So thats their little secret – betterKNOWhow tips

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Elene Marsden

Have you ever wanted to share a PDF file with a customer or a prospect or perhaps upload your price lists or special offers to Social Media sites like Twitter or Facebook?
Here’s what to do:
1. Get a Dropbox account. It’s free to set up and you can store up to 2GB of data
2. Upload your PDF file to Dropbox. Use the links on the right to share your file.
3. Use Control C to copy the file path
4. Here’s the extra step that makes the difference!

Because the web address/ URL is so long, I use bit.ly to shorten the link.
5. You can even customise the bit.ly link to include keywords. e.g. http://bit.ly/BKHwebinars
6. Now you’re ready to post your link to your social media sites
Watch my short video to see how it’s done.
I’ll be running more betterKNOWhow Social Media webinars in May, places are limited so here’s the link if you’d like to book your place today.

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Just 3 Steps to Remove A Background From An Image

Posted on March 14, 2013 by Elene Marsden

Brilliant tool from Microsoft Office 2010 to remove the background from any image. No need to use expensive Photo Editing Tools- perfect for all your Social Media sites

It’s easy:

Select the picture you want to customise
On the Picture Tools tab choose Remove Background from the Adjust group.
The picture will have a guide box which you can keep or resize. Click anywhere on your document to accept the background removal

In addition you can use the Background Removal tab to adjust or change the marked areas.

And if you want a FREE online tool to resize your pictures, I love using www.sumopaint.com

Thanks for watching. Let me know how you get on.

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Get Smarter With Your Marketing and Grow Those Lists

Posted on January 14, 2013 by Elene Marsden

Check out the 5 things that super successful people do:

1. They have a database to segment contacts

2. They have a way to keep in touch with their lists

3. They use automated messages for targeted groups

4. They grow their lists using sign up forms

5. They’re members of a mastermind group or they have a
business coach

If you’d like to discover new ways to manage your contacts, track your referrals and grow your lists, I recommend our betterACTnow’s online ACT training videos.

To whet your appetite get our Free ACT 2013 Guides

http://bit.ly/ACTguides

We also have a Gold Coaching program-Full of database marketing topics to grow your business. Plus step by step learning with deadlines and accountability to
implement marketing strategies into your business.

Topics include:

1. Create targeted groups for increased email open rates

2. Write compelling emails to engage your readers

3. Produce automated email sequences for specific groups e.g. New Customers or Website Visitors to save time.

4. Add sign up forms to your website, Facebook Page and
blogs to grow your lists. Don’t forget to offer something of value as an
incentive to sign up

5. Market your business through Facebook. Engage your fans
with competitions and share your successes using Fan Reviews.

Serious about getting more business this year?

Get things done with betterACTnow

Join us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/betterknowhow

Check out what our fans say http://www.elenesfanreveiws.com

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Running Competitions on Facebook Increases Engagement and Strengthens Social Proof

Posted on December 4, 2012 by Elene Marsden

Facebook Competitions are easy to set up and are a great way to increase Facebook engagement and grow your fan base.

What to include:

A great prize- in this case £50 Amazon Vouchers
Steps to Enter. I’m using 2 Steps.
Use a compelling video to explain the competition
Use widgets to count down the days
Video the prize drawing and use as publicity on Facebook

I use the Fan Review application to record and share 5* Fan Reviews.

If you’d like me to help you set up your own Facebook Competitions, get in touch.

And while you’re here, why not enter the competition yourself

Till Next Time
Elene

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How One Small Book and a Long Train Journey Changed My Business

Posted on August 13, 2012 by Elene Marsden

One of the books I took on holiday was a small pamphlet type book which I read from cover to cover on the train journey from London St Pancreas to Turin in Italy. It was so good that I re-read the same book on the return journey!

The book was called The 5 Choices to Extraordinary Productivity by Franklin Covey

Here’s my summary of the 5 Choices and how adopting these simple choices have changed the way I live and work!

Choice One

ACT on the Important and Don’t React to the Urgent

The first step is to be really clear on how you add value and then you can plan your business/life outcomes.

