Hi,

We're looking to upgrade from using Outlook as our contact manager. We're looking at ACT, Goldmine and Maximizer. Any concerns or things you wish you had known about Maximizer? Do you recommend it? We're a small business and do our own network administration, so we need a good, strong out the box solution. Thanks for your insight!

We've been using Max for 7 or 8 years now and we're very happy with it, and the service from CABC. Both can be highly recommended. In particular, Max is very stable and we have never lost data in 8 years. (Had some fun with installation, but that's another story.)

The real issue is how well the various packages meet your own business needs. We evaluated these products 8 years ago, and so the reasons for our elimination of Act and Goldmine may not be valid any longer. At that time, ACT was a single-user only program, and its user-definable field capability was very limited.

Similarly, GoldMine used one record per contact, and we have many different customers at the same address we greatly preferred the way Max lets you have as many customers as you want at a given organization, and even give them different addresses (like HOME or second-office addresses).

That, and the sheer flexibility of the product, especially in user-defined fields, were what clinched it for us. Of course, you need to check this against the 2003 capabilities of the other products.

One thing we liked about GoldMine that's still not in Max is the ability to automatically send letters and e-mails on a schedule. Max will remind you to do it: I'd prefer for Max to get on and do it for me. Maybe in version 8!

Pasta

>One thing we liked about GoldMine that's still not in Max is the
>ability to automatically send letters and e-mails on a schedule. Max
>will remind you to do it: I'd prefer for Max to get on and do it for
>me. Maybe in version 8!

The Email Campaign Manager will do that for you (for Email messages, anyway). However, that feature is only available in Maximizer Enterprise 7.x, not the SOHO (non-Enterprise) version.

Hi Gord,

You're right, and I'm about to start playing with Campaign Manager now. But, I think what I'm referring to is something simpler. But maybe not, maybe I just don't understand CM enough yet.

What I'd like to be able to do is that, instead of setting myself a Hotlist task to send someone a letter or e-mail in 5 days time, that I just tell Max to do the mailmerge for me. From what I've read of CM, its suitable for big mass-mailings, but it seems cumbersome for these daily tasks. But maybe I should just RTFM before posting

Pasta

THANKS FOR YOUR REPLIES - ANY OTHERS WILL BE APPRECIATED. ONE QUESTION: I THOUGHT THAT MAX 7 DOES DO AUTO EMAIL MERGES...ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT DOING THIS AUTOMATICALLY OR DOING IT AT ALL? WE DO NEED TO SEND OUT NEWSLETTERS THAT ARE PERSONALIZED VIA EMAIL TO OUR CLIENTS AND IT'S REALLY SLOW TO DO THESE ONE BY ONE. THANKS!

>I THOUGHT THAT MAX 7 DOES DO AUTO EMAIL MERGES...ARE YOU TALKING
>ABOUT DOING THIS AUTOMATICALLY OR DOING IT AT ALL?

Maximizer 7 (non-Enterprise) does merge to Email, but it doesn't do it automatically according to a schedule. Instead, you have to choose...

File > Merge > to E-mail...

...from the Maximizer Word Processor menu.

Maximizer Enterprise 7.x does both on-demand (as above) and scheduled (Campaign Manager) sends.

>WE DO NEED TO SEND OUT NEWSLETTERS THAT ARE PERSONALIZED VIA EMAIL TO
>OUR CLIENTS AND IT'S REALLY SLOW TO DO THESE ONE BY ONE.

That raises some important differences between the two approaches.


1. Maximizer 7 would not be able to send your newsletters as HTML mail. Your choices would be:

- Rich text as attachment
- ASCII text as attachment
- ASCII text as body content

Maximizer Enterprise 7.x could send your newsletters as HTML mail via the Campaign Manager.


2. Maximizer 7 uses an external MAPI-compliant Email application (e.g. Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora, or similar) to send the messages. The Campaign Manager uses its own SMTP service to do that.


3. Further to #2, the Campaign Manager allows you control the load on your outgoing mail server by "batching" the messages (send 'n' messages, wait a bit, then send the next 'n'). On the other hand, a "Send All" in Maximizer 7 will send the messages as fast as it can. If you are sending a large number of messages you could overwhelm your mail server, which would be a Bad Thing.

Hi,

We use Max 7.5 for newsletters etc just fine, using Max's built-in word-processor and merge fields

- Pasta

Thanks for the info. Someone mentioned installation was a problem. I'll be setting up the networked version (master database, etc.). Is going to be difficult? I do the network maintenance now and understand the basics (we run MS 2000 Small Business Server), but we have a computer guy who showed me what to do. Thanks!

Hi,

Setting up 7.5 is fairly straightforward. I run NT server and it went just fine for me.

You set it up on the server machine first, and then install all the workstations from a folder that is created automagically during the installation. Its pretty much a question od reading the dialogs and pressing the buttons.

THEN YOU INSTALL THE SERVICE PACKS.

and all should be well

Pasta

I agree with Pasta - installing Maximizer products is not really that difficult. But then, I've done it a few times before....

However, first let's be clear: Precisely what version are you planning to install? Maximizer 7, or Maximizer Enterprise 7.5? If it's the latter, are you talking

Pervasive.SQL workgroup,
Pervasive.SQL client/server, or
Microsoft SQL Server?

Maximizer 7, but it's for networks or something like that (a telesales person told me this). Enterprise is out of my league for costs and technical expertise!

Question: a friend of mine sells CRM software, and they are replacing Maximizer. Her client said that Maximizer was designed to work w/Lotus and not Outlooks/Microsoft, so it's a real hassle and doesn't work. We're strictly Microsoft and Outlook - will this be a problem?

Another question: the thing I don't like about Maximizer is the ridiculous cost per incidence if you need set up help - $200/pop. Are there any other alternatives? How idiot-proof is the set up for Maximizer 7/Network? I CAN follow specific directions if provided. Is this online forum truly a resource when you're having problems?

Thanks!

I've been using Max and Outlook 2000 for quite a while now with no problems. I've heard of limitations with working with Outlook 2002, but that's because of changes MS made to the program that are out of Max's (or anyone else's) realm.

As for the support, there's a doc on their Top FAQ page that is really good. It's document number 3 in the list, IIRC. I followed through that the very first time I setup a Max workgroup and it got me through with no problems.

The way I look at support charges is like this: yeah, $200 might seem a bit steep up front, but how much productivity and time will you lose, coupled with the frustration of going it alone, if you try to set it up yourself? Is your time worth more than $200? I'd happily pay the $200 (or however much support is) if I thought it would save me a week's worth of aggrivation!

>How idiot-proof is the set up for Maximizer 7/Network? I CAN follow
>specific directions if provided.

Then take a look at the instructions here and see if you would feel comfortable following them.

>Is this online forum truly a resource when you're having problems?

Why not read through some of the threads and judge for yourself?

thanks!