Are you getting the most value out of CMPro? We're kicking off an educational series that will help you use CMPro to its full potential.

This week, learn how to send a personalized birthday e-mail to all your contacts who have a birthday in December.

CREATE A NEW QUICKVIEW

We can use Quickviews (think of it as a saved search) to set up a filter that will help us identify all contacts in the database with a birthday in December.
Go to Tools | Quickviews and click on New.

You can use Quickviews for either opportunities or contacts; in this case we're looking for contacts.
Click Next.
On this screen you'll see the kinds of searches you can do. For now find "All Contacts with Birthdays between" and choose the date range. Let's choose December 01-31.
Click Next.

On the next screen, a recommended subject for the Quickview is automatically entered for you, and you can provide a description to help document the search if needed.
Click Finish.

Let's look at the results right away.
Click Yes.

VIEW RESULTS

A new window opens with all the contacts in your database who have their birthday in December. In CMPro, you can drag any database field (even custom fields) to the column headings. You may need to scroll down to the bottom of the Task Pane to find the "Customize" button, circled in the image below.

Find the field you want to add to the column headings; in this case, "Birthday", and drag it to the column headings. To remove any column headings you don't need, simply click and drag them away from the column header area. If you removed one by mistake, find it again by clicking on "Customize" (if you already closed the "Select Columns" box).

Great, now you've set up the columns the way you want them. If you'd like to send a group e-mail to everyone with a birthday in December, select everyone (you can do this by pressing CTRL + A) and then choose Group E-mail, circled in the image below. All the e-mail addresses are automatically added for you; just Click Next to go through the Group E-mail Wizard and send out the birthday e-mail.

If you've never sent out a group e-mail, check out the Group E-mail chapter of the Online Help for step-by-step help, or write us if you have specific questions.

WHERE CAN I ENTER A BIRTHDAY?

Open any contact record and go to the More Info tab. You can update the contact's birthday near the lower right of the screen, circled in the image below. And, don't worry, it's not necessary to enter a year.

SAVE QUICKVIEWS

Once you create a Quickview, it is saved until you delete it. Next December, use this same Quickview against the new data!

To learn more about this topic, or just to browse for more you can do with CMPro, refer to the CMPro Online Help at http://crmg.com/onlinehelp/.

To share tips and tricks you've discovered with other users, or to make suggestions of things you'd like to see CMPro do in the future, visit the User Forum at http://crmg.com/forum/.

Future topics in this educational series include: Sending Group E-mails, Using Contact History, Creating Surveys, Chatting with Quick Responses, Maximizing Contact Folders, and Sharing Calendars. To suggest an additional topic or vote for what you'd like to learn about in the next How-To e-mail, write us with your topic of interest.

We're always here to answer your questions by writing to support@crmg.com.