The 4 Time Quadrants

According to Franklin Covey we operate in one of 4 Time Quadrants

Most of the time we operate in Q1 dealing with Urgent/Important tasks but it’s Q2 where we should aim to spend most time, focusing on what’s important to our outcome.

Its easy to spend too much time in Q3 working through other people’s “urgent” jobs that aren’t important.

And as for Q4, well that’s the time we spend on Facebook, watching TV etc to unwind after our stressful days.

Choice One – ACT on the important.

I have my outcome written down and now I focus on spending more time on Q2 tasks.

And of course I use ACT to schedule my Q2 time, synchronized with my iPad.

PS Part of my outcome is to visit Italy more often!

www.betteractnow.com

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Fed Up With A Cluttered Desktop?

Posted on August 7, 2012 by Elene Marsden

I don’t know about you but I’m forever searching for icons on my desktop.

Not any more because I’ve discovered Fences a free application to group your desktop icons into useful categories and tidy up your desktop at the same time.

You can download Fences here and best of all its FREE!

Authored By Elene Marsden
www.betteractnow.com

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Divide and Rule – or Segment and Rule For ACT Users

Posted on July 10, 2012 by Elene Marsden

If you keep a list of contacts its essential that you have a strategy to segment your contacts into groups.

When I send out emails to my contact list, I have groups for ACT and Non ACT users. I have groups for UK and USA contacts. I have groups of contacts interested in particular products.

Every time I add a new contact I make sure all the “target marketing” fields are complete.

Watch this video to see how to create new fields in ACT and set up drop down lists to limit the choices.

Start thinking about how you’d like to divide up your contacts, decide what groups you’d like from the outset. Plan early and reap the benefits later.

What business segments are important to you?

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Posted in ACT E-marketing, ACT Help, ACT Videos, betterACTnow, Database List Managment | Tagged ACT Training, betteractnow training, create act fields, database marketing, Database Segmentation | Leave a comment

Grow Your Contact Lists with Web Forms on WordPress

Posted on June 5, 2012 by Elene Marsden

The easiest way to grow your contact list is to add a web form to your website, blog or Facebook Business Page.

It works best if you can offer an incentive to your readers in return for their name and email.

On my websites I have a number of free gifts including 12 ACT courses guides, links to useful training videos and even a free marketing CD.

Sample Embedded Form To Collect Contact Details

Watch this “How To” video for full instructions.

Button with Link to Web Form

Give your readers instant access to your “FREE GIFT” .

Why not fill out our form to get instant access to our next “How To” Video.

Authored By Elene Marsden

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Posted in ACT Videos, Database List Managment, Swiftpage Web Forms | Tagged act, ACT Emarketing, betteractnow online training videos, sage act, Swiftpage Web Forms, Word Press Blogs | Leave a comment

Hate Inconsistency? Want an Ordered Life?

Posted on May 29, 2012 by Elene Marsden

For some people this may be just a minor irritation but for others it’s annoying and frustrating and one day you’re going to tackle it…..

No I’m not talking about a messy desk..

But inconsistent data entry!

Unless you have strict field rules in your database, you will overtime end up with inconsistent data. You can use the Global Edit in ACT to update record values that have been entered inconsistently for example

US instead of USA

UK instead of United Kingdom

Watch this YouTube Video to see how to make your data perfect.

Note: Always back up your database before carrying out this Global Edit
Authored By Elene Marsden

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Promote Yourself On YouTube With Free Overlay Ads

Posted on May 29, 2012 by Elene Marsden

If you’ve created YouTube videos, take the extra step to add free overlay ads to your videos so that your viewers can link straight back to your website.

Its free to set up but you do need to create a Google AdWords account first.

Watch this video for full instructions.

Would love to know how you get on, please leave a comment.
Written By Elene Marsden

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Take Control of your Contact Lists in Excel

Posted on May 2, 2012 by Elene Marsden

If you have a list of contacts in Excel you might need to manipulate the text before you can import the data into your database or before you can upload your contacts to a cloud based service.

