Help System..

Adding, Finding and Changing Companies & People

If you have not set up thing in Configuration, you may get different than expected results, but the system will still work, though minimally.

Top Bar of SM4 Reads: File   Contacts   Edit   Administration   Reports   Utility   Help
When you click on File, you see:

  • Contacts (which is the same as Contacts on the top bar
  • Quick Entry of Competitive Ads (which only is active if you have extended CATS addon software.
  • Printer Setup to create your default printer for SM4
  • Set Alarm see this manual

After you login to SM4, Click on File, Contacts or just Contacts.

You will see the following screen:

All the top line menu choices behave based on the screen you are on. For example Find/Add from the Company, Memo, Private Notes or User Definitions screen will find Companies. Find/Add from the names screen will find people. Find/Add from the Ads Screen will find or add advertising. Complete field definitions are lower on this page.

Top Line Menu Options:

  • Top First Record in Database, based on active index...usually Company ID
  • Prev Previous Record
  • Next Next Record
  • Bottom Last Record
  • Query Find records by stock query system or a user defined query (discussed later)
  • Find/Add See Below
  • Print company and people information only about this record
  • Save your changes on all screens
  • Edit data on any screen, no matter where you click it from
  • Delete this record and all its data
  • MS Outlook - schedule a meeting or a task in Outlook for this company and person
  • Close this form
  • Copy is only active in Edit mode. Copies from another company to this screen.  This is primarily used as follows: Create anew company with its own ID.  Click on Copy.  You will be prompted to copy the data from another company. You would then have two companies with identical data but different IDs. Change Sales People, etc. as necessary.

Screen Buttons:

  • Map - open Internet Explorer and show a map of the address on the screen
  • Directions - open Mapquest on internet and show driving directions from address of your company in configuration file to address of the company on the screen
  • Copy to Clipboard - put the Company, address, person full name, title, form of address and fax number in the clipboard, so yous can paste it into a letter or anything else.
  • Send Letter - Set this up in Configuration under Workgroup Templates
  • View Letter - If you create a stock folder for this client or a shared folder for all prospects, and always save letters in these folders, you can set this path fromt the bottom of the User Definitions Screen.
  • View Email - If you enabled sending email from SM4 and/or importing email into SM4 in System Configuration, just click this
  • YTD Sales and Total Sales - Also set up in Configuration. May also be recalculated at end of year or at any time.

What do all the colors mean?

In view mode (editing not yet activated), the Account Status will be blue and the Next Action will be brown. This is so you can easily see what this account is about and what your next action is supposed to be.

Everything that is red means there is data in that section, even though you cannot see it.

The one exception is the names tab. If that is red, it means there is more than one name at this company.

To change data on this screen or any of the other tabbed screens, click on Edit.

The cursor will automatically jump to the Memo field & pub today's date and your initials in the field. If you exit this field without any editing, this information will automatically be removed. Also, if Update Memo with Next Action has been turned on in the System Configuration, the next action will also flow into this field.

You may use the enter key, up or down arrows, tab or shift tab, as well as the mouse to change fields. The only ways to exit the Memo, however is with tab or mouse click.

 

To add a new record, or find a specific record click on Find/Add. Your list will probably be blank. To ADD a new record, type in a New ID. An ID may be anything from 1-10 alpha/numeric. You must only use letters and/or numbers. Do not use spaces or punctuation of any kind.

Examples of Company IDs:

We recommend using the first three letters of the first word in the company name and the first three letters of the second word in the company name.

"The", and "A" should always be ignored or always be used. The key is to be consistent.
If you have a lot of companies in your industry that begin with words like "United States", "American" or "International", you may want to make a rule to use "US", "AM" or "IN" to designate these words.

If companies are known by their initials, use them.

Never use space, comma, slash, dash, period, etc. in an ID. Only use letters or numbers.

Company Name ID Reason
Abelson Communications, Inc. ABECOM 3 letters and 3 letters because it make sense
International Business Machines IBM this is how the company is known - not as INTBUS
American Telephone and Telegraph ATT this is how the company is known
Microsoft Corporation MICCOR 3 letters and 3 letters because it make sense
Intel INTEL Company is known by one word only
Brown And Jones Company BROJON 3 letters and 3 letters because it make sense
L.L.Bean LLBEAN this is how the company is known
Performance Bicycle PERBIC 3 letters and 3 letters because it make sense
Personal Bicycle Company PERBICY because 3 and 3 would cause a duplicate with above
The Magnificent Conglomerate MAGCON ignore THE

Your Search By MUST be ID to ADD a record.

