Gordon,

100% agree! Daylite is awesome. I also use it in conjunction with e3's DirectMail.

And everything syncs up with MobileMe and my iPhone.

I've used Act and Goldmine for years on a PC. You couldn't pay me to go back!

James

Well, it's been about 2 weeks since installing and using ACT! and I'm getting the hang of it better. Ther'es many things that I wish it could do, and probably does, but I have to figure it al out still. I'm comfortable setting up my main client page and decided to use a field of ACTIVE- Y or N so I can do searches for those leads whose event hasn't passed yet, etc. I try to put enough info on there so that I can get most of the info I need from my main screen. I also set up a sales proccess which guides me through the selling procedures. Did I send a postcard, you bet, did they recieve it, etc. It's a great tool and ensure that none of your clients will fall through the crazks.

Overal, I'd recommend it to anyone. It's a learning curve, but so versatile and customizable that it will make my life 100 times easier.

Just wanted to give everyone an update..

Robert Haas

Yep, same here. When I first purchased ACT, it was confusing to me. The best thing to do is to play with it (plus read the book you mentioned).

I got Outlook 2007 now.

I built a database using FileMaker Pro. This is the same product that Ralph used to create his contact manager. It's really easy to use,but it does take time and effort to do all the things that I have it do for me. It is a LOT easier than Access.

Plus, it helps that I am/was a programmer, so I could do a lot of scripting that others wouldn't be able to start.

Act is completely customizable. You can add as many fields as you want. My main page in Act has been totally modified to have all of the field names that I find valuable. Great tools to remind you of necessary followup work and appointments. It easily interfaces with Outlook.

Act is designed for professional salespeople and has been enhanced over the years. I'd never consider using anything else for my own direct marketing.

Is their anything that can keep track of 5-10 performers so I can tell who and what time they are available and also can generate contracts ect

I added a field into my database so that my daughter's shows could be tracked. I then had to modify some scripts to account for it.

I don't know if ACT can manage more than one person's contacts.

Feel free to contact me if you want more information.

David

Bernie: Sure you could customize act to manage multiple performers. You would just add a custom field to include which performer is assigned to that show. I'm sure there would be other custom fields you would need to include after that (Since each performer would have different shows to offer, different prices, etc), but I don't see why it would be a problem at all.

I've always wondered if there was other software designed specifically for booking agents, but I've never heard of any.

They got software for inflatable rides butyou cant add performers Their is nothing that can do it all like pulling up the contract when you click on the schedule ect If I knew how to do that I would be rich

In ACT you can 'attach' any document to a particular contact, including contracts. You create the contract through the act word processor, or microsoft word, then you attach it to the client.

From the calender view you click through to the client, then you click through to the 'documents' tab, then you see a list of attached documents to that client.

The only annoying thing for me about ACT is the fact that after you record all the information for the booking in the client view (including date and time). You still have to create an activity for it to schedule it on the calender. It would love if it would automatically notice that the show it set to "confirmed" then create an activity for a schedule show on the date and time selected. As far as I know, there's no automatic way to do this. I'm sure a script could be written for it though.

Can anyone tell me are there significant differences between the different act versions?

Which version are you all using?

At first I used Lotus. That was years ago. I think they are out of business now.

I use 2008. 2005, 2006, and 2007 were fairly slow since ACT! switched over to a different database technology. But 2008 works very well, and has better Outlook compatibility.

What do you value? If you want complete customization of EVERYTHING, then you're going to pay for it by having a steep learning curve, having to buy an additional book to teach you everything, like 'Act for Dummies', and take lots of time setting it up.

OR if you just want to start making money, then get a solution that has everything set for you already.
I think that MagicBase Pro will work for 90% of the performers out there.
Customers, Shows, Contracts, bulk emails, Show Planner, Marketing Plans, and more.

You can download the demo for free and use it for 60 days. So you don't have anything to risk by trying it.
Free demo at http://www.magicbasepro.com

I use ACT and have for years and years. I love it and it works for me. I have customized it for corporate magic events and it makes sending contracts, etc. a breeze. I also discipline myself to use the notes section and create a history of every conversation or mailing, etc.

I also use RingCentral in conjunction = with that and ACT, I have a one stop shop virtual office!

I using Magic Base Pro for years.But I have a lot of small problems with it, but love the things it does. Some of my magic friends are saying the same things. I would like to talk to Mr Miller to help make MB more user friendly. If I find it is just me I will post to let you all know. I know I'm not a brightest light on the tree. Har

This thread is a few years old so I will humbly point out a relatively new entry into the CRM and booking software market - ShowBiz CRM

In addition to being a full CRM with integration mass email capabilities (like constantcontact etc) it has some incredible tools to automate all the mundane parts of the booking process. For example.

Friday I booked an event and with a total of three taps on my smart phone the client got

*An email confirming their event
*An attached PDF invoice
*An attached PDF Contract
*A link to E-Sign the contract
*A link to pay online via credit card

In addition to that, those three taps also

*Put the gig in my calendar and sync'd it to my laptop and ipad and Google calendar
*Scheduled a check-in email to automatically go out 3 days before the event
*Scheduled a thank-you email to automatically go out 1 day after the event
*Scheduled an email to reprospect the client in nine months

The best thing is everything is customizable so you can make it do anything you want (though it comes with dozens of email temples and "workflows" pre written to get you started)

I hope you'll take a moment to check it out.

Yup...ShowBiz has made my life easier and my business quote, follow-up, and booking tasks are much more efficient now.