Import Your Contacts from an Excel Spreadsheet
Andy Horner
You may already have your contact list stored as an Excel spreadsheet. To import it into Ace of Sales, follow these steps:
1. First, make sure your list is saved as a CSV file (if it has the extension ".xls", open it and resave as a CSV - that is, a "comma separated values", or "comma delimited" - file). Before you import, make sure your file is in the following format (you may have more or less fields), with each field divided into a separate column, especially First Name and Last Name (Check here if you need to split your contacts' names into separate columns for First Name and Last Name.)
Also make sure each column has a title. Ace of Sales can import contacts that at least contain a first name, last name, and email address, but Ace of Sales will not import incomplete mailing addresses:
2. To import this file into Ace of Sales, click the Contacts tab and then click "Import Contacts".
3. Then choose "Generic CSV or vCard" and click "Choose file/Browse". Click Continue.
4. In the next step, add your contacts to a Group, or just import them into your main Contacts list. Click Continue.
5. Here is where you will map (that is, match) your column name headings to ours, so that Ace of Sales will know where to put your information. Make sure the email address column is mapped. Click Continue.
6. Ace of Sales will then give you information on how many of your contacts we were able to upload, and a report on why we may not have been able to upload certain contacts and why.*
* The most common reasons that contact info was not able to be uploaded is because contact names were not split into seaprate columns for first name and last name, the contact did not have a complete mailing address (street, city, state, and zip) or that an email address was not in the correct format (missing the "@" or ".com", for example).
Reader Comments (4)
Properly understanding how to use excel can be the difference between frustration and saving loads of time. Seriously, I spent one hour learning excel and it radically improved my sales consultant business. Everyone needs to learn and master software like excel for optimal performance in your business.
I'm also a sales consultant and I completely agree with the necessity of becoming proficient at Excel. When you learn some of the major tricks and techniques you can do some amazing things and save tons of time! This is especially helpful for me and allows me to spend more time closing sales.
I am having issues importing my contacts. I am wondering if it has to do with the fact that I sell into the Higher Ed space so all my contacts end with .edu versus .com. Anyone else running into this issue?
Tim, do you have your list in a CSV format and the First and Last name are separated in 2 separate columns? Most spreadsheet applications and CRM’s allow you to export a .CSV (comma separated values) file, which you can import directly into Ace of Sales.
If you are still stuck feel free to call me at 952-884-3293 and I will help you through the process.