An Excerpt from

 "Managing Sales With Software"

Nation's Business, March 1996, p 31

by Steve Ditlea

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This article is reprinted with the permission of Nations Business magazine. Nation's Business serves as a resource to the owners and managers of small businesses by providing practical, how-to information about running and expanding a business. To subscribe to Nation's Business call 1-800-873-6383.

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"... A Different Approach ...

At the opposite end of the spectrum from WinSales' structured sales approach is an easy-to-use, free-form information program called askSam, from askSam Systems.  This program helps the sales department of Harrison-Hurtz Enterprises Inc., a musical-accessories manufacturer in Wymore, Neb., keep track of new sales contacts.

Todd Harrison, vice president for operations and sales at the privately held, $1.5 million firm, says his information software's quick-search capability 'is essential when you've amassed 24,000 leads over 3 1/2 years.'  Culled from attendance lists at the 25 conventions the company's six salespeople go to each year, the Harrison-Hurtz contact list would typically take 10 - 15 minutes to search in a standard database program, such as Microsoft Access, and even longer with typical contact-manager software.  'With askSam on our networked PCs,' says Harrison, 'it takes only a few minutes for any one of us to search out a contact even if we've forgotten a name and have to find it by a key word.'  

Even without the structured screen of a sales-oriented software package, askSam still helps Harrison and his staff keep track of follow-up mailings and report on prospects who respond to mail or phone contacts for further solicitations.  'Not only does it save on the cost of promotional mailings,' says Harrison, 'but it forces us to be more organized in our sales efforts.'

And like so many other areas of office automation, the big payoff in sales automation may well be streamlining business processes.'

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Todd Harrison, Sales Manager

Harrison-Hurtz Inc.

Rural Route #1, Box 268

Wymore  NE 68466

Phone:  800-231-8429 or 402-645-3378

Fax:: 402-645-3606

Email: sales@harrisonhurtz.com

askSam Systems

Post Office Box 1428

Perry FL 32348

http://www.asksam.com

Email: info@asksam.com

Phone: (800) 800-1997  or  (850) 584-6590

Fax: (850) 584-7481