New Blackberry Bold Smartphone: New Tool for Sales
Written by Jan Visser on August 26, 2008
If you’re in the market for a new smartphone for business, the Blackberry Bold may be just the tool you need.
When you’re finally able to get it, that is. It’ll be a few more weeks until this smartphone will start appearing in North American stores.
A few things will make this smartphone an interesting choice for sales professionals and small business owners.
First off, the Blackberry Bold is the first Blackberry to support the high-speed 3G network which will make accessing the internet from your mobile phone faster than before.
Then, there’s a brand new screen with twice the resolution of current Blackberry devices and identical (resolution, not size) to the iPhone. Screen height is identical to the Blackberry Curve you may own or have seen, but slightly wider. Overall, it’s bright and vibrant - a huge step forward.
Another feature that could be important for mobile professionals is that the Blackberry Bold supports HTML email. That means that you can finally read newsletters or other correspondence that include images and formatting. The new Blackberry also comes with DocumentsToGo loaded, a tool that lets you edit Microsoft Office files on your smartphone.
Additional features include addition built-in GPS, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, more memory and a new 2 megapixel camera you can also use as a business tool.
The Blackberry Bold offers the well-known keyboard for data-entry and I love it since I’ve never been able to get anywhere close to the Blackberry typing speed and accuracy on an iPhone. If you are a touchscreen fan, however, it might be good to know that Blackberry also announced the Thunder, which comes with that feature and is said to become available later this year.
Blackberry claims the Bold will offer up to 5 hour talk time and 13 days stand-by, but I’d take that with a grain of salt - especially if you plan on making extensive use of web-browsing and Wi-Fi features. Specifications show that with 4.48″/114mm in lenght and 4.8oz/136g in weight, the device is slightly larger and heavier than the popular Blackberry Curve but pretty much identical to the iPhone.
So far, the phone has only hit the market in Germany, Chili and Canada and is expected to become available in the US by September 15. In the US, the Blackberry Bold will initially become available through AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint and Verizon following later.
Like the iPhone, it won’t be cheap - but I feel Blackberry is still the best smartphone for business. For a closer look and more features, check out the Blackberry Bold site.
Here’s One Way You Can Spend More Time Selling
Written by Jan Visser on August 21, 2008
Three copies of your proposal sent off to Widget Corp, a few marketing brochures that need to go to the prospect you just visited and a copy of your company’s annual report to an existing client.
Each with a personalized letter - mailed from your home office.
If you’re not careful, you’ll spend more time on printing and mailing than you do on selling.
That’s why we were pleasantly surprised by the announcement that SalesNexus, developers of sales contact management software, will partner with fulfillment house Sales Contacts Inc. (SCI) to take printing, envelop stuffing and mailing out of the hands of salespeople.
Here’s how it works.
Read the full post
Read Your Voice Mail in Your Inbox, How Cool is That?
Written by Jan Visser on August 19, 2008
If you find yourself checking and responding to voice mail multiple times during the day, this sales tool could be a serious time saver.
PhoneTag provides a simply yet useful service. It takes the voice mails you receive from one or multiple phone lines, transcribes your messages to text and forwards them as an email or as a text message to your smartphone.
Read the full post
USB Sticks for Your Sales Presentation Files: The Fun Edition
Written by Jan Visser on August 15, 2008
As we pointed out before, there are a few obvious problems and risks involved with carrying your sales presentation files around on a USB stick. They break, stop working without warning, they get stolen and well, their capacity is still somewhat limited compared to online options.
Yet, when you find yourself running around without access to the internet, they’re simply more practical than online file storage.
Whatever your reason for using them, one thing is certain. The days of plain, cheap and plastic looking USB sticks can be over. We found 5 unique and colorful alternatives to that all serious, all business USB tool.
Check these out! Read the full post
Save a Minute or Two at Airport Security
Written by Jan Visser on August 14, 2008
Frequent fliers may be able to save a few minutes passing through security come monday August 16, 2008.
If you happen to have your laptop in the right computer bag, that is.
