How a Professional Speaker Uses ACT! Sage 2010 as a Contact Manager To Simplify the Business of Speaking

Ann Clarke cracked the code on maximizing IGAs (Income Generating Activities) when she discovered ACT! Sage Software.

As a long-time professional speaker plus acting chief cook and bottle washer on the business side of www.Gr8IdeasAtWork.com, Ann knew the importance of simplifying her business processes so she could book more speaking gigs and do what she loves most: speaking to and helping women balance successful lives.

So years ago she invested time and resources into learning every feature in her ACT! contact manager that would help her run her business more efficiently. Today she uses the new ACT! Sage 2010 to…

1. Manage her email communication with clients and prospects by attaching incoming and outgoing messages to client records–which eliminated wasted time searching in her inbox
2. Create and track each contract iteration so she always knows which version she sent out last
3. Track all notes and activities with each client for finger-tip access during subsequent conversations
4. Earn thousands of dollars of extra income by mining her database for booking agents near her keynote speaking gigs and offering them one-hour breakfast presentations while she’s “in the neighborhood.”

Because ACT! has been around for more than 20 years, it has a dedicated app developer base that creates special programs to augment ACT!’s contact management features. Ann’s 2 favorite ACT! add-ons are:

• CardScan Executive – which she uses to quickly enter all her business cards the same day she collects them and
• AddressGrabber – which copies electronic contact information from email addresses, websites, and directories, then imports it into her ACT! database for follow up. Both utilities eliminate time-consuming data entry.

Ann says there’s a big difference between professional speakers who use Outlook to manage their contacts and those who’ve discovered ACT! Software. “I’ve eliminated all my file folders!” she says.

Are you a professional speaker who uses ACT! Software? Please share some of your tips with us in the comments below.

More About Ann Clarke…

Ann Clarke’s lifelong vision has been to help women become successful in business. “When women are financially successful, they have better choices.”

Thirty years ago selling houses was one way women could make a lot of money. So in 1978, as a professional writer and photographer, Ann began creating marketing programs for women in real estate. Through “personal promotion marketing” she taught her clients to create bonds with people they had never met. Her reputation grew with her clients’ successes, and she became nationally known as THE expert in “personal promotion marketing.”

It wasn’t long until she was invited to speak at seminars, workshops and conferences across the U.S. and Canada. Her how-to articles appeared frequently in national and regional business publications in print and on the web. Eventually she sold her marketing company to become a full-time speaker. Ann says, “It’s more fun to preach to a crowd than nag one person at a time!”

Ann also draws from her stories in Chicken Soup for the Father & Daughter Soul and Chicken Soup for the Caregiver’s Soul to include tips to help women balance the successful lives she has helped them to create. Quick to recognize that women in business love to learn, Ann created conferences, symposiums and retreats to put other women in the spotlight and showcase their knowledge. She is also the Founder and CEO of Colorado Women of Influence, LLC, a CEO-level mastermind group for highly successful women in business.

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