Business Contact Manager how do you customize it?

[PDuffy]

I'm a salesguy who wants to use BCM but can't figure out what the difference
is between contact / personal contact / business contact /
account...additionally, I need to customize the fields so I can track some
economics..The fields included require you pre-define the value of a line
item..That doesn't work for me...I'm looking for a resource to help me figure
this all out and would be willing to pay for it.

 

[Thomas Valentin]

Hi,

You didn't mention which version of BCM you are trying to customise. It is
the 2003 version or the 2007 version. If you post which version then I'll
try and post some information for you.

Tom

 

[PDuffy]

Hey Tom, I recently purchased Office 2007 Ultimate with Outlook 2007 /
BCM....I need to accomplish a few pedestrian things...
-create a masterlist of all contacts so my Treo synchs correctly and when I
search for a contact in Outlook it gets found
-take a contact that I've created and make it an opportunity that I can
track...email, calls, meetings, economics
-convert that opportunity into an account or lost deal

The nice to haves right now would be creating fields in an opportunity that
allowed me to track economics that I put in (not predefined by service) and
create a report. Additionally, it would be great if I could associate that
opportunity with a partner (simply another contact).

Sorry for the long email and thanks for any direction you might lend. I'm
serious about finding a resource I can focus on this for a few hours. If you
know someone in the NYC area that knows this stuff cold, I would use them in
a consulting capacity. As a sales guy, if I can get this to work like ACT,
it would be helpful to my business.

Thanks,

Pat

 

[Lon Orenstein]

PDuffy:

It sounds like BCM will work for you just fine...

1. Use CompanionLink or Pocket Mirror to synch your contacts to your Treo

2. You enter a business contact first, then add an Opportunity that is
linked to it. You can link tasks, appointments, notes, and emails to that
contact, plus the opportunity and see it all in Communication History
(similar to ACT's history).

3. When you win/lose a deal, you can change the opportunity to Won/Lost and
either keep the contact or move them to an archive database.

4. You can customize the opportunity record with up to 40 additional fields
of data.

5. You can report on it but the reporting part of BCM is challenged. You
can get the data onto a report and export to Excel or Access, then slice and
dice from there.

Hope that helps... check out my eBook on How to Move from ACT! to BCM for
more info.

Lon

___________________________________________________________
Lon Orenstein
pinpointtools, llc
(e-mail address removed)
Author of Outlook 2007 Business Contact Manager For Dummies
Author of the eBook: Moving from ACT! to Business Contact Manager
800.238.0560 x6104 Toll Free (U.S. only) +1 214.905.0401 x6104
www.pinpointtools.com