Make contact

Entrepreneur, May, 1997 by Cassandra Cavanah

The program is easy to use and did not require any manual reading to get to the meat of the software.

* ACT! NOW

Successful salespeople have learned that if you build relationships and stay on top of your leads, you will make more sales. That's the theory behind ACT! 3.0.

This version of ACT! is customizable so users and work groups can design their own environments to run the way they need to. It also includes direct links to Microsoft Word and WordPerfect and allows you to attach files, such as letters and faxes, to a contact entry.

Because ACT! has such a huge following, the program is supported by numerous third-party products designed to enhance ACT!'s functionality. These include CardScan 300 Plus, a business card scanner that lets you scan and import data from a business card directly into the contact manager. There's also MapLynx, a mapping program that can be used in conjunction with ACT! to organize your contacts. There's even an add-on product designed for the real estate industry to manage leads and marketing efforts.

Though ACT! has always had the greatest market share of all contact managers, it suffers from a long learning curve. It can take hours for users to familiarize themselves with the program. In version 3.0, ACT! attempts to address this problem by giving users a handful of layouts to choose from when entering data. This helps somewhat, but I still found myself more comfortable with GoldMine's interface and way of working.

All three of these programs have something strong to offer. TeleMagic should be seriously considered by companies that use telemarketing or require extensive customization for the various departments in their businesses. If you're a single user, Gold-Mine and ACT! are better bets; my preference is GoldMine for its ease of use. GoldMine also includes some interesting features, such as Automated Processes, that should take some work away from the user and give it to the computer. Both ACT! and GoldMine are also far more Internet-capable than TeleMagic, offering Internet mail support and hot links to Web sites.

REPORT CARD

4: EXCELLENT 3: GOOD 2: FAIR 1: POOR

4 GOLDMINE 3.2 LIST PRICE: $295 GOLDMINE SOFTWARE CORP. (800) 654-3526 WWW.GOLDMINESW.COM Pluses: Easy-to-use interface, extensive Internet support Minuses: None of note

3 ACT! 3.0 LIST PRICE: $199.95 SYMANTEC CORP. (408) 253-9600 WWW.SYMANTEC.COM Pluses: Numerous add-on products enhance core package Minuses: Not very intuitive

3 TELEMAGIC V3 LIST PRICE: $500 (SINGLE USER), $1,300 (NETWORK) TELEMAGIC INC. (800) 835-6244 WWW.TELEMAGIC.COM Pluses: User-customizable, very appropriate for telemarketing industry Minuses: Interface needs face lift

Cassandra Cavanah is a contributing editor of Portable Computing Direct Shopper magazine and has reported on the computer industry for eight years.