Act Software Tips: Learning all about Act Software by Swiftpage

Original Post Date: 4-22-2017
Updated 9-26-21

I recently started volunteering at the New England Aquarium in Boston Massachusetts as a visitor educator. I was uniquely unqualified for the task at hand, except to say that I was motivated to learn and enthusiastic to help out. Thankfully, the New England aquarium has a terrific staff that has taught me a great deal about the exhibits at the aquarium, and all of the wonderful creatures that call the aquarium home. One of the things they’ve taught me at the aquarium is to not only state facts, but to interpret the meaning of those facts as it applies to the visitors that I speak to at the aquarium.

Why am I telling you this?

There are many phenomenal resources to teach you how to become a better acter. Act, which is owned by Swiftpage, has worked very hard to create training videos which they have posted on their website. As I view these videos I realize that they excel in teaching you

the fundamentals of act. They teach you about all the technical and moving parts of act so you can take the time to learn and adapt act to your business. In my opinion, this is where I can help you the most with act by helping you interpret the best way to approach act for your business. So I will review these videos and try to interpret them and give you feedback.

I can teach you how to drive a car, but you have to decide where to go. In my mind act is exactly the same. You can become very proficient with act but if you don’t know where to drive, act can become overwhelming and a waste of time.

Therefore, in the coming months, I am going to be focusing on interpreting some of the videos and training materials that are available to you free of charge. I look forward to teaching and advising you on matters that will help you build a more successful business. I look forward to your feedback and would appreciate any insights you can give me as they relate to what I have written about act.

Here are some general observations that I have made through the years about using act software:

• If you are disorganized before you use act, you will be disorganized after you start using Act
• To become organized with act, you have to have a plan and a set of goals
• Without goals, act will not be very effective for you
• You need to have a plan to make act work well and to keep yourself organized
• Act is a great tool to help you implement and stay on top of your plans to be organized
• If you are a beginner to act, think of it as a business card to start
• If you are an experienced act user, don’t over organize or it becomes counterproductive
• Periodically, completely forget about how you use act and think about what you are truly trying to accomplish
• If you use act properly, no contact in act will ever slip through the cracks
• If no contact slips through the cracks, you will sleep very well at night
• Email is the easiest way to communicate with all of your contacts
• Telephone calls to contacts are important as well, even though 80% of the time you will leave a message. Make it a good message!
• After your phone call, you should have two prewritten emails to send to the person you just called
• The first one is a thank you email to your contact for taking the time to speak to you
• The second one is the I just left you a message email
• Learn how to take care of your customers and prospects are easy to work with
• Make your contacts feel important
• Learn all of your act email options
• Beginners and Experienced act users: don’t get caught up in all the bells and whistles and the shiny parts of the software; focus on the fundamentals
• Goal: stay focused on communicating with prospects and customers
• Customers always come first
• Your best prospects are your customers
• Create a Monday plan
• Create a first Monday of the month plan