Thomas Fletcher built his companies around Act! because his entire business philosophy is rooted in relationships, not just transactions. He needed a CRM that could help him stay close to customers over many years and across different ventures.

He first adopted Act! in 1994 (Act! version 2), when most people were still using paper planners. A recommendation from a Sony representative led him to try Act!, and it quickly reshaped how he managed contacts and opportunities. Act! became the operational backbone as his camera rental business supported major productions like Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Chicago Fire, and Empire.

For Fletcher, the value came from:

• Centralized relationship history – Every interaction, workshop attendee, and opportunity went into Act!, so his team always knew who they were talking to and why it mattered.
• Reliable contact intelligence – Detailed records (titles, specialties, mobile numbers) meant his team could reach the right people quickly and have more meaningful conversations.
• Scalability over time – The same database helped power a multi-million dollar sale of Fletcher Camera and Fletcher Sports and is now supporting his new venture, Momento.

When launching Momento, his younger team evaluated Salesforce, Monday.com, and Microsoft Dynamics. They still chose Act!—in part because of Fletcher’s 30+ years of positive experience, and in part because Act! demonstrated it could meet their needs with strong product capabilities and white-glove, personal support.

In short, Fletcher sees Act! not just as software, but as the system that helps him turn long-term relationships into long-term revenue.

Fletcher used Act! as the engine behind his marketing and outreach, especially for workshops and events that drove new business.

Here’s how he put Act! to work:

• Event tracking and follow-up – Every workshop attendee was added to Act!. This meant no one got lost in spreadsheets or email lists, and his team could follow up with tailored communications after each event.
• Segmentation for targeted campaigns – As marketing evolved into digital and more segmented outreach, Act! stayed at the center. Fletcher could quickly filter by role, specialty, or other attributes to send relevant messages to specific groups.
• On-demand audience building – Fletcher notes that if he needed 50 cinematographers in a room tomorrow at 10 a.m., he could make it happen because of the quality and structure of his Act! database.

Over time, this approach turned Act! into what he calls a “great database” that directly supported engagement and marketing ROI. Instead of broad, generic campaigns, his team used Act! to send focused, high-value communications to the right people at the right time.

The result: workshops became a consistent growth engine, and the contact data captured in Act! continued to pay off long after each event ended.

Data quality and a strong CRM culture were central to Fletcher’s success. He didn’t treat Act! as an optional tool; he made it part of how the business operated every day.

Key elements of his approach:

• “Put it in Act!” as a mantra – From day one, every contact went into Act!. It became a running joke inside the company, but it created a rich, reliable database that supported the business for decades.
• High-quality contact details – Act! stored titles, specialties, and especially mobile numbers. Fletcher calls getting a cell number “gold,” because it turns ordinary outreach into high-impact conversations. He mentions having 7,800 contacts in his phone, all synced from Act!, without any extra effort.
• Shared access across the team – Because everyone used the same system, the team could step in on accounts, maintain continuity, and build trust with customers over time.

This discipline around CRM use helped power the multi-million dollar sale of Fletcher Camera and Fletcher Sports. The buyer wasn’t just acquiring equipment and contracts; they were acquiring a well-structured, long-standing relationship database.

Now, with his new company Momento, Fletcher is applying the same principles. His new team—whose average age is 31, the same number of years he’s been using Act!—chose Act! again. That contrast underscores how Act! continues to stay relevant for a new generation while still supporting leaders who have relied on it for decades.

For Fletcher, Act! is more than a CRM; it’s a way to organize sales, marketing, and customer management in one place so that data quality, trust, and revenue all move in the same direction.