Often the data is in the wrong case- all in CAPITAL LETTERS or all in lower case. Sometimes you’ll want to split the data or merge data in 2 columns into one.

Check out this Excel training video to learn how to split and merge columns

If you’d like to polish up your Excel skills, get our Excel Fundamentals Training CD- over 90 minutes of tips and tricks- smart training for busy people. Includes:

Calculating
Sorting
Filtering
Formatting
Presenting

only £23.99 with Free Shipping

Or if you buy our ACT Training Course we’ll send you this CD FREE because we believe this training will help you with ACT imports and managing ACT opportunities.
Written by Elene Marsden

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Posted in ACT Videos, betterACTnow, Database List Managment | Tagged "import Excel lists" “betteractnow ACT Training videos” “Sage ACT ” “Corazon IT ACT Training”, Database Management, Excel Training | 1 Comment

Ruby Slippers and ACT Emarketing -betterACTnow Wins Best Loved Business Award

Posted on March 2, 2012 by Elene Marsden

betterACTnow- best loved business- Ipswich

“In just 14 days in February, Elene Marsden -aka- betterACTnow had gained the support of over 150 businesses to win the prestigious Best Loved Business in Ipswich Award.”

How did I achieve this success?

I sell ACT software and train businesses to keep in touch with their client base using ACT Emarketing tools.

I knew I had the systems to win this award and wanted to prove that with a good database and a means to keep in touch you can achieve great things in any business.

How did I beat the competition? -2 loveable hairdressers?

Step 1 : As soon as the 14 Days of Love Valentine competition was announced I decided I wanted to win. I even visualised going to the Valentine’s Ball as the winner picking up the prize. I told other people I was going to win! Rather foolish some might say! Continue reading →

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Posted in ACT E-marketing, betterACTnow, Sage ACT | Tagged "act database", "act emarketing campaigns", "business networking" | 1 Comment

Neat Trick Using ACT Scratchpad

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Elene Marsden

Thanks to Nigel Botterill’s Entrepreneurs Circle, I’ve made a change to my working day and all because of this phrase,

“ today ain’t over until tomorrow’s planned”

So at the end of every working day, I list all the tasks I’ll be working on the next day. It’s surprising how your brain comes up with ideas over night as you sleep on those difficult tasks.

That’s the theory. Now here’s the practice:

Click on the ACT Scratchpad icon (ACT 2012 only) on the desktop
Make a list of the jobs for tomorrow.
Mark items as complete or delete items
Send Scratchpad items to Sage ACT if you want to create an ACT activity in your database

Check out our ACT training videos for more ACT Tips and Tricks

Written by Elene Marsden

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Ways to Boost Your SEO Using YouTube Videos _

Posted on January 6, 2012 by Elene Marsden

Yes its important to focus on your website SEO but don’t forget to look at boosting traffic to your website from other sources like YouTube.

Last time we looked at uploading videos to your YouTube Channel. Now its time to plan your YouTube Title, Description and Tags to enhance your brand and make sure you appear in organic searhes for keywords associated with your business.

YouTube Titles

Use key words or phrases to explain the video content and repeat that word. e.g Universal Search ACT 2012- Find Important Data with Universal Search
Continue reading →

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5 Ways to Get Maximum Value from ACT 2012

Posted on December 12, 2011 by Elene Marsden

1. Add all contacts to your database. Be a useful resource and help others to connect.

2. Segment your database into groups- use the ID/Status field to categorise contacts into customers, prospects and suppliers

3. Add new customers to drip marketing campaigns as soon as they make their first purchase

4. Invite every new contact to connect with you on LinkedIn using the Web Info tab.

5. Run regular checks on all open opportunities and follow up with an email or phone call
Written by Elene Marsden

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Posted in ACT Help, ACT Videos, betterACTnow, Drip Marketing, Sage ACT | Tagged "act email marketing", "Drip marketing", ACT Follow-ups, ACT videos, Database Segmentation, sage act, “betteractnow ACT Training videos” “Sage ACT ” “Corazon IT ACT Training” | Leave a comment

Talking Testimonials- YouTube working for your business

Posted on September 2, 2011 by Elene Marsden

I’ve just started using video testimonials as part of my new marketing strategy. I use a Flip camera which I bought from Amazon. I’m so pleased with the High Definition picture and the amazing sound quality it produces.

