Through my years of working with Act I have helped thousands of Act users become more proficient with the software.

There is one principle that I have held near and dear and it is this: if the boss is not on board with the software, the goals you are trying to accomplish are either going to fail completely or be a shell of what they could have been. I am not saying that the boss must be in Act expert. What I am saying is that they must know enough about the process so that they can interpret and assess the results of what they use Act for in their business.

At this moment I am in a no-win situation with a new client.

The owner is not fully vested in seeing the Act sales process through and he has asked me to work with an employee to get everything up and running. The end goal is to help a newly hired salesperson get started with Act. Unfortunately, the employee told me that they do not have that much experience with Act. My experience has been that when I work with the business owner I can ask pointed questions and be very blunt about the goals for Act and their company.  Typically, they appreciate the fact that I do not beat around the bush. Sometimes, as in this case, when I direct my pointed questions to the employee they can be misconstrued as being condescending. What that employee does not understand about me is my passion for helping people make their business more successful when they use Act to do so. It was at this point that I realized the owner has asked me to work with a person that I might easily offend.

There are times when you need to ask questions that only the business owner can answer because the employee is part of the equation.

Who is going to be the loser in this process? Everyone. The salesperson they just hired will never meet their full potential if they do not know how to fully utilize Act. Let me be clear about something. When I teach people how to make the most out of Act I also utilize other software such as Microsoft Outlook and additional add-ons that make the day-to-day activities of being an Act user easier. There is software that I suggest that has nothing to do with Act. But it has to do with the process of being an Act software user and the process that comes with that.

My goal for my client is always to help them be as successful as they can be when utilizing Act software.

To summarize the situation above, we have an owner that is disconnected, an employee that is in a difficult position, and a new salesperson with a terrific sales and marketing vehicle (Act) that has a tank that is only about half full. Eventually it is going to run out of energy and everyone will lose. The company will not be as profitable, and the salesperson will not be as successful as needed to generate the necessary revenue to keep things moving in the proper direction.

These situations drive me crazy because I know I can help. I really care. I care about the owner, the employee and the salesperson. More importantly I care about the families they are trying to provide for. The consulting I do is not cheap. However, if my advice is utilized and implemented it will easily pay for itself many times over. I work very hard trying to get people to understand this point and when this point is missed or misinterpreted I feel my has attempt to communicate this point has failed.  I know there is so much I can do to help I feel I have let my client down.

Do I feel frustrated today? Absolutely. Am I venting? Absolutely. Thanks for listening.