[getfothers]

In my business I have to send quotes to clients neighbors and then 14 days latter follow up with a reminder and then 14 days latter send a final reminder ( 3 letters and 3 quotes over 28 days)
Currently we do this manually and often forget to send the second letter at day 14. This drags the process out longer than needed.
My question is can i use Access to build a database (linked to excel for the quote and Word for the cover letter) that will remind me each 14 days to print the follow up.
It seems that there are a number of programs that will do this for me if I use email but we mostly use snail mail.
I have though about Sage ACT or something similar but as I am a very small company (read tiny) don't want to spend heaps on it.

If anyone has any thoughts I really appreciate it.

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Hello Getfothers,

Interesting challenge you have here. Is the main concern you want to solve the forgetting to mail out the second letter or is it manual assembly of the letters?

Depending on the the contents of the Excel document, you may have everything you need to build the letters with the Mail Merge feature in Word (if you not already using it to create your letters) and perhaps use Excel to remind you to send out additional letters.

How many clients per 28 day period do you have or does the number vary month to month?

Best regards,


dm

[dm27]

Hello Getfothers,

Interesting challenge you have here. Is the main concern you want to solve the forgetting to mail out the second letter or is it manual assembly of the letters?

Depending on the the contents of the Excel document, you may have everything you need to build the letters with the Mail Merge feature in Word (if you not already using it to create your letters) and perhaps use Excel to remind you to send out additional letters.

How many clients per 28 day period do you have or does the number vary month to month?

Best regards,


dm

[getfothers]

Hi I use Excel to do the quote and word to do the cover letter. Although I could use excel to do the letter as well. I created a database using word which I have modified as I went. (Very basic, Today's date, my clients name, work site address, mailing address etc).
The quantity of clients varies but 20 to 30 a week need to go out.
My main concern is automating the procedure so that I don't forget to send the letters out as this prolongs the process.
rgds
Ian

[dm27]

Hi Getfothers,

I hope you have had a pleasant weekend.

I have a couple more questions if you don't mind. They will help me and anyone else that may read this topic a better idea of your work flow and how the process currently functions. This additional info can help provide you some relevant and useful suggestions to improve it.

• So, each week (or day) you add new clients to a mailing list?
• Are there any triggers that would let you know that a follow-up letter (the 14 or 28 day one) should not be sent?
• It sounds like you have each client's letter ready to go and you just print them as needed?
• Are the quotes from the Excel file manually entered into the Word documents?
• What version of Microsoft Office (2003, 2007 or 2010) do you currently use?

Thank in advance for offering any additional information.

Best regards,

dm