MACSworld: MACS Account Information Manager

MACS Account Information Manager

AIM Logo The Account Information Manager (AIM), is an optional module that provides advanced sales and marketing tools to agency personnel and salespeople. AIM works with Maximizer for Windows software, a contact management software program that runs on computers in the agency office, in remote offices, or on the laptop computers of salespeople and managers.

Maximizer makes the best use of today's technology, including Windows, laser printing, local-area networks, and computer-generated faxing. It's an ideal module for agencies that consider access to information a competitive advantage.

Maximizer is a registered trademark of Modatech Systems International, Inc.

Information is one of the greatest assets of a sales agency. Your knowledge of customers in your territory, their needs and buying patterns, and the names of decision makers are invaluable to your role as a manufacturer's representative. How well are you using this information to improve your business? Getting information in the hands of those who need it most is the goal of a state-of-the-art MACS Software module, the Account Information Manager (AIM).

Windows-based Contact Manager

The AIM optional module shares information with Maximizer for Windows, the finest and most flexible contact management software available for a PC. Maximizer runs under Microsoft Windows to provide a friendly interface that's easy to learn and use. AIM includes programs to transfer your customer, contact and sales data between MACS and Maximizer for a seamless flow of information. Maximizer can run on the same computer that runs MACS, on another computer, on a local-area network (LAN), or optionally on the laptop computers of your salespeople.

Maximizer is designed to:

Promote direct marketing to targeted customers and prospects using personalized letters, broadcast faxes, and telemarketing.
Produce activity reports showing all customer contact on behalf of each principal.
Disseminate customer and contact information to and from field salespeople calling on accounts.

Data can be transferred between MACS Software and Maximizer in the agency office or in the field through AIM.

Maximizer can serve as the central record of your customers and prospects. It's the most convenient place to make changes to addresses, contact names, phone numbers, and classifications. Any changes you make in Maximizer will be transferred into your MACS customer files in the Agency Information Base.

Regardless of whether you run MACS with MS-DOS, Windows, Unix or Xenix, you can take advantage of every feature of Maximizer. However, running the Maximizer portion requires a PC-compatible computer or laptop running MS-DOS and Windows. Broadcast faxing, described later, requires a fax modem and fax software.

Maximizer is much more than a computerized list of customers. It includes powerful tools for manipulating agency information in every way imaginable. In general, Maximizer serves as:

A Principal Reporting Tool
A Sales Tool
A Marketing Tool

Maximizer as a Principal Reporting Tool

Maximizer records activity notes based on all the sales and marketing efforts of salespeople and agency personnel. As a result, you can prepare principal activity reports. These reports list all of your marketing and promotional activities on behalf of an individual principal, performed by anyone in your organization. These activities include meetings, phone calls, letters and faxes. Agency management can also enter traditional paper-based call reports into Maximizer for principal reporting. With Maximizer, you can prepare reports for all your principals and use them as a tool to improve your principal relationships.

6/28/96                                                                   Page:1

Adel's Dist/Cinci
6/28/96 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM Priority: 2A Done:X
Lee Jacob-Product Presentation: Looks great!  Need to check with factory on the 
special packaging requirements.

________________________________________________________________________________

Acme Sign Company
6/28/96 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Priority: 2A Done:X
Lee Jacob-Product Presentation: Will probably increase purchase volume by 
25% this fall.  Followup mid-August.

________________________________________________________________________________

Abbott Health Products
6/28/96 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM Priority: 2A Done:
Lee Jacob-Product Update (review July - Dec projections): Wants formal 
proposal for full product line

________________________________________________________________________________

A sample principal activity report for Lee Jacob Manufacturing.

Maximizer as a Sales Tool

Maximizer is particularly useful in the hands of a salesperson. Maximizer can replace stacks of detailed printouts and reports with quick on-line access to up-to-the-minute sales figures. In addition, Maximizer can supply the names of individual contacts for each customer account. For example, you might record in Maximizer the name of the purchasing manager, as well as the engineers working on a particular project, all under one account. There is no limit to the number of contacts that can be stored for each customer account.

If used in conjunction with MACS Software, Maximizer can provide the following sales figures, or any others from MACS, for each customer account:

Current Month Sales
Last Month Sales
Previous Month Sales
Current Year-to-Date Sales
Last Year-to-Date Sales
Previous Year-to-Date Sales
Last Year Total Sales
Previous Year Total Sales

When transferred to a salesperson's laptop computer, the above sales figures can be narrowed to include only that salesperson's customer accounts.

Look up sales figures by 1) selecting a customer account, 2) choosing a principal from the list of principals that customer buys from, and 3) viewing the desired sales category.

Maximizer as a Marketing Tool

Using Maximizer in a sales agency office can maximize your best resource--your knowledge of customers and prospects in your territory. At the very least, Maximizer serves as a computerized list of customers and prospects. Used to its fullest extent, Maximizer is a sophisticated database that helps you target your marketing to the right people, based on their location, sales history, customer type, lines sold, and many other classifications, or categories. You can define and assign an unlimited number of categories. Once you have selected customers or prospects to target, you can use Maximizer to produce the necessary materials, including personalized letters and faxes. Maximizer features a built-in, full-featured word processor, and also works with popular Windows-based word processors, including Microsoft Word, WordPerfect and Lotus Ami Pro. Maximizer produces output on paper, on labels, on envelopes, or as faxes.

Use Maximizer to produce broadcast faxes to a select group of customers or prospects.

You can also use an Maximizer list for telemarketing efforts. Maximizer records the length and result of each phone call, and, if you have a modem, even dial the phone for you. Evidence of each letter, fax or call is recorded in an activity note for each customer or prospect so you can analyze the success of your efforts.