Information extraction software

So, at work I'm in charge of marketing which means I send out mass e-mails, physical letters, and gather phone numbers for our telemarketers to call. I know this probably makes me sound evil, but jesus christ I have to make a living somehow.

The way I do this is basically by thumbing through various websites and extracting this information by copying and pasting it into an excel spreadsheet and importing it into ACT (a sales database and contact management program).

I know there has to be a more efficient way to do this. I'm hoping to at least cut out the copying and pasting by hand. That shit takes forever and is really boring and tedious. I've done searches on this stuff and the only software I've been able to turn up are ones for extracting e-mail, and sometimes phone numbers and faxes, but no addresses.

So do you guys happen to know of any software out there that'd be able to help me out with something like this? Money is not an issue - the company will pay for it if it seems useful enough, which there's no doubt that this would be.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Unless you're in the metal fabrication industry, you wouldn't have to worry about that too much.

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Originally Posted by Sassafrass

I use ACT too for my work. I copy and paste leads and inquiries into my database from emails. Luckily, I don't have to go out looking for business - they come to us.

But that doesn't make the task any less boring and tedious. Data entry, baby.

The only way I've found that I can mass-import data is via an excel sheet. I do this with leads we generate at exhibitions and things - but the data is already in a text-delimited format. I can throw that into excel, and then from there, throw it into ACT.

But if you're hand-picking from the internet, I have found virtually no way to import that sort of thing. Copy and paste is the way to go. (I have to do it occasionally with end users who don't give me enough info) Excel wont help you in this situation.

If I were you, I'd look into a lead dealer or something. I don't know jack about them, though.

Well, mostly what I do is create new databases and import them into ACT using the information I copy and paste into the spreadsheet (in this case, excel). I found it's far easier to copy and paste into excel THEN import the whole thing, rather than create a new contact in ACT, then copy and paste, etc. etc.

There's software that'll pick up e-mail and phone numbers, but for some reason not address. I'd imagine it might have something to do with the format, but damnit it all to hell anyways.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Sassafrass

Yea, Excel is easier for input because there aren't retarded fields and shit like there are in ACT. I don't know if you use the Users, Follow-up, and all that unnecessary bullshit ACT has built in, either.

Actually, I find those fields to be heaven sent. First and foremost ACT is a sales tool, used mostly by salesmen. That's where all those seemingly useless fields come into play.

For example, if they're doing telemarketing and a potential client wishes to look over the information, the salesmen can schedule a follow-up that'll remind them to give the potential client a call. Or, if they've actually sold them something, they can schedule a follow-up courtesy call to check up on the product and see how everything is doing.

The users field is perfect for know who's client is who's while still being able to keep all the information stored in a single database so that a person such as myself would be able to go there and do random maitenance and updates that the sales people don't have time to do. Also, it would prevent the sales people from stealing leads from one another.

In your case, I can definitely see how those fields would be useless, especially if you're just using it as a fancy filofax.

Quote:

Good luck with the address extractor, though. I know about a million emails extractors, but no address ones or anything. ;_;

I did some more research into how the extractors work and apparently it sends out spiders to search for certain text formats (for example, an e-mail is formatted like xxx@domanname.com, and phone numbers are usually formatted like xxx-xxx-xxxx or (xxx)xxx-xxxx). Unfortunately addresses have no such format and therefore is impossible for the spiders to pick up.

What makes me kind of wonder how the progams that claim to pick up both phone numbers and fax numbers differentiate the two.

There's also other software that allows you to program your own patterns to search for. Those programs are also far more expensive and don't offer a trial or a money back guarantee. I'm not so sure it'd recognize

XYZ Company
12345 General St.
Small Town, PA 00000-0000

as a pattern if I programmed it in there. I don't care to waste the $150+ of my boss's money just to find out that it doesn't.

PS: You said you were familiar with e-mail extraction programs, so I was wondering if you had one in particular that you'd recommend? I'm considering purchasing this one as I've downloaded the trial and it feels pretty easy to use but I want to make sure I'm getting the best one for my companies' money.

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