to be productive.

The iPhone’s voice dictation capabilities amaze me. So I sat in my backyard and dictated follow-up emails to my clients using my iPhone and Handheld Contact. Handheld Contact is a subscription service for approximately $80 per year. It is an app that you download to your iPhone and it synchronizes your act data into Handheld Contact. The best way I can describe Handheld Contact is to think of it as act lite for your mobile device.

So there I was, sitting in the backyard of my humble abode sending emails to my clients. This is how it works:

• open up Handheld Contact on your device
• look up a contact
• click on the contacts email address
• click on the microphone key on the keyboard
• dictate your message
• proof your message to make sure it’s accurate
• press the send icon in the upper right corner and press send to send the email
• done

The great thing about this method is that I find I can dictate my thoughts a lot faster than taking the time to type and send them via Microsoft Outlook. For the record, in my iPhone signature, I make note of the fact that the email was dictated. Sometimes dictation can create some unusual spelling errors.

Last but not least, the email is recorded in act’s history and the last email field is updated in act. The next time Handheld Contact synchronizes with act all of that information will be transferred.

My experience has been that sometimes spending a little bit of money on technology can increase your efficiency and profitability. If nothing else, Handheld Contact gave you an opportunity to get outside on a beautiful summer’s day.

For more information visit www.HandheldContact.com