I showed my video testimonials to my Sage ACT account manager and he thought they were very professional!

And all I did was point and record!

Follow these steps to get your videos on YouTube

Record your video using a Flip camera

Plug your Flip camera into your computer

Choose the Create a video button

Save this .mp4 video onto your computer

Go to www.youtube.com

Set up an account if you don’t have one

Select Upload and Upload video

Add a title, description, tags and select a category

Save your changes

Your video is now live. If you want to share your video, click the share button to reveal the URL link that you can copy and add to your emails, website and blog.

Next time I’ll show you how to optimise your videos so that they can be found on the web.
Here’s one of our betterACTnow video testimonials from Allan Scott. You can find more on our YouTube channel

We’d really appreciate your feedback, leave us a comment

PS New ACT 2012 training videos from betterACTnow available now!
Written by Elene Marsden

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Posted in Business Challenges, Marketing | Tagged betteractnow videos, marketing, Video testimonials, youtube, “betteractnow ACT Training videos” “Sage ACT ” “Corazon IT ACT Training” | 1 Comment

Email Marketing- The Power is in the Follow Up

Posted on August 8, 2011 by Elene Marsden

If you spend hours writing engaging, relevant messages for your customers and prospects, you’re missing out if you don’t also spend time planning to follow up.

Most email service providers give you reports on who’s opened and clicked links in your emails.

If you use ACT E-marketing by Swiftpage you’ll also get Call Lists of hot prospects to make your follow-ups easy.

4 Steps to Follow-up

Send out your email campaign as normal. I use ACT and ACT Emarketing from Swiftpage
Create a Call List ( Swiftpage Pro and Team Accounts only) from your campaign report window
Give your Call List a name using the Save This Call List button
You can add actions to this Call List direct from your browser or use the Call List inside ACT to manage your Follow Ups

Note: Call list actions are automatically added to the contact’s History Tab

Continue reading →

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When your readers Opt Out..

Posted on July 11, 2011 by Elene Marsden

Its tough isn’t it? You thought your email message was interesting, engaging and relevant and they still opt out.
All good email service providers include opt-out links, Swiftpage’s links show on the bottom of each email.
If you try to send an email to this address it will be automatically suppressed by Swiftpage but I also like to update my contacts record in my ACT database to show these Opt Outs

Here’s a quick way to complete a batch update of contacts who have opted out.

Go to the Marketing Results Tab in ACT, select the Email Marketing History and Search (top right button)
Select All Email Campaigns and choose Opt Outs
Select Copy to Clipboard (nothing seems to happen, don’t worry)
Close this dialog box
From the Lookup Menu in ACT choose, Keyword Search
In the Search For box, paste or CONTROL V and Find Now

You’ll have a look up of contacts that you can now Globally Edit. I use a field called Opt Outs and update the field to show Do not Email.
Written by Elene Marsden

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Ever Wondered how to “Embed” Videos in your Emails?

Posted on May 11, 2011 by Elene Marsden

One of my lovely readers recently asked how I’d managed to add video to my email messages.
It really is easy to do just follow these simple steps
1. Go to YouTube and select the video you want to embed
2. Use a technique to grab the YouTube screen image. I use Office 2010 Screen Clipping, or you can get a free tool called SnagIT or simply click Print Screen on your keyboard to capture your image and crop to size
3. Select your image and add the YouTube link as a hyperlink. (you’ll find the link underneath the YouTube video when you select the Share button)
I use ACT Emarketing to send my emails and adding hyperlinks is easy, get our Free Report to find out how. Or if you use Outlook, right click over the image and select the hyperlink command.
That really is all there is to it, an easy visual way to share YouTube videos with your contacts.

Go check our Facebook page for more useful tips.
Written by Elene Marsden

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Cool Tool for Capturing ACT Contacts from a Website in Seconds!

