Personal Selling Experiential Exercise Using ACT! Express

Transcription

1 APPENDIX B Personal Selling Experiential Exercise Using ACT! Express ACT! EXPRESS Scenario About the Company Setup The Weekly Activities This assignment will teach you how to use ACT! s contact management software to manage yourself and sales territory. You will learn how to enter contact information, schedule meetings, plan phone calls, and record important tasks. Weekly activities will have you record sales information and generate letters, reports, and graphs. The following sections explain the scenario, setup, and expectations of this assignment. You are a salesperson for Soothsayer Corporation, an information management software provider. Your sales manager has requested that you begin using ACT! Express, a type of customer contact management software that helps one manage interactions with clients. ACT! provides its users with easily accessible customer contact information, a daily task planner, and many other account management tools. Salespeople use ACT! to track prospects and clients through the selling process and to generate sales reports and graphs for clients and managers. ACT! enables salespeople to keep track of customer information and automates many administrative tasks to better serve customers. Soothsayer Corporation designs, develops, markets, and supports computer software products. The company s software products are classified into two types: systems software and Internet business applications software. Systems software includes applications designed for the Internet and corporate Intranets to create, access, and change data stored on a computer system. Internet business applications software allows users of any computer with an Internet browser to access information and automates business data-processing functions. Both software products are priced at $399. Instructions are provided on how to install ACT! Express on your computer. Installation should take no more than 15 minutes if you choose to use your own computer. A list of specific tasks and activities will be sent to you on a weekly basis by your instructor (sales manager). The activities include such things as scheduling meetings and phone calls, entering new sales, and generating sales graphs and letters. Each week you will generate printouts based on the completed activities. Special instructions and printing directions will guide you through each week s activity. 1

2 2 Appendix B: Personal Selling Experiential Exercise Using ACT! Express Deliverables How to Install ACT! The final deliverable will be an organized collection of weekly activities. You will turn in the assignment bound in either a half-inch ringed binder or a folder. Tabs should separate and clearly reference each activity. (Installation will take 5 to 10 minutes.) 1. Insert the ACT! for Windows CD into the CD-ROM drive. The CD starts automatically, and the ACT! installation screen appears. If the CD does not start up, double click the My Computer icon on the Windows desktop. Locate the CD-ROM drive in the window, double click the drive letter to display the contents of the CD, and double click SETUP.EXE. 2. Click Install ACT! 3. Follow the on-screen instructions. Agree to the licence agreement. Enter user information (personal information about you). Select destination location (use the recommended destination). Choose country version. Select program folder (use the recommended folder). Select placement of ACT! icons (This is a personal preference. It is up to you.) Verify if your information is correct. When installation is complete, register your copy of ACT! You can register online, by mail, or by fax. Registration is optional but recommended. How to Set Up a Database List of Weekly Activities Follow the on-screen instructions. Activity 1: Week 1 Objective: Get familiar with the features of ACT! Express. To Do Enter in 10 new contacts (supplied by sales manager). Press the Insert key on your keyboard to enter in new contacts. Press the Insert key after each entry to enter a new contact. You may edit your contact list by clicking the mouse in the desired location. Pressing the tab key will control movement between fields.

3 Appendix B: Personal Selling Experiential Exercise Using ACT! Express 3 Schedule Meeting with Joe Burns at Interact Software next week: 9:00 Monday Duration 15 minutes Regarding sales call Meeting with Chris Hammond at Travel Xpress next week: 11:00 Wednesday Duration 1 hour Regarding contract negotiations How to Schedule a Meeting or Activity 1. Click on the Weekly Calendar icon. 2. Double click on appropriate date and time from weekly calendar. 3. Fill out schedule activity. Sales This Week 75 units of Internet Business Software to Crystal Corporation on Wednesday. 15 units of Systems Software to Tractor Company on Wednesday.

