Christopher Pumphrey, ACT! Coach

   photo: Linda Savitz

It was 1988 when Christopher Pumphrey’s first job using ACT! was with the the company that produced the Kit Kat clock. The California Clock Company hired Pumphrey as national sales manager. The task? Win new accounts!

“My first project was to take a stack of dusty business cards and enter them into ACT!,” says Pumphrey. “They had also purchased a contact list of about 3500 clock stores in the US and imported it into ACT!

“At that point I began learning to use ACT! as a sales tool. I learned how to create new records, schedule phone calls and follow-ups, and how to do mail merge.

“I would use ACT! as my starting point. I would call clock shops, introduce the company, qualify prospects and then print out a personalized letter, mail it with a brochure and follow up two weeks later. I just started calling, and over the next 18 months called through the entire list...

“Well, it didn’t take long before the clock company had a tremendous surge of new customers,” said Pumphrey.

Starting with the Kit Kat, clock, Pumphrey developed extensive expertise with ACT! Enough to catapult him to status as an internationally recognized consultant and teacher of the globally used database program.

Pumphrey realized early on that -- if all companies based their business growth upon self-taught technicians -- their success would likely be limited by how far each self-taught manager progressed. A risky proposition at best. 

The percentages support Pumphrey’s beliefs.

“Studies show that 80 percent of leads slip through the cracks,” says Pumphrey. “That’s true even in professional sales organizations. 

“There’s tremendous power in ACT!,” says Pumphrey, “But I believe that the majority of users on this planet are using five to 15 percent of its capability.”

So, Pumphrey decided to use his expertise to provide advanced training to ACT! users.

“Over the years, as I moved into new sales positions, if they had ACT! we’d use it. If they didn’t, I’d talk them into getting it,” says Pumphrey.

“I began consulting in 1998. And I built my reputation on two things,” says Pumphrey. “I first developed hands-on marketing projects involving researching new markets, business introduction and opening new accounts. Secondly, I would customize a businesses ACT! database and teach them how to use it.

“What I do now is I basically work with ACT! users all day long,” says Pumphrey. “I log in remotely with clients, and I teach, troubleshoot and consult, the results being a renovated and evolving database that’s streamlined to automate their business processes and sales and marketing strategies.

“What I find is that -- with just an hour or two of training -- ACT! users can make changes to totally transform their use of ACT! and the value of ACT! for their business. 

“In previous years I focused on corporate clients and have worked with several Fortune 500 and Global 50 companies.

“At this point in my career, my focus is almost 100 percent supporting small businesses, family businesses, and green, sustainable, organic and socially conscious ventures,” says Pumphrey. 

So, if you’re a business manager searching for strategies for sales growth, Pumphrey issues this challenge: 

“Imagine if all your business contact records and pertinent documents were in one place, organized, categorized and easy to find. You then have the ability to easily look up contacts, update notes and histories, send out letters, monthly newsletters, e-mails and sales specials instantly,” says Pumphrey.

“Suddenly you’re doing the work of a team of people with a few points and clicks! 

“You can do all those things with ACT! In fact, one person can do what it took a office full office of people to do 20 years ago,” says Pumphrey.

Whether you’re the owner of a small business with too much work and not enough people to do the work, or a sales manager of a large business charged with getting things organized and increasing sales, Christopher Pumphrey can help.

And, he promises, he’ll fit his services into your budget.  

“I work with a broad range of businesses and I make my services available at a good price to suit the budget of those I serve.”