Posted on March 30, 2011 by Elene Marsden

Capture your Contacts in Seconds
If you want to copy contact details from a website or from any electronic document, I recommend Broadlook’s Contact Capture. Its free to use:

Select the text
Hold down the CNTRL and press C twice
Chose where you want the data transferred to.

This is my favorite way to add new contacts to ACT! Lots more useful ACT tips here

As we spring into summer, we’ll be adding plenty of useful stuff to our Facebook Page.
Written by Elene Marsden

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How to Make Sure Your Swiftpage Emails Get Noticed

Posted on March 24, 2011 by Elene Marsden

I like to send out regular emails using ACT Emarketing once every 3 weeks. The 2 things that take the most time to organise are the subject lines and the test sends. Here’s some tips to help you prepare your email blasts.

Subject Line Tips

How To headlines offer the promise of solid information, sound advice and solutions to problems, eg How to Turn a Simple Party into a Royal Ball.
If you’re ever stuck for a subject line, type How To…. and see what comes up.

Continue reading →

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Swiftpage- A Systemised Way To Stay in Touch

Posted on March 7, 2011 by Elene Marsden

I like using Swiftpage E-marketing for so many reasons, the flexibility of the email templates, the reports which tell me who’s reading my emails and clicking on links and of course the data I collect from email blasts is essential for my future marketing campaigns.

You can use Swiftpage to create:

newsletters
solo promotions
invitations
surveys

If you want a guaranteed way to ensure your message will be delivered to groups of your contacts, I recommend Swiftpage. There are other similar products available but none that integrate so well with ACT!

If you’re not an ACT user, Swiftpage provides a hosted service called Connect which you can use to upload your contacts using a spreadsheet.

Continue reading →

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Clutter Free Zone- Wardrobes and Inboxes

Posted on February 15, 2011 by Elene Marsden

I know its not Spring yet but I’ve already started to clear out my wardrobe.
A good friend, @Mrs_P_creative, has been helping me to decluttter.
First we threw everything onto the bed, then we sorted the clothes into categories, jumpers, tops, jeans etc.
Then I had to choose which clothes I wanted to keep and if I hadn’t worn something for a while, it was sent to the recycle pile.
Here’s the before and after pictures.

I now spend less time searching for something to wear and my local charity shop is delighted with their increased stock levels!
And that’s just the beginning- I’m using this same strategy to work through my Outlook Inbox.

3 Outlook tips to help declutter your Inbox:

Don’t use your Inbox to manage your emails, move them out quickly Continue reading →

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Time to Dust off Your Database?

Posted on January 31, 2011 by Elene Marsden

Feel Good by Filtering, Sorting & Tidying Up Your ACT Contacts in List View

The List View in ACT! is a great way to see how tidy your database is.

Tidy Up with the Global Editor

Use this view to check data is in the right place.

For example- are your City/State fields under the correct column headings?

I often see Postcodes/Zipcodes in the County/State fields. This kind of inaccurate data input will not bring you the results you want.

♦ Shiny Gem ♦

There’s a global editor tool that enables you to move data from one field to another.

Be careful when using this tool -always take a backup of your database first.

Go to Edit on the ACT! Menu
Swap Field….

Use List View to select multiple contacts and add to Groups:

the SHIFT button selects contiguous records
the CONTROL button lets you select non- contiguous records

With your contacts highlighted, select Create Group of Contacts from the Related Tasks Pane. You’ll be creating static groups which won’t update automatically but this is a great way to quickly create a group.

Send Email to Selected Contacts From List View

I often send a quick email to contacts from List View.

Select all your contacts – CONTROL +A
Click the Email Button.

If you don’t want everyone to see each other’s addresses, drag the email addresses onto the BCC line on your Outlook message window.

More betteractnow ACT videos can be found on our website www.betteractnow.com/videos.php
Written by Elene Marsden

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Diarize & Organize -Do More With Your Time

Posted on January 17, 2011 by Elene Marsden

Databases and diaries are essential to businesses. Without them how could you keep track of those contacts, prospects and customers and get reminders to follow up people who aren’t ready to buy from you yet?