Click on ADD. Click on Yes.

 

You will now get a new blank screen with your ID in the top right field.

Fill in all the fields as you want. The first position of each field (not of each word in a field), will be automatically capitalized, when appropriate.

You may click between tabs as often as you like, without losing data.

If you are adding and Advertising Agency to the system, the Category MUST be adv. agency

Click Save when you are done. Anything you enter here may deleted or changed at any time.

The program will return to the main screen and activate the edit mode, starting with the Sales
field. Note that the field is in Italics and has a ? lookup option. To see how to add to the lookup/validation list read the sections below. For now, just select any option from the list.

Field Definitions press F1 while cursor is in field for help.

Company Screen Field Names

For all fields in Italics. These are Drill Down fields. The data entered in here is validated data only.
To create a validation list, click on the Italicized Field Name Itself.
You will get a Find/Add, Edit, Change list of valid input for this field.

  • Sales Sales code or staff member who entered the data if not using sales people.
  • Territory (optional) since you do not need it to filter by states, or categories, you may not want it
    • Publications Advertised In Use - not really functional if you have more that 5 titles:
      • A = Magazine A
      • B = Magazine B
      • C = Magazine C
      • AB = Magazine A & B
    • Region of Country Use:
      • NE = North East
      • MA = Mid Atlantic
  • Company ID/Customer # - May be numeric, but we strongly suggest Alpha. Above we are using a 3/3 formula..the first three letters of the first name and the first three letters of the last name, if possible.
    If you are using Export/Import please read that section on entering IDs.
  • =======================================================
  • Company Company name.
  • Address1 Suite or Building.
  • Address2 Actual mailing address.
  • City, State, Zip
  • Country Only fill in for foreign countries.
  • ============================
  • Mr_s . . . Mr., Miss, Ms., Mr. & Mrs., etc.
  • First Name
  • Init Middle initial
  • Last Name
  • Suffix Sr., Jr., II, XVIII, etc.
  • ============================
  • From Addr Do you address this person by first name or by Mr./Ms.?
  • Title President, Gofer, Manager, etc.
  • Nick Name If the name is Robert, but the nickname is Bob.
  • Mail Code Level of importance for mail or export.
    • Examples:
    • A= all mail and promotions or key person
    • B= only major mailings or secondary person
    • N= no mailings or not important person
    • P= accounts payables person at company if not A
    • 0-9 = force this name to always come up first
    • The names appear in the following alphabetical based order
      • mailcode + last name + first name
      • David Zelig with a Mailcode of 1 will show up before Louise Canter with a Mailcode of A
  • ============================
  • Phone Main phone number
  • Direct phone number or extension
  • Fax Main fax number
  • ============================
  • Notes This is your key data for contact history. It will show from the newest data first. A larger view is available from the Memo tab.
  • ============================
  • Acct Status Type of account... (examples only)
    • Two ? look up boxes (may not be in graphic above), one active. The one on the left is active if Validation is on. The one on the right is active if Validation is off. The user can still look up stock items from the Validation list.
    • ActiveNow - Current Active Customer (i.e. has a running contract)
    • ActiveOld - Recently Active, but not within the last whatever you want - months, years?
    • Former - Ran with us in past but not in recent history (i.e. 1 year?)
    • ProspectN - New prospect, interested
    • ProspectC - Prospect currently in competitor
    • Information - Information Only Company - No Advertising
    • Dead - forgetaboutit
  • Next Action What do you want to do on the next call. (See setup to automatically post this information into your Notes.)
  • examples:
    • Schedule an appointment
    • Confirm ad/schedule
    • Check on ad material
    • Send followup letter/email
  • Call Type If used this will require entry from a drop down list. It is turned on in Adminstration, Configuration, Default Options. If this is not turned on field may be blank or contain any data. Examples of Call Types:
    • completed
    • initial contact
    • ad confirmation
  • Priority Mark If a follow up is of particular important enter a code here like M for must call or I for important For example, if you have 30 followups to make on Tuesday and three are critical, you would give those three a priority mark (always use the same one). Whe you use the Query button you can recall these records first.
  • ============================
  • Last Call The last date you did any work on this company/address. Press F8 in most date fields to post the current date.
  • Next Call The next time you want the system to remind you to follow up with this company/address.
  • ============================
  • Codes Additional codes for reports or mailing to attach to this company/address. Maximum 20 characters.
    • Two ? look up boxes, one active. The one on the left is active if Validation is on. The one on the right is active if Validation is off. The user can still look up stock items from the Validation list.
    • examples
    • abc, def, xyz (publications of interest to this company)
    • sub categories or product lines
  • Contact The first contact date with this company/address or the date you entered them into the system.
  • ============================
  • Category For reporting. Category is broad, like retail, wholesale, services, distribution, non profit, medical, consumer. If this company is an advertising agency that may be linked to any advertisers, the category must be "adv. agency" without the quotes.
  • Business For reporting Business is definitive like shoe store, produce, attorney, office furniture, elderly care, 18-34 (age group), computer consultant (YES!).
  • Source For reporting. Where you got this name from – what mailing list, trade show, personal lead, bingo card, etc.
  • ============================
  • Total Sls Updates automatically from Ads screen.
    YTD-Amt Updates automatically from Ads screen.
  • ============================
  • Agency ID Your direct link to the ad agency or Primary ad agency for this account. To open this screen click on the words Agency ID.
  • Creative Agy Second agency. Creative work only. No billing.
  • ============================
  • Bill to C/A This is for Billing. In the Advertising Confirmation Reports, if this field has an A in it, the Agency name and address will be on the left, to fit into a #10 window envelop. If this field has a C in it, the Client name will be on the left.
  • 3rd Party Billing. If checked this will be the billing address, regardless of C/A above. You will be prompted for entry. User Definitions must be turned on in Configuration Screen.
  • Priority Mark The system allows you to access records by a combination of Next Call Date Range, one sales person or all and all records for the preceding combination or only those with a specific priority mark.

