Maximizer vs. ACT

Can I get a online demo from you? I'm located in New York City.

I currently use ACT! 6.0 and consider to move to Maximizer.

Check out

http://www.maximizer.com/solutions/maxent/webinar.html#beyond_cm

Gord,
Thanks for the webinar info. I've attended one of the those recently. However, the nice features that I heard about were not demonstrated in the webinar, it was more of a webcast of advertisement. The presenter was simply reading off of her script. Is it possible to get a real online demo in terms of how to utilize the program? I'm an ACT! user and not familiar with the program at all.

Try calling 1-800-624-4153 to see if they can put you in touch with a Business Partner in your area.

I am a Maximizer reseller in New Jersey. I have extensive experiance with both Maximizer and ACT! We also do sales training and sales automation training. I would be glad to show you/explain Maximizer from any vantage point, but most of all, how to use it to sell more! You can reach me at joe@joegraziano.com

Great. I'll get in touch with you.

I am new to this board. I am tying Maimizer for the first time. I have used ACT since the original DOS version and with their new version, ACT 2005, I am looking at switching to a different CRM. Unless you use an older Act version ACT is NOT an alternative. Jim

Hi,

The first reasons I can think of are,

1. Company-Contact Hierarchy
Maximizer makes it easy to create unlimited contacts viewable within each company record – a feature unique since its introduction in 1987. Other CRM solutions, including ACT!, require clumsier creation of groups in order to link entries together. Maximizer even takes the hierarchy one step further by allowing otherwise unrelated records to be connected using the Related Entries feature.

2. Performance
Maximizer’s fast data access does not bog down with address books containing thousands of entries, because its Pervasive database manager is significantly more efficient than others for searching, group edits, sorting, and data transfers. ACT!’s dBase system can slow down with only a few hundred entries. For very large databases, Maximizer also features a seamless upgrade path to Maximizer Enterprise and client/server networking.

3. Opportunity Manager
Maximizer now provides a full-featured opportunity manager, with customizable sales strategies, team selling capability, and flexible, sortable lists in the Opportunities window, as well as many more features formerly only available in high-end CRM solutions. ACT!’s opportunity manager is much more limited, with only two information tabs and limited customizability.

I hope these give you some food for thought, if you would like to have a more in depth conversation with one of our team Email Sales@cabc.co.uk and we can arrange a visit or demo.

Best Regards,

Nick Welburn
CABC Support

1) Jimmur - can you tell us more why the latest version of Act makes you want to switch to Max?

2) Personally, I tried using Act once, about 4-5 years ago. Its implementation of user-defined fields was atrocious - it had obviously been designed as a separate sub-system by a different group of developers than the ones who did the main system, and was stitched on top somehow - very, very awkward to understand and use.

3) I personally like Max for its Related Entries capabilities, its User-Defined Fields implementation is seamless and easy to use (they did a VERY nice job), Search capabilities are powerful and seamless, and overall it's just plain logical and easy to use

3) Having said that, Max is very poor in its PalmPilot and Outlook integration, by all reports the latest version appears quite unstable (still), I would hesitate in describing the Opportunity Management as "complete", the support sucks (both tech support and user support), the user interface is somewhat clunky, support for Terminal Services is "roll your own", and multi-user management tools are very poor

Basically, what they do right they do very, very right - the rest is up for grabs. But would I ever use Act? Nope - no way.

- R.

Oh, and I left out that the internal Max word processor is still very limited, yet the integration to Word is still not what it should be (sigh ...)

- R.

Its unfortunate that what may be viewed as a "mature" product (ie. v8) to new users is so littered with problems. As a long-time "technical" user, not a reseller or partner, I can only say:

• If your contemplating upgrading from a version earlier than 7.0 try and find a reseller/partner that may be able to upgrade you to 7.0/7.5 and avoid 8.0. Some resellers/partners I've dealt with are reluctant to upgrade to 8.0 and I guess for all the reasons posted here and more is the cause.
  
  
• The expertise is in the field - that is business partners and if one can find someone with expertise specific to implementing Maximizer within their industry - BONUS!
  

It is also evident from talking to colleagues within my industry that other solutions like Goldmine, ACT and more are fret with problems too. If there was one clear CRM solution out there that didn't have problems I'm sure we'd all know about it.

We've found partners that have been able to customize add-ons that extend the functionality of Maximizer without always the need to upgrade.

Food for thought...

Iris

I am a current Act 2005 user looking to move to something else, probably Maximizer or Goldmine. I also looked at Quickbooks Customer Manager, which was nifty, but seems to be missing some critical pieces such as group email (believe it or not) and disposition codes for appointments.

Why change from Act 2005 - ask any Act 2005 user, discussion forum for Act 2005, or online product reviews - the performance is unacceptable. Apparently the version 6 did not have this issue. I've been hoping for the last 6 months that the performance issue would be solved - I like the actual product. Anyway, now looking for a CM that works with acceptable performance.

Any Act 2005 to Maximizer 8 contact import templates available?