The first thing I do when I get to my office, is open ACT! and check My Task List. My Task List is filtered to show Todays tasks so I get a great overview of the day ahead. I also look at uncompleted tasks from yesterday and reschedule them for another day.

♦ Shiny Gem ♦

Did you know you can set your activities to roll over to the next day? Go to Tools:

Preferences, Calendar and Scheduling
Scheduling Preferences
Set your calls to Automatically Roll over to Today

New Year – New Strategy For 2011

I’ve always recorded my appointments and calls but now I use my calendar to plan my complete working day. I’ve created a new ACTIVITY Type in ACT! called “Working On Business” and used a star icon.

Here’s how my Thursday looks

♦ Shiny Gem ♦

During my “Working On Business” times, I divert my phones, shut down Outlook and use an hourglass. I bought this little beauty several years ago- all polished up now and proving to be an essential part of my business. When I use my hour glass, I stay focused on the task until its finished.

Essential to My Business

Remember To……

Clear your activities once you’ve completed them. Cleared activities will provide you with full tracking history. And if you like running Reports, the History Summary Classic report displays how many meetings, calls, tasks you’ve completed. If you’d like to find out how to add your own ACTIVITY types to ACT, check out our youtube video.

How to Create your Own Activity Types

More betteractnow ACT videos can be found on our website www.betteractnow.com/videos.php
Written by Elene Marsden

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Posted in ACT Help, ACT Videos, Sage ACT | Tagged act, ACT activities, ACT Training, betteractnow online training videos, manage your time, online act training videos | Leave a comment

6 Business Tips for making molehills out of mountains

Posted on July 12, 2010 by Elene Marsden

How the 3 Peaks challenge could help your business

In less than 3 weeks, I’m taking part in the 3 Peaks Challenge, to climb to the top of the 3 highest mountains in the UK, Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon in just 24 hours.

It’s going to be an incredibly tough challenge because of external factors like weather conditions and traffic jams.

As I make final preparation for the big day, pack the right kit, strengthen the right muscles and develop my winning mindset, it occurs to me that much of my preparation is also relevant for business.

So here’s what I’ve learnt from my 3 Peaks training. I hope you’ll find something to help you with your business challenges:

Snowdon Summit

Decide on your goal (to complete the 3 Peaks Challenge), be very clear about what’s involved and try to write it down. (3 Peaks in 24 hours 5^th-6^th August 2010)
Start preparing, gathering resources and people who can help you achieve your outcome. ( appointment with foot specialist, advice from the gym regarding best exercises, surgical spirits applied to feet every night)
Follow advice from that old saying, “How do you eat an elephant?” -“One bite at a time”. (So just start walking, then walk faster, then start climbing up stairs, lots of them)
Do a trial run, I went to Snowdon 2 weeks ago to see how quickly I could get to the top. If you can’t do this, visualise the challenge in your mind: see, hear and feel your success.
As each week goes by, do one more thing to move you towards your outcome. (Walk further until 10 miles is easy)
And finally, keep a focused, positive mindset. If doubts creep in, replace them with positive thoughts. (I can see myself enjoying a refreshing glass of rose and laughing with my team mates as we celebrate our achievements)

And you know what folks say about the journey being as important as the destination. Well it’s certainly been true for me, I’m fitter than I’ve ever been in my life, I’ve had great fun taking part in the Race for Life and Midnight Walk and I’ve met some fantastic like-minded people.

PS. If you’d like to sponsor me visit www.corazonit.com

www.betteractnow.com

Let me know the biggest challenge you’ve faced and how you overcame it.
Written by Elene Marsden

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Turn your ACT! Leads into Assets with a Card Scanner

Posted on June 21, 2010 by Elene Marsden

Are you fed up with stacks of business cards cluttering your desk?

- a constant reminder that you really must get organised.
I use a card scanner to add new contacts into my ACT! database. At a recent Suffolk Business Exhibition where I was exhibiting as a Sage Business Partner, my aim was to reveal how ACT! and a card scanner could help companies manage their new leads effortlessly.

