1. Sith_Apprentice's Avatar
    Let me preface this post with a bit of information/history. This is after all a general post, and it represents my own opinion on what has happened and what should happen. I am also looking for input on what could be changed, something that we, as a community, can bring through channels to RIM's attention. I do not want any infighting, or Apple/Android support or even bashing. All that crap goes on in just about every thread where another OS is mentioned. I personally dont care what you use, or what your family uses, or what your job uses. This is for CONSTRUCTIVE posts only. Now on to the meat of the matter.

    We all know that RIM used to be the number one smartphone vendor by a wide margin. We all know that their basis in security and reliability helped them own the business and government sectors. We also know that their forays into the consumer market have always had lukewarm reception.

    The smartphone market has completely changed over the last 4 almost 5 years. And we all know why. Apple introduced a phone that instantly appealed to the masses, the consumer market. It was simple in its design, and looked and acted unlike anything on the market. Its software was very polished, and it just worked. While not as 'powerful' as what was on the market, nor could you accomplish as many things as on a BlackBerry (mms, cut/copy/paste, enterprise e-mail, etc) it sold in droves.

    Consumers have driven everything in the rest of the smartphone world since. If the people in roles of leadership (think C level executives) want a specific device in their company, it generally happens, regardless of any protests from IT or Information Security. And this is what happened, starting with the iPhone and then the iPad, these high ranking business and government officials have been driving the adoption of Apple products (at times to the detriment of security).

    Apple established themselves very well, and positioned their products as 'must haves'. No one in the marketpalce saw what the iPhone was doing, or what it was going to accomplish. Microsoft even dismissed it as too expensive and no one would buy it. Well they were wrong, and everyone was left to play catch up. Enter Android, the OS that Mr. Jobs thought was a complete rip-off of his own iOS. Android was mass produced, by many manufacturers on many many types of devices. It is the OS for the masses. Completely customizeable, open, everywhere. A new type of challenger to the one device that Apple offers to everyone.

    RIM has been, shall we say, slow to respond to this. They were caught off guard by the iPhone, and then again by Android. They sat back and stayed the course, watching the market explode around them, enjoying their record quarter after quarter. Well this record growth came to a halt, and a quick one at that. RIM's largest market, the US market had turned to Apple and Android as their new solutions.

    So now we get down to it, after all that, what can RIM do to solidy the # 3 spot? That is where they currently sit, but they are battling Windows Phone 7, and soon to be 8. What can they do until BB10 launches (and even then they will still need to do things) to ensure that the company as a whole stays viable? Both in a North American centric and worldwide perspective.

    I have the following suggestions:

    1. Bring out a new playbook this year, prior to BB10 launch, with upgraded internal specs. We have heard rumors (some more than that) about a dual core 1.5Ghz processor in the device, but what about more RAM? and include a LTE/4G/3G radio in the thing.

    2. Market the Playbook with a BB7 device in general. Show it in stores this way, with Bridge enabled, remote control enabled. Let users play with the FULL feature set.
    Let them see the full hardware ecosystem before they even start thinking about the software one. This brings me to the next point.

    3. Pair the Playbook with a BB7 device. The inventory write down has already happened, RIM has been giving away thousands of Playbook devices already. So for every NEW activation on a BB7 device (two/three year contract), give away a Playbook 16GB for free. If you do this worldwide, you will get millions of BB7/Playbook combos out into the wild.

    4. Assuming 3 is not to your liking, do the following. Give a $100-$200 credit towards the purchase of a BB10 device when you purchase a new/upgrade to a BB7 device. This gives your new/existing customer base a reason to upgrade to BB7 now, and still go to BB10 later on.

    5. $100 million in marketing seems like a lot, and its a dramatic increase over prior years. But you need to market to your existing customers. A RIDICULOUS number of users are still on BB4 and BB5 phones. Change this. Send DIRECT PIN messages to the users giving them coupons to upgrade to a BB7 phone (see above for options on further marketing efforts). For companies, send your sales rep directly to them. Work with the carriers. BB7 phones are generally free on upgrades/new activations. Get them there, help companies deploy them.

    6. Put boots on the ground. Set up marketing events/trainings/etc in major cities. Bring back, and improve, the BlackBerry road show tours. Show the consumers what the phones and tablet (especially together) can do.

