jcsmilez
Gold Member
- 641
Hey all!
I just wanted to share my enthusiasm and excitement about a program called Bento. In the year that I have been a PC consultant I have struggled to figure out how to organized my contacts from booths/fairs, parties, online orders, etc. My house has been a mess with drawing slips in nearly every room (eeek!). Then came Bento...
It is a simple user friendly database program that advertises itself as "as easy to use as a Mac." It is compatible with OS 10 Leopard and is a variant of the popular Filemaker Pro for PC's and Macs. ( Pampered Partner has a decent customer contact program but I found it a pain to have to load through Parallels or Bootcamp and Bento turns out to be more customizable.
I have now been able to enter contacts in seconds in my own customized fields which I can then search for based on wish list items, ie. the mandoline/food chopper for June bookings, last contact, best time to contact, etc.
The online community and customer support forums has been amazing in helping me understand the program better and get through and hurdles. Plus, it connects with my Apple mail and Calendar for date reminders and to send email to contacts.
If you have any questions, I'd love to share how I set it up to work for my PC business.
I'm loving it, and for the first time I feel organized and like I am gaining control of my business.
If you are a Mac user and looking for a way to organize your contacts check out the demo and free trial at www.bentotrial.com/, then the full program is only $49.
Note: If you are not a Mac user, I know there are other similar programs like the more robust Filemaker Pro series or Act! By Sage that I have heard great things about. Seriously! I wish I had found this months ago!
I just wanted to share my enthusiasm and excitement about a program called Bento. In the year that I have been a PC consultant I have struggled to figure out how to organized my contacts from booths/fairs, parties, online orders, etc. My house has been a mess with drawing slips in nearly every room (eeek!). Then came Bento...
It is a simple user friendly database program that advertises itself as "as easy to use as a Mac." It is compatible with OS 10 Leopard and is a variant of the popular Filemaker Pro for PC's and Macs. ( Pampered Partner has a decent customer contact program but I found it a pain to have to load through Parallels or Bootcamp and Bento turns out to be more customizable.
I have now been able to enter contacts in seconds in my own customized fields which I can then search for based on wish list items, ie. the mandoline/food chopper for June bookings, last contact, best time to contact, etc.
The online community and customer support forums has been amazing in helping me understand the program better and get through and hurdles. Plus, it connects with my Apple mail and Calendar for date reminders and to send email to contacts.
If you have any questions, I'd love to share how I set it up to work for my PC business.
I'm loving it, and for the first time I feel organized and like I am gaining control of my business.
If you are a Mac user and looking for a way to organize your contacts check out the demo and free trial at www.bentotrial.com/, then the full program is only $49.
Note: If you are not a Mac user, I know there are other similar programs like the more robust Filemaker Pro series or Act! By Sage that I have heard great things about. Seriously! I wish I had found this months ago!