With ACT! on my laptop, my Dymo Card Scanner plugged in, I demonstrated the whole seamless process from scanning to transferring business card information into ACT!

At the end of the day I had an extra 75 new businesses in my ACT! database. But it’s not just collecting names, it’s about building relationships with your prospects and for that I use ACT! E-marketing from Swiftpage, another essential business tool.

I send attractive HTML emails to all my new contacts using Swiftpage. I’ve also created Drip Marketing campaigns so all I need to do is add business contacts to the relevant campaigns.

If you want to find out how to send email marketing campaigns yourself, preview betterACTnow’s online ACT E-marketing training videos.

15% off all training videos with this promotional code UB11850

www.betteractnow.com

New Blackberry App

I was searching the crackberry site for new apps for my Blackberry when I discovered the business card reader. It works like this, you take a picture of the business card with your Blackberry and the card information is scanned into your Blackberry contacts.

Another time saving device or another layer of complexity? What do you think?
Written by Elene Marsden

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4 Marketing Tips That Wont Cost A Penny

Posted on June 18, 2010 by Elene Marsden

Ex Dragon’s Den Entrepreneur Doug Richards inspires

Last week I attended Doug Richard’s School for Start Ups Master Class ‘Low Cost Fast Growth Marketing for Growing Businesses’.

In essence the class showed us how to spend time on our marketing without spending lots of money.

Doug’s style is inspirational. Being inspired isn’t enough on its own, you have to take action and implement new ideas.

Here’s a few of the ideas from Doug that I’ve implemented so far and all within just 7 days of the workshop:

Yes, its free!

Remember none of these things cost money!

I posted some of my Powerpoint presentations to Slideshare. Get your content in front of people searching for your keywords
I’ve set up a Tubemogul account so that when I upload videos to the web, Tubemogul sends them to multiple sites at the same time
I’ve tested posting important tweets to Twitter twice during the day. Doug recommends this technique as followers may not see your tweet the first time. Not sure on this one yet but I haven’t seen a significant change in the numbers unfollowing me.
I’ve checked out the grade of 2 of my websites www.betteractnow.com and www.corazonit.com using Hubspot, a fantastic resource to help you to optimise your website and increase traffic.

If you get a chance attend one of Doug’s workshops, just go! You won’t be disappointed.

School for StartUps

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Posted in betterACTnow | Tagged hubspot, slideshare, tubemogul, twitter | Leave a comment

ACT Notes: How to make your contacts feel really special!

Posted on April 12, 2010 by Elene Marsden

As my number of contacts grows, it gets harder to remember individuals. So this is what I do. Every time I add a new contact to ACT! I make sure I add all those extra things we shared: family, ambitions and passions.

My new Sage Insights contacts

When we’re due to meet again, I’ll read those notes and that person comes to life for me. You can be sure that you’ve made that person feel special when you remember them in this way. If like me you value relationships make sure your ACT! notes are working for you.

And the other thing about my ACT! notes…

I keep all the important notes at the top of the pile. How? I set the note create date into the future and because the default sort is always date order, those important notes stay at the top of the list. I use this for passwords, activation keys etc.

Continue reading →

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Posted in ACT Help | Tagged act help, act notes, ACT Training, ACT videos | Leave a comment

Opportunity Knocks with ACT!

Posted on April 12, 2010 by Elene Marsden

If you’re not recording opportunities in ACT you could be throwing your money away.

Be honest, have you ever let an opportunity or referral drift away?

We live such busy lives and the pace is picking up rather than slowing down. With so much going on, it’s not surprising that we may forget those easy follow-up tasks that could affect our profits.

The consequences

So what if you forget the odd follow-up? Business could go to your competitors. You could get a reputation for being unreliable. Read on to find out how to make sure this doesn’t happen to you.

5 steps to managing your opportunities

When you get an opportunity, hot or cold, make sure you add the contact to ACT!
Now add the new opportunity
Select an estimated Close Date
Set the stage in your sales cycle
Finally and most importantly, create a follow-up activity ( the call, the email, the meeting) to move this opportunity forward through your pipeline.

