ACT! 2000 :: Education by Design Store

Customer Reviews

Ask their Support Staff Questions First

2002-06-15
I asked sales at ACT if their software would be able transfer files from Maximizer to Act and they said Yes. But, in reality, ACT doesn't have a way to transfer "Notes" on each record into the ACT program. Next...

Disappointing - wait until another version is released

2002-05-28
I am terribly disappointed in this software. Because it has been sold back and forth among several companies over the last few years, product development has lagged badly. Right now, the product isn't worth using. As one of their support technicians acknowledged to me on the phone, ACT's integration of email with other contact management functionality is practically nonexistent, leaving the program several years behind the realities of relationship management in the 21st century. ACT is so bad in its current state that I uninstalled it and am writing off the cost of the software. Perhaps if I do not find a better solution in the meantime, I may look into the next version whenever it is released. But for right now, NOT RECOMMENDED.

e-mail interface lacking

2002-05-08
I've been using ACT for several years now and love it except for the e-mail interface to Outlook. It's clunky, slow, and does not support HTML so I keep finding myself reverting back to Outlook to send e-mail. This means that I'm not keeping track of e-mail through ACT which is a real problem. Even when I do go to the effort to send e-mail through ACT it doesn't keep a pop-up file like it does for letters. Too bad, this is really a great tool. I just wish it was even better.

Makes me a one-man sales force!

2002-03-14
What a breath of fresh air! Puts Outlook to shame and is really a "must-have" for any account salesperson. Manages your relationships at every step throughout the sales process. Maintains a running history of all calls, e-mails, and letters to and from a contact (which you can pull up at a moment's notice to quote to a prospect if they "remember" things differently than you do). Also allows you to group contacts and companies with common denominators for easy marketing. ACT! is not the only software that can do this effectively, but for me the final choice was between ACT! and GoldMine. Any PIM will be a little hard to use for a first-timer, but ACT! is notably easier to learn and use than GoldMine. ACT! crashes once in a while and has a few bugs, but I've never used a software product that was always stable. True, GoldMine is a little more powerful in a few areas, such as creating search groups through its Filter feature, but ACT! really has everything you need and doesn't clutter up your brain and your RAM with a bunch of complex features that you rarely use. Also, there is now a piece of software available that links my ACT! contacts to my accounts receivable processes in QuickBooks, and that was probably the clincher. If you have any doubts, download both ACT! and GM trial versions and try them both at once for free--that's what I did and I found myself naturally gravitating toward ACT! from Day One of the trial period.

Beware palm users who telecommute

2002-02-07
ACT does not support using your palm to synch between two computers. I work at home half the time and at the office half the time, and have always used one palm to synch to both machines. If you do this with ACT, you end up with 4 different copies of each record. You can synch database to database at two different locations, but it entails using a zip drive (floppy is too small) to carry the updates from computer to computer. Not very convenient.

Theoretically a great product, but I can't really use it.

Now works with Windows XP 2002-01-14
If you are in a business where sales staff make sustained connections with prospects over any period of time, you need some way to track these profiles. Act! 2000 provides just such contact management.

Installing Act! 2000 is very easy. It requires around 50 MB of hard disk space, which can grow considerably depending on the number of contacts you enter. While we were examining the software, though, an odd printing problem occurred. Act! comes with a toll-call support line for installation and configuration--90 days free from first call--with an automated call attendant waiting on the other end. (Reaching a real person, however, did not take long.) Although this particular printing problem was not reproducible, the technical support person was friendly and helpful. Given the complex nature of Act! 2000, you may easily encounter a problem over a year of use. The online fax-back service, and pay-per-use technical support options, should meet the needs of most users.

This feature-rich (sales forecast, groups, sales reports, sales opportunity tracking) contact-management software has added elements in this version. There is tighter integration with Microsoft's Outlook, allowing you to import contact information, use Outlook Mail from within Act! 2000, and view your calendar activity in Outlook. Better group management, easier e-mail access, graphical reports, and an improved database lookup are just a few of the improvements. Act! 2000 remains a top choice for contact management software. --Rob Frankland

Where is ACT for WINDOWS XP and Outlook Express 6.0? 2002-01-02
ACT 5.0 works very well and is reasonably easy to use. However, there is one killing flaw. IT WON'T WORK WITH OUTLOOK EXPRESS 6.0. So, those of us with WINDOWS XP cannot take advantage of what was formerly a seemless interface with Outlook Express 5.0.

Haven't received download for ACT yet! HELP!! 2001-10-22
I haven't received my download yet and must have it tonight.
Please send ASAP!

Best contact-management software I've ever used 2001-04-24
This software is by far the best contact-management software. I especially recommend it for independent sales people, such as real estate agents. Every letter you write, every phone call you make can be logged into a contact record. You can send your emails directly from your contact list (and boy does that save time.) You can interface your Palm V with ACT too, meaning you can have your customer contacts on the road, and update the information when back in your office. And it's not hard to use to set up and use ACT at all. Very user friendly.

While Microsoft Outlook is powerful and useful for doing in-office correspondence and task management, it is not as suitable as ACT for contact management. Contact management is a specific job, and ACT does it best.

They had the running start... 2001-01-23
Outlook is good and powerful and all that, but ACT 2000 can still do more. It has the ability to truly manage your business and help you identify trends among prospects and existing clients.

But don't judge it by how you feel about the program after the first three months only. If you want to use this software to its fullest, you need peace and quiet and uninterrupted time to set it up. The customizable fields make this yours, and that can slow you down on set-up.

The last company I worked for, we spent an inordinate amount of time trying to get the form of the database perfected before we started data entry. In retrospect, that is NOT the way to use ACT 2000. With my own company, we started by entering basic information about all (then) 275 prospects. We've only started with the customization now that we have a better feel for who we are and what we need.

If the people who will be using this contact management database are computer novices, you will need to send them to an all-day course. A database with its mail merges and all is not a word processor. Those employees will need someone who can communicate succinctly what the purpose of the software is.

But a good intermediate computer person should be able to figure ACT 2000 out on their own. It's largely intuitive, especially once it's already set up.

My gripes? As one of the first good contact management softwares out there (I loved the old DOS version), they could be light years ahead of Outlook. Instead, they are just slightly better.

And their support is not helpful at all, online or in person.

And, perhaps ONE day I will learn to love their funnel...