Question:
We have no problems importing contacts from a CSV file. However, our database is setup with different groups that the sales people sort their contacts into. When we import, they are all put in with the existing contacts and the salespeople have to manually go through and sort them out into the groups they belong to.
Is it possible to get a CSV of contacts and have them import into a particular group automatically?
Bear with me, I'm the IT guy, not sales, so I don’t know all the details of how they work with the groups or if this is even the preferred method.
2. Genius! Works great. I figured there was some sort of trickery that could be done.
Now I have a follow-up question, is there a way to remove this Field on all of these after the import? It seems that I would have to come up with a new term in the field every time I do an import so that my search in the future doesn’t pull up previously imported data. Preferably I would like to clear this field out of the imported contacts as soon as they are put into the correct group.
Answer:
1. Here's what I would do. In your excel file, create a column called user15 and it in all the way down, give the import a name (like Houston Trade Show, or Bob's contacts). Just something unique to be able to find the data when you get into ACT.
Then do your import. Import User15 in Excel into User15 in ACT
Now in ACT, do a lookup on User15 and find all contacts with the value of (Houston Trade Show, or Bob's contacts). Then add these contacts to your group.
2. You could do something with Edit/Replace, but I’d keep the data there. It's helpful for later seeing the source of your import. In fact, we add a datasource entry every time we do an import and then dynamically base groups on that. If you want, you could hide the field on different layout or off to the side.
