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Why I Still Sell BlackBerry: Tales from a Smartphone Sales Rep

Editor’s note: Below is a guest post from Pat Wallace, fan extraordinaire and BlackBerry Elite member. -DH


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Often, customers will ask a salesperson what device they have and if they like it. My answer is BlackBerry, and I love my phone. Sure, I’ve used all types of devices, but I need a device for productivity. BlackBerry is designed to make the daily multitasking I do achievable. After telling them about my experiences, the golden question becomes:

What Do You Use Your Phone For?

The majority of people say: text messaging, email, browsing, and the camera. Depending on the demographic, things such as music, the calendar, and making phone calls are also frequent answers.

Features that Matter

More people are using devices for composing text or messaging in one form or another. From text messaging and email to status updates and chatting on IM clients like BBM, I find there’s a lot of writing happening.

That Keyboard. . .

The first feature I demonstrate on BlackBerry 10 is the adaptive keyboard and features. I use the sentence, “Testing the keyboard on the new BlackBerry!” This is something that I can compose with only a few keystrokes and the rest of the sentence comes together by swiping up, or flicking the words as they appear on the keyboard. This shows the ease of one-handed typing and the ability of word prediction and spelling correction. These features are built-in to speed up communication and take into consideration ease of use for the customer.

Peek & Flow

The next thing I demonstrate is the BlackBerry Hub. I open the weather app and show how easily you can peek into the Hub and see if your incoming message is something that needs immediate attention or if you can continue watching for sunny skies. This highlights the ability to multi-task and flow from one thing to another without the need of a ‘home’ or ‘back’ button. A simple swipe up and you can see your inbox without leaving what you’re doing. Although, for those who just have to have the ‘back’ button, I’m told the BlackBerry Classic will include more traditional navigation features you’re used to.

Say Cheese!

One of the best features that I make sure to show off is the BlackBerry 10 camera. The Time Shift feature is unique and people love to try it. This is a big hit with parents of young children. There’s also built-in photo editing, which makes cropping, editing, and adding a filter or frame simple – no need for a third party application. With the upcoming Amazon partnership, that won’t be an issue either. Want to share? One tap of the ‘share’ button and it’s as easy as selecting the channel you want to post on, or person you’d like to send to.

What about the Browser?

One thing that people use that they want to make sure works well is the browser. In my experience, the BlackBerry 10 browser is fantastic. It’s fast, and doesn’t require additional downloads or plug-ins to work properly. I make sure to demonstrate the ‘Reader Mode’ option that eliminates all the unwanted advertising clutter, and gives you a simplified article view of a website. Multiple tabbed browsing just like on a desktop is another great benefit and I make sure to mention the fact that you can likely open every website available to you.

The list of features goes on and on, but those are the main things I make sure to show customers who are interested in upgrading to a new device. The estimated majority of the time, they leave with a new BlackBerry 10 and a smile on their face.

Different things are important to different people. It’s important to show the benefits of features that will actually be used regularly.

As a sales representative, there are often incentives to sell certain types of devices and this can lead to misguided customers who are misinformed and end up unsatisfied. I encourage you to take the initiative to do research on any product before you purchase it and remember that the job of a sales representative is to make the sale.

As a loyal BlackBerry customer for many years I enjoy being able to share the benefits of a great device with customers on a regular basis. I was actively encouraging BlackBerry sales to friends and family years before I worked in the industry and hope to continue to do so for years to come.


About Pat:

I’m an enthusiastic, easy-going guy with a passion for BlackBerry and a wide range of work experience. facebook-20140709-173242
I grew up outside Ottawa Ontario and now reside in Kingston. I work in sales, am a student in the health care field, and a proud father. I enjoy social media, spending time with my family, technology, and traveling. I’ve shown a dedication to BlackBerry for a number of years and am a proud BlackBerry fan on social media.

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