 

Memos & Private Notes and Memos & Notes. You may enter main notes and other notes for each company and notes for each name.. The Private Notes, for each company, will never print anywhere. If you have data in the Memo field for any of these parts of the record the word Memo will be red.

The Copy To Clipboard button puts name, title, address, fax number and form of address into the computer memory. You may PASTE it into any program.

Send Letter button opens the folder designated for YOUR form letters in the Password set up. It will open Word or WordPerfect with the letter. You can then PASTE the name and address. You need to have a pre-defined documents folder in the password screen for your id, for this to work.

View Letters shows the letters and documents for this company. The folder where it exists is set up at the bottom of the User Definitions Screen. The screen needs to be activated for this to work.

View Email allows you to see all the email you sent to this client.

 

Names

If you entered a name on the Company screen, it will show here. You may also enter more data about the person here.

Find Individual Companies or People

Top Line Menu Options:

  • Top First Record in Database, based on active index...usually Company ID
  • Prev Previous Record
  • Next Next Record
  • Bottom Last Record
  • Query Find records by stock query system or a user defined query (discussed later)
  • Find/All See Below
  • Print company and people information only about this record
  • Save your changes on all screens
  • Edit data on any screen, no matter where you click it from
  • Delete this record and all its data
  • MS Outlook - schedule a meeting or a task in Outlook for this company and person
  • Close this form

On the Company screen we are discussing companies or agencies

On the Names screen we are moving through people at this company only

On the Ads screen we are moving through ads for this company only

Memo and Private Notes are not affected.

To Find or Edit/Change a specific Company or Ad Agency, make sure the Company Tab is active and you are seeing company data.

Click on Find/Add. SM4 lets you Find or Add data from the same screen.

Look for the Company by ID, Company Name, or any of the other look up options on the Search By. The list will scroll as you enter data.

When you find the record you want, double click on it or click on Okay.

If you do not find the record you want AND your Search is by ID, you will see the option to Add a record at the bottom of the screen.

This all brings you to a screen like the one on the left....a company with data in it.

 

 

Link Ad Agency(s) to this company.

