[jwholden]

Has anyone tried using a product like this?

I am looking for a solution to keep a database of clients, prospective clients, vendors, and contacts for the simplicity of having all that info in one place. I would like to be able to creat mailing labels for advertising by scrolling through the list. Finally, to be able to track phone calls and documents on a job would be really nice.

These services seem to be offered by them all but I have had limited luck with ACT! (ran very slow on computer, got it off the computer as soon as a could) and Quickbooks Customer Manager (I like it so far but I am having trouble with setting up data entry for different classifications of contacts such as customers and vendors. I tried to link a file from outlook in the program and that was a no go so far as well.)

I'm all ears and willing to demo any program for a few days!

[Matt Kulp]

How about making your own program in Access?

Another that I have heard good things about is Goldmine.

[Nathaniel Carr]

I do all that stuff in quick books pro. I am tempted by qxpress, but I haven't got it yet. It was recommended on these forums and by Compass.

[Nebraska]

JW we've used ACT for 12 years and it does what you are looking for plus more. Ours is ACT version 4 from 1998.

Maybe install some more memory.?

[Lawn Lad]

We are using ACT vs 10.0. It is a memory hog. It required that we buy new computers. We currently run four users and will be adding a fifth this month. I had two new computers already, so I had to upgrade two and I'm adding another new one this month.

The application is great. We used a certified consultant to set up our database and migrate our data from Outlook and excel. It was well worth $750.00 for upgrades from ACT 9.0 and his time to do the programming and show us how to do things. The time to get staff used to using it and updating the data has been the most expensive part of the process. We're still new on it - but learning to use more and more features. The ability to mail merge letters to current look ups or groups of contacts is great. Recording histories and tracking opportunities makes the program awesome.

This week we have Kevin Taylor from Green Industry Solutions coming in to do a two day training on QXpress. We've had the application for a year but we've not used it since getting it set up has been more difficult than anticipated. My hope is that after his two days of training we'll be mostly up and running in QXpress. He tells me that QXP does what ACT does - but I would venture to say from my experience with it that ACT is, and Kevin admits, more robust than ACT for the CRM part of things. Kevin says they max out QXP looking to take advantage of every aspect of it. I can report back after the training and some time using it.

Either way, for CRM stuff - I think ACT is a good program. If you're looking to do invoicing, job costing and scheduling, QXP will be a better solution. QXP will do light CRM duties, but has more limited flexibility.

For the off the shelf price of ACT ($225 ish?) you can't program something in Access that is 1% as good for that cost or even ten times the cost. For the past three years I've been looking into a program that is right for us including the option of programming, and I finally decided that off the shelf programs with consulting made the most sense. It's taken me too long to arrive at these answers, but glad I finally did. If I had to do it over again, I'd do it sooner.

[jwholden]

Update!

I have been using a program called Maximizer for the past week and I was VERY overwhelmed most of the time. There are way too many options with these types of programs. Today, after a day of trying to figure the darned thing out it is beginning to click.

I see the power of these programs. I can store 4 phone numbers for each contact, fill in a form letter in about one minute with merge fields, and save E-mail directly to a clients file.

I can dial any of the four numbers stored for my contacts automatically through the modem on the computer. Admitedly not essential, but darn cool.

There is a link to Microsoft earth so with one click I can map the address of a client WITHOUT RE-ENTERING THE ADDRESS, and go to birds eye view to see what thier house looks like. A great way to check out the neighborhood it is in.

Need to print some mailing labels for a mailing. Do a search for the clients you want, hit a button to print mailing labels, and you are done. You can even click on the label on the sheet you want to start on if you have a partial sheet of labels.

Oh, and the cat's meow. You can send an E-mail to up to 1000 people one at a time by selecting a range of people to E-mail. Think about the power of an E-mail mailing list to send an E-newsletter, promotion, link to an update on your website, or an E-mail about an issue affecting a lot of landscapes in town.

Anywho, I am sold. As a side note, as can be expected with any program, not all things work perfectly and there are some things you have to do just the way the directions tell you or you won't get the desired results. I have a ton more to learn but am loving the new found power.