Customer Success

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Jim Deigan

Account Manager

Equipping a television studio or new broadcast facility with cameras, video decks, routers, switchers, asset management systems, monitors and many other pieces of production hardware is a complicated task. It takes a lot of putting together.

“That might mean dealing with products from more than 400 different manufacturers,” says Jim Deigan, account manager with Digital Video Group, a leading supplier of TV technology and production systems. But for anyone involved in technical sales, staying on top of that wealth of information, as well as every customer interaction, is often the key to success.

Some 20 years ago, when Jim found that the database he was using was struggling to keep track of sales and customer data, he started looking around for an alternative solution.

When someone told him about Act!, he tried it out and has been grateful he did ever since.

One company I was working with wanted me to use another system, but when they saw that I was blowing them out of the water with what I was doing with Act!, they left me alone.

Act! provides long-term continuity

“I loved Act! right from the start,” says Jim, “because it makes it so easy to access and track the history of conversations, quotes and contracts I’ve had with a customer.”

Right now, Jim has about 8,000 contacts in his Act! database, a mixture of customers and vendors.

About one-third of these are dormant, “but the system seems able to handle that,” says Jim, who prefers to spend his time focusing on new sales conversations rather than database cleaning.

However, should one of these dormant clients resurface, “they are always astonished because I’m able to say I knew you back when you were working for so and so,” says Jim. “So Act! helps me maintain a warm relationship with people on my database as they move from company to company.”

Act!’s productivity benefits

While having a complete customer picture is obviously important to Jim, it’s the productivity benefits that come from using Act! that are most striking in Jim’s case:

“I’m able to do probably three times the value of business with Act! because it helps me organise and schedule my time more efficiently — and that’s not including any extra business that comes from using it for email blasts.

Jim points out that by using Act! he could put together a mailing about an event and send it to 400 specific clients in just a few hours. Without Act!, trying to gather up that same contact information and send out invitations would probably take two or three days.

Given Jim’s results, others in the company are starting to appreciate Act! The admin team, for instance, are looking to ditch their Excel spreadsheets and move their email addresses and other contact information across, something that can easily be done using Act!’s export function.

I’m able to do probably three times the value of business with Act! because it helps me organise and schedule my time more efficiently.

Personalising Act! to your needs

While Jim has had a few other CRMs recommended to him over the years, he’s never been tempted to try them, and has stuck with Act!. One large manufacturer he worked for did try to persuade him to use another system, says Jim, “but when they saw that I was blowing them out of the water with what I was doing with Act!, they left me alone.”

The way Jim uses Act! has of course evolved. While he used to be heavily into reporting, this no longer fits in with what he does and has taken a back seat. One thing that has stood the test of time is the way he’s configured Act! so he can see at a glance all the important information he needs on one screen. No more having to switch back and forth between different ones.

Jim has got Act! just the way he wants it right now, but he knows there are new marketing features available that are worth exploring when he has time. He’s also thought about publishing a newsletter, something that with Act! he could easily distribute, but as Jim says with a smile: “Then I’d actually have to sit down and write it.”

Jim would much prefer to focus his efforts on maximising sales time and prospects in the broadcasting sector … for which Act! has already proven itself to be ‘the ideal channel’.

Key Takeaways

Jim is able to do three times the value of business by using Act!.
He is able to put together and send out mailings in less than a quarter of the time it takes his colleagues to do the same.
Jim can easily track past contacts as they move between companies, so he maintains a warm relationship with them.

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About Act!

More than CRM. Your total relationship solution. Act! unites sales, marketing, and customer management in one intuitive platform to help you stay organised, attract new customers, and turn relationships into results.

Act! keeps broadcasters in the picture