Outlook® 2007 Business Contact Manager For Dummies®

Introduction

Outlook is the bestselling personal information manager that's included as part of the Microsoft Office suite of products. There are 400 million users of Office worldwide and a high percentage of those folks also use Outlook. In 2003, Microsoft added the Business Contact Manager (BCM) piece to Outlook. For many users, BCM represents their first foray into the area of contact relationship management (CRM). CRM software is a little more complex to understand than other types of software in this respect: With a word processor, each document that you create is totally separate; if you make a mistake, you need only to delete your current document and start fresh. CRM, however, builds its way into a final product; if you don't give a bit of thought as to what goal you wish to achieve, you can end up with a muddled mess.

We are huge proponents of CRM, and not ashamed to admit it. We use CRM software at work. We use it on the road. We use it at home. We've even inspired our friends to use CRM — or at least those that are looking to make more money in less time. We're excited about the product and know that by the time you figure out how to unleash the full power of BCM, you'll be excited, too.

So what are we so excited about? We've seen firsthand how CRM software can save you time and help make you more efficient in the bargain. To us, accomplishing more in less time is an exciting thought — it allows you to quit work earlier. Best of all, BCM is a program that's easy to get ...