4 4 Appendix B: Personal Selling Experiential Exercise Using ACT! Express 1. To record a sale: Click on the Contacts icon. From the Contacts page toolbar, select the specific contact and click on Sales in the toolbar. Next click New Sales Opportunity and type in the product name. (Systems software or Internet Business Software). Type in the number of units and the unit price ($399). Select the appropriate contact and click on Complete the Sale. Be sure to select the appropriate Actual Close Date. Finally, click OK. 2. To change a sale: Go to the contacts page and select the contact to which you sold the product. At the bottom of this screen you should see the sale. Click on the sale and select Reopen Sale at the bottom left of the sales window. From there you should be able to edit the date.

5 Appendix B: Personal Selling Experiential Exercise Using ACT! Express 5 Printouts 1. Contact directory. From the toolbar select Reports, Contact Directory, All Contacts, and All Users. 2. Next week s schedule. First, select the Weekly Calendar icon from the sidebar. Then, from the toolbar, select File, Print, and Plain Letter Full Page (P) (2 Col).

6 6 Appendix B: Personal Selling Experiential Exercise Using ACT! Express Activity 2: Week 2 To Do Generate a sales list after you close your two sales for the week. Schedule Weekly sales team meeting: Sales meetings occur Thursdays at 7:00 a.m. and last two hours. Schedule the meeting with your sales manager (instructor). Select Recurring Settings and complete the options for a weekly Thursday meeting. This meeting should occur once a week for the next six months. Make sure you select the appropriate time under Until. Meeting with Amy Samuel at XYZ Grocery next week: 9:00 Monday Duration 45 minutes Regarding Presentation Meeting with Jeff Johnson at Specific Mills next week: 10:00 Tuesday Duration 45 minutes Regarding sales call Meeting with Crystal Goodman at P&Q Financial next week: 2:00 Tuesday Duration 1 hour Regarding sales call

7 Appendix B: Personal Selling Experiential Exercise Using ACT! Express 7 Phone call with Greg Johnson at Urban Properties next Monday morning to schedule a meeting. 8:00 Monday Phone call with Colette Williams at Crystal Corp next Monday morning to schedule a meeting. 8:30 Monday Schedule a to do reminder next Monday to prepare a presentation for the meeting with Specific Mills. 4:00 Monday Sales This Week 100 units of Internet Business Software to Interact Software on Monday. 150 units of Internet Business Software to Travel Xpress on Wednesday. Printouts 1. Next week s schedule. 2. Sales list. From the toolbar, select Reports, Sales Reports, and Sales List. The Sales List should cover all sales from the past two weeks. Activity 3: Week 3 To Do Write two letters, one to Interact Software and one to Travel Xpress, thanking them for the sale. The letter is generated by selecting Write in the toolbar. Schedule Meeting with Greg Johnson at Urban Properties next week: 10:00 Tuesday Duration 45 minutes Regarding demonstration

8 8 Appendix B: Personal Selling Experiential Exercise Using ACT! Express Meeting with Colette Williams at Crystal Corp next week: 3:00 Tuesday Duration 1 hour Regarding sales call Schedule a to-do reminder on next Wednesday to prepare sales graphs. Sales This Week 100 units of Systems Software to XYZ Grocery on Monday. 7 units of Systems Software to P&Q Financial on Tuesday. 18 units of Internet Business Software to Specific Mills on Tuesday. Printouts 1. Next week s schedule. 2. Letter to Interact Software. 3. Letter to Travel Xpress. Activity 4: Week 4 To Do Generate graph on closed/won sales for the entire month by amount after this week s sales. Generate graph on closed/won sales for the entire month by units after this week s sales. Meetings to Schedule Performance review with sales manager (instructor): anytime next week. Sales This Week 200 units of Internet Business Software to Urban Properties on Tuesday. 200 units of Systems Software to Crystal Corp on Tuesday. Printouts 1. Next week s schedule. 2. Print out closed/won sales graphs: A. Click on the Contacts icon. From the Contacts page toolbar, select Sales, Sales Graph, All Contacts, All Users, Graph by Week, and Value in Units. B. Next, print a similar graph by Amount.

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