Take Control

Use ACT! opportunities effectively and you leave nothing to chance. Get into the routine of opening ACT! tasks at the start of your day. Decide which Opportunity related tasks are due on that day and work through these first. And if you don’t manage to get them done, reschedule them for another day.

Watch this clip “How to add ACT! opportunities”

ACT! Opportunities

15% off all betterACTnow training videos with this code UB11850 www.betteractnow.com

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Posted in ACT Help | Tagged act dashboards, act help, ACT Opportunities, ACT Training | 1 Comment

Set Targets and Celebrate your Successes with the ACT! Sales Gauge

Posted on March 25, 2010 by Elene Marsden

I was on a sales training course many years ago, where the trainer stressed the importance of setting sales targets and celebrating successes. I could see how important knowing your numbers was for any business but it wasn’t until I had added all my opportunities to my ACT! database, created my own sales gauge dashboard that I was able to appreciate the significance of her words.

My favourite quote comes from Zig Ziglar “ A goal properly set, is halfway achieved”

So now I set clear targets, I have a recording system and a graphical way to display my successes. My ACT! Sales Gauge shows me if I’m on target at any time with just the click of a button.

Knowing my numbers has made a huge difference to my business.

Follow these steps to create your own Sales Gauge in ACT!

From the Navbar, click Dashboard.
Select Edit Current Dashboard or create a new one
Create a new Dashboard by clicking New on the global toolbar
To add the Sales Gauge component, under Toolbox, click Opportunities.
Select the Closed Sales to Date component and drag it to a cell in the layout.
In the dialog box, from the Component tasks list, select Display Gauge Chart and set options.
Click Next to continue.
When done, click finish and close
Your Sales Gauge will display all closed won sales
Don’t forget the Refresh button to update your dashboard at any time

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Posted in ACT Help | Tagged ACT Opportunities, ACT Training, betteractnow online training videos, online act training videos | Leave a comment

10 Steps to Get 125 New Twitter Followers Every Month

Posted on February 26, 2010 by Elene Marsden

12 months ago I had 19 followers, now I have 1600-read what’s worked for me

Get a Twitter account name that represents your business
Create a cool Twitter background. Make one yourself or use a design company like Fuel Creative
Sign up to Social Oomph to send automatic messages to people who follow you
Add Twitterberry to your Blackberry so you can tweet on the move
Set up a Twitpic account to upload your pictures, people love to see what you’re up to
If you have a Google account, set up alerts and get notified when any one tweets about you or your business
Definitely download Tweetdeck, the only way to manage your Tweets
Add Xobni to Outlook so that you can search for people on Twitter and connect straight from Outlook
If you’re using ACT! make sure you check the contact’s Web Info tab, if they’re on Twitter start following them
Be business-like. Be interesting. Be real.

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Posted in Social Media | Tagged act, Social Media, socialoomph, Tweetdeck, twitpic, twitter, twitterberry, xobni | Leave a comment

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Choice One

The 4 Time Quadrants

Choice One – ACT on the important.

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Sample Embedded Form To Collect Contact Details

Button with Link to Web Form

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How did I achieve this success?

How did I beat the competition? -2 loveable hairdressers?

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Check out our ACT training videos for more ACT Tips and Tricks

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YouTube Titles

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4 Steps to Follow-up

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3 Outlook tips to help declutter your Inbox:

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#short_code_si_icon img {width:32px; } .scid-17 img { width:32px !important; }

♦ Shiny Gem ♦

Use List View to select multiple contacts and add to Groups:

Send Email to Selected Contacts From List View

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♦ Shiny Gem ♦

New Year – New Strategy For 2011

♦ Shiny Gem ♦

Remember To……

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#short_code_si_icon img {width:32px; } .scid-19 img { width:32px !important; }

How the 3 Peaks challenge could help your business

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New Blackberry App

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Remember none of these things cost money!

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The consequences

5 steps to managing your opportunities

Take Control

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12 months ago I had 19 followers, now I have 1600-read what’s worked for me

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