There’s no shortcut in Excel but if you use the formula shown in this video you can achieve the same results.

If you like consistency and tidy data, you’ll love this How To video

If you want to get the complete Excel training course visit

http://www.corazonit.com/excelfundamentals.html
Written by Elene Marsden

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

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!

SET YOUR INTENT

Step 2 : I created a promotional video to get votes. Yes, I spent a morning sorting out images and video clips but the hard work producing the video was done by Fiverr.com- an amazing website where you can get anything done for $5! My rather splendid video was available within 24 hours.

PROMOTE YOURSELF DIFFERENTLY

Step 3 : I sent 3 emails using ACT Emarketing to my customers and to people that I knew opened and liked my regular e-shots

SEND TARGETED MESSAGES WITH A CALL TO ACTION

Step 4 : As the competition intensified I went to more networking events than usual and asked for support. I needed to make an impression and wore my ruby slippers which certainly got people talking. They now have a special place in myoffice.

BE MEMORABLE

Step 5 : I asked for votes. I didn’t always feel comfortable doing this but I was on a mission and had to suspend all fear.

ASK FOR WHAT YOU WANT

Step 6 : I used Social Media to tell people how many votes I had especially during the last days of the competition when the votes were so close.

SPREAD THE WORD ONLINE

The Results

Its early days to analyse how much extra revenue this award will generate for betterACTnow but I know that the amazing testimonials and PR opportunities can only be good for business.

If I can achieve all this in my business- what could you achieve in your business once you set your intent?
Written by Elene Marsden

“ 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

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

YouTube Descriptions

Always include a link in the front of the description back to your website, followed by a carefully crafted paragraph around your key words or phrases e.g. www.betteractnow.com videos- In this video Elene Marsden explains how to use the ACT 2012 Universal Search so that you can find that one thing you need in an instant. See how Universal Search will search your contacts, groups, companies, opportunities, notes, history—even attachments. Fine tune your search when you filter by dates. And once your search results are displayed, double-click on the item of interest and go straight to that particular field or attachment. Discover how Universal Search wildcards help you to refine your searches in this short betterACTnow video.

YouTube Tags

Finally for tags, repeat your key words or phrases. Choose 10-15 phrases and if you have phrases with more than one word, make sure you enclose them in double quotes e.g. Marketing “universal search” “software tutorial” “act 2012″ “act wild cards”   ” ACT Computer Software” “search act contacts” “seach act opportunities” ” search act attachments” “sage act trainining”

More ACT 2012 training videos available from betterACTnow
Written by Elene Marsden

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

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

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

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

1. Send out your email campaign as normal. I use ACT and ACT Emarketing from Swiftpage
2. Create a Call List ( Swiftpage Pro and Team Accounts only) from your campaign report window
3. Give your Call List a name using the Save This Call List button
4. 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

ACT Call Lists

1. In ACT, select  the ACT E-marketing tab
2. Click the Call List section. If you have more than one Call List, use the Drop Down list to select the one you want to use
3. Select the Lookup button and choose Hot, Warm or Mild contacts and those with Action or with No Action or all contacts.
4. Click Group button to add these contacts to an ACT group
5. Add results of phone calls and follow-ups using the Edit ACTION button

Learn how to be successful with ACT Emarketing here

Written by Elene Marsden

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

1. Go to the Marketing Results Tab in ACT, select the Email Marketing History and Search (top right button)
2. Select All Email Campaigns and choose Opt Outs
3. Select Copy to Clipboard (nothing seems to happen, don’t worry)
4. Close this dialog box
5. From the Lookup Menu in ACT choose, Keyword Search
6. 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

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