Click on the lookup. All the companies you entered with the Category "adv. agency" should not be accessible. Pick the one you want to link to. If the client has one ad agency use the first agency field. If the client has two ad agencies, the top one is the billing agency and the bottom one is the creative agency.

If the client is using a generic in house agency, first create a new blank company with ID INHOUSE. Make the company In house Agency. Put adv. agency in the category field. Save the record, with the rest of those fields blank.

This record can now be use for ALL clients with an in house agency. The Bill To for these clients is C for client or 3rd Party. It is NEVER A for agency.

Once the link is created, the client and agency data may be viewed and edited on the same screen. Just click on the Adv. Agency or Creative Agy label to open those screens.

Manage people at a company.

You may have as many people as you want at one company.

Mr_s - Mr. Ms. Mrs. Dr. - list can be controlled in Validation Fields from Administration, Validation List
First, Init (Initial up to 4 characters), LastName, Suffix (i.e. Sr. Jr. II)
FormAddr - when sending a letter or email through SM4 do you address this person by First Name or Formally (i.e. Mr. Smith)
Title - i.e. Media Manager, Marketing Director. The field is long enough so you do not need to abbreviate often.
Nickname - Should Jonathan be addressed as John?

[] Gets Advertising & Contract Confirmation
[] Gets Invoices and Statements

If you you have more than one person at a company, you may use the above to control who gets what types of print outs. The top box will send SM4 Invoice Reports 1 and 2 to this person. The bottom will send SM4 Invoice Reporst 3 and 4.

If you are exporting data to an external accounting system, the bottom box will export that name for billing purposes

Phone through Misc. are userdefined fields, set up in Administration, Configuration
Nm Note - memo field for this person.


To add more people, Click on Names Tab.

  • To add a blank record with no carry over data, click on Add Name button on the right hand side of the screen. Fill the the fields with any data you want.
  • To add a new person, but automatically carry over the main telephone, fax and web site information from a previous entry, click on Find/Add. Enter the new lastname,firstname with proper upper and lower case, but no spaces.
    • Abelson,Glenn is correct.
      Abelson, Glenn (with a space after the comma) is incorrect

Click on Add and Yes. You will now have company wide information already entered into the system.

To find a specific person:

  1. Make sure you are on the names screen.
  2. Click Find/Add.
  3. Uncheck the box at the bottom that says "For this ID only", if you want to search the entire database.
  4. Change the Sort Column. You may search by:
    • Lastname,firstname (no spaces). The search is not case sensitive.
    • Telephone Number.
    • Email Address
  5. The system will scroll, as you type, to the closest match.
  6. When you find the name you want, highlight it and click OK or double click on it.

The Memo Tab is an expanded view of the Notes on the Company Screen.


The Private Notes Tab is any information you may want to store that would not get printed on any reports other than a custom report.

Query Data - The Sales Person's Best Friend

 

To see all the people you have scheduled for follow up of any kind, click the Query button.

You will get the the choices on the right. The blue, red and green options are for building your own queries, that are not stored in the system.

Most of the time, however, you will select the top choice:
Next Call Date/Sales Id Priority Mark

This will open the menu below.

What this query is saying is: I want you to filter the database so I see only the records with a Next Call date between January 1, 1980 and today. The system will always default to the current date for the To field.

Also, filter the database for records that have my sales code. Please note that there may be special handling for ad agencies.

Optionally, just give me the records with my priority mark.

You may change any of this.

 

When the screen returns, you will see that the Query button is Red.

This means, all records in Next, Previous or Find/Add will reflect the active query boundaries.

Queried records will remain active, even after you change them, until you turn the query off by clicking on the icon.

You may open a second session, without queried records, to run simultaneously, by clicking File, Contacts and then dragging the screen to the right and down.

If you want to re order the queries by date -- oldest first -- go to Find/Add and select Next Call under Search By.

 

User Definitions/3rd Party Billing

This screen must be activated in Administration, Configuration. It must also be activated if you plan to use 3rd party billing. Third party billing will use some of these fields, automatically. You must also have a label (it does not matter what it is) in fields nine through 18.

3rd Party billing will reassign all field names automatically as long as there is something in the label field, on the Configuration screen.

On this screen you may also see the last time and date that this record was updated . . . and by whom.

If you select the check box, you will be notified, by email, when this record is next updated.