ACT! 4 for Windows for Dummies [Paperback]

Jeffrey J. Mayer (Author), Jeffery J. Mayer (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0764502824 | ISBN-13: 978-0764502828 | Publication Date: January 1998 | Edition: 1

This text provides all the information users need to use ACT!, the contact management software application used by professionals that helps manage individual and workgroup business relationships more effectively and to increase personal and team productivity. This book shows the reader how to establish and follow an appointed schedule using ACT!'s database templates to record and store data; creating letters with ACT!'s word-processor; connecting to the Internet through ACT!; customizing ACT! for individual needs; and sharing files between ACT! and other applications (including MS-Office and WordPerfect). There is also discussion of ACT!'s expansion into other computing platforms, such as Windows CE and Lotus Notes.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jeffrey Mayer is one of the country's foremost authorities on time management. For a living he helps busy people get organized, save time, and become more productive. Jeff's claim to fame is his clean desk approach to time management. USA Today dubbed him "Mr. Neat, the Clutterbuster," and People called him "The Dean of the Desk Cleaners."

He walks into an office, one that looks like a toxic waste dump -- with piles of paper, and everything else you can imagine, strewn all over the place -- and in two hours the desktop looks like the flight deck of an aircraft carrier. So much has been thrown away that the wastebasket is filled to the brim, overflowing, and spilling onto the floor. All that remains are a handful of file folders, a pad of paper, and a telephone. Everything else is neatly filed away.

Long ago, Jeff realized that if everybody was better organized, they could take more control over their day and would have more time to focus on their most important work. Once they were done, then they could leave the office, go home, and spend more time with their family and friends.

Today, Jeff is paid more than $1,000 for each desk he overhauls. But he's not paid all this money because his clients want to have a nice, neat, orderly desk. The desk is secondary -- he's paid all of this money because his clients realize that time is money. And Jeff is able to help them convert time that's wasted during the course of a normal business day into time that can be used more efficiently, effectively, and profitably. Jeff's specialty is in teaching people how to improve their follow-up systems. With a good follow-up system, people are able to spend more time working on the things that are important, instead of the things that keep them busy.

Since the founding of his Chicago, Illinois­based consulting firm, Mayer Enterprises, he has helped more than 1,500 men and women get organized and learn how to use their time more effectively. Many of his clients are top executives at Fortune 500 Companies. His corporate clients include Ameritech, Commonwealth Edison, Harris Bank and Trust Company, LaSalle National Bank, R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company, and Sears, Roebuck & Co., just to name a few.

Jeff has been interviewed by almost every major newspaper and magazine in the United States, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, People, Newsweek, Forbes, Business Week, and Fortune. And he has been interviewed on hundreds of radio and television programs across the United States, including the Today Show, American Journal, CNN, CNBC and ABC News. Jeff lives with his family in Chicago, Illinois.

Product Details

• Paperback: 354 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies; 1 edition (January 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764502824
• ISBN-13: 978-0764502828
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,246,857 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A terrible book, strangely unhelpful and oddly organized., November 22, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: ACT! 4 for Windows for Dummies (Paperback)

As long time computer user with extensive experience with dBase, I was chagrined and frustrated with my attempts to learn Act!4 quickly with the help of this book. The author seemed to persistently overstate and elaborate on the obvious, while offering minimum assistance in the more opaque areas. Invariably, what I most wanted to know as a new user was either unavailble or relegated to a chapter nearer the book's index than its beginning. The author, annoyingly, saw fit to repeatedly suggest securing professional help in various areas...and even (and I suspect, self-servingly) cited names of pros who the reader could hire. As a teaching tool, this book is a total bust..unless I'm just not enough of a "dummy" to appreciate it. It's my first and certainly last book of the Dummy series.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mostly helpful, often repetitve, sometimes vague, December 2, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: ACT! 4 for Windows for Dummies (Paperback)

While the book is definitely helpful in learning ACT, it sometimes vaguely introduces topics and fails to adequately explain them. It also often discusses the same topic in 3 or 4 different chapters.

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book, well research, August 23, 1998

By 

Andrew Kaplan "MediaMensch" (Charlotte, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: ACT! 4 for Windows for Dummies (Paperback)

Jeffrey Mayer has collected the tips of some of the best minds in the ACT! world and compiled tips, tricks and suggestions in this volume.

In addition, real world examples of time management and sales techniques using ACT! are clearly stated.