Here’s how the computer screening process works now:
Currently, TSA requires that all passengers traveling with a laptop computer must remove their laptop from their bag and place it in a bin for screening.
Starting monday, the use of 3 special designs will allow you to leave your laptop inside your bag.
In theory, that is - the announcement contains plenty of disclaimer so don’t count your blessings just yet.
I guess I’ll believe it when I see it.
While Butterfly Style, Trifold Style and Sleeve Style have been approved, backpacks and Accordion Style bags have not. Major bag manufacturers have been working with TSA to develop and test new models in order to benefit from this changed policy.
Here’s a link to the announcement on the TSA website. It also provides more detailed requirements for laptop bags. Let’s hope that this indeed makes traveling a bit easier.
Selling and Politics Have Something in Common
Written by Jan Visser on August 13, 2008
Earlier this year we introduced Dave Seah’s Goal Tracking System.
You should read the full post to get a good appreciation for it, but in essence his system is based on awarding points to good, revenue generating activities and creating your own arbitrary, minimally required number of points for the day.
When you meet or exceed that level, you then know you had a good, productive day’s work.
It’s pretty useful stuff for us in sales. It’s hard enough to not wasting your day putting our fires and administrative tasks that don’t make you a bit more successful. Dave’s system can help you stay focused on the activities that matter most.
Can You and Your Business Do Without Paper Yet?
Written by Jan Visser on August 11, 2008
In about a month the Office 2.0 Conference will take place in San Francisco.
It’s a fairly unique gathering of innovators and their customers using innovative technology and services for getting things done at the office, at home, and on the go.
We’ll be paying attention to it and I’m sure we’ll find some pretty cool and new tools to introduce to you.
But that’s not the reason for this post.
Forget That Mid-Air Nap - You’ll Be Checking Your Email Instead
Written by Jan Visser on August 9, 2008
Interesting announcement from Delta a day or two ago.
Through a partnership with a Aircell, they’ll be the first major US airline to offer Wi-Fi on their entire domestic fleet - over 300 aircraft in total. If you fly American Airlines or Virgin, you may have been able to try out on-board Wi-Fi on certain major routes - but Delta is the first to bite the bullet and do a full scale roll-out.
Estimated completion date for Delta’s fleet Wi-Fi upgrade is said to be mid 2009.
Update: Cost of this service is rumored to be $9.95 for flights with a duration of 3 hours or less and $12.95 for cross-country flights. For mobile devices such as the iPhone and frequent flyers, special rate plans are said to be under development. We’ll keep you posted.
I’m sort of mixed on this. It’ll be great to stay connected - but man, I’ll miss that rare opportunity to escape the avalanche of emails during work hours, even only for a little while.
What say you?
Do You Give Online Presentations? Don’t Let This Happen to You!
Written by Jan Visser on August 8, 2008
Frequently, we receive invitations to attend a demonstration of a new sales tool or web application.
Typically, web conference calls are the easiest way to do this - so we log on to a service like WebEx or GotoMeeting and let the presenter walk us through his product or service.
Last week, I sat through one of those sessions for a product we’ll discuss next week. As I followed along, I noticed a continuous flow of email notifications in the bottom-right part of the presenter’s screen. You know, those little popups that Outlook generates to let you know there’s a new message in your inbox. Read the full post
Tell the Whole Truth Manifesto (Free Download)
Written by Jan Visser on August 7, 2008
Little white lies. Innocent omissions. Misrepresentations of your product’s or organization’s capabilities.
Many of us in sales are practiced liars. By lying, I mean we tell someone something we know not to be true with the intention of misleading them. How many times a day do you indulge in such fibbing? And how do you justify it?
Clinton Korver, CEO and founder of DecisionStreet and author of a book called Ethics for the Real World, wrote a manifesto called Tell the Whole Truth. It’s a great reminder of the importance of truth-telling and how it can turn ordinary relationships into extraordinary ones.
We made it available for download - Tell the Whole Truth. It’s a must read for everyone in sales.