    7. RIM needs to bring Microsoft Office to the Playbook (and future BB10 devices). Docs to go was a nice stop gap, but its garbage overall. They also need Adobe to bring the FULL reader to the Playbook (and BB10 devices) as well as Adobe Pro. Continue these high level partnerships and give your customers the best experience out there

    So CrackBerry community, what do you suggest? What options does RIM have, and what can they do to capitalize on their current and future product line?
    Again, keep all my phone is better than your phone crap out of this thread please. Lets be adults here, no insults/off topic as well. Thank you.
    Last edited by Sith_Apprentice; 03-08-12 at 08:08 AM.
    03-08-12 07:16 AM
  2. jamesbondOO7's Avatar
    Stay different from Apple: if they turn left, turn right. Keep away from the hype. Continue to make no-nonsense products that deliver what customers really need. Stay atheist.
    03-08-12 07:23 AM
  3. teknishun's Avatar
    Stay different from Apple: if they turn left, turn right. Keep away from the hype. Continue to make no-nonsense products that deliver what customers really need. Stay atheist.
    And how has this approach benefited them in the past?
    GingerSnapsBack likes this.
    03-08-12 07:26 AM
  4. Sith_Apprentice's Avatar
    I think that RIM has done a great job NOT doing what Apple has done. In fact everything they do seems to want to be different from Apple.

    Edit: They also need to make sure not to FOLLOW Apple either. They need to create their own products, not just follow, and not just go against on purpose. Create something truly new.
    Last edited by Sith_Apprentice; 03-08-12 at 07:40 AM.
    pantlesspenguin likes this.
    03-08-12 07:31 AM
  5. kevinnugent's Avatar
    They already do No. 3 here. That's the only/best way the telcos had to run down their warehoused stock.

    Has it worked? Dunno, and no one will say. Which suggests to me it hasn't worked. If the sales figures were decent they'd be bragging about them.
    03-08-12 07:33 AM
  6. jamesbondOO7's Avatar
    And how has this approach benefited them in the past?
    My purchasing their product.
    03-08-12 07:34 AM
  7. Sith_Apprentice's Avatar
    They already do No. 3 here. That's the only/best way the telcos had to run down their warehoused stock.

    Has it worked? Dunno, and no one will say. Which suggests to me it hasn't worked. If the sales figures were decent they'd be bragging about them.

    They give away playbooks there with BB7 purchase/upgrade? That is fantastic. They need to do that everywhere to clear out any remaining inventory they have. Run a 30 day promotion on it in the largest markets, see how they do.
    03-08-12 07:38 AM
  8. LMG1963's Avatar
    Great thread and like yourself agree with bashing other products is of no use what so ever. As loyal blackberry people the main goal is for us to see RIM remain a very viable company and to watch it gain customer support and to retain its customer base. Some of your ideas seem great to me..there are still too many people using the older os. Enticing people to upgrade and paired with a playbook gets both products out there. No matter what, at the end of the day with today's economy the way it is..a great deal that works very well is what most consumers are looking for. Then with all the hacking going on and this will only increase, security that rim offers is still a big thing in today's world. All be it so much rim bashing by media the only way to let people see what blackberry has to offer is to actually do what ever it takes to get them in people's hands. As human nature people follow the leader which is happened to other platforms,,I really believe RIM needs to do whatever it can to retain its customers for now and to upgrade to os7 because there is still quite a few months before the 3rd quarter and it's customer support can drastically decrease in as many months. Free playbook for developers seemed to get many more apps..maybe if playbooks reduced or as a package deal to major corporations on renewal of their contracts may have been an idea and would have got the playbook out there more on the business side
    Scottish Lad likes this.
    03-08-12 07:49 AM
  9. Spencerdl's Avatar
    RIM needs to ADVERTISE, ADVERTISE and ADVERTISE, 1 million dollars invested in a NEW marketing department will NOT be enough in today's economy, I'm not sure how much they would need, but something needs to be done no matter the cost.
    Chrisy and cevag like this.
    03-08-12 07:54 AM
  10. tonyrenier's Avatar
    I'm not trying to bash anyone in the market but, I have stopped using google as a search engine due to their datamining. What is their operating system doing?
    Blackberry gives me security and as far as I know they don't collect my data. I think the other system is going to bite users in the . Just saying.......
    Tony Renier
    Green Bay, WI, USA
    03-08-12 07:55 AM
  11. 13echo4's Avatar
    I like #6. I think Rim needs to hire an advertising firm. Its sad that there's really no information going around about the devices that are out.
    When I bought my PBs everywhere we went to buy them the sale reps didn't know anything about them. None of them had ever used one.
    Where that would have been a bad sign to people in the market of a "tablet" not a "playbook". I just pushed thru found me a PB got it home and figured it out myself. What I couldn't I googled. How many sales has Rim lost just because the people selling the things knows nothing about em? That demo mode they put the display on doesn't do it justice at all.
    I remember alittle while ago a member here got grilled for approaching and showing someone around the PB that was considering buying one. How's else is the word going to get out?
    Rim really needs to pay attention to forums. It doesn't matter which ones. It could be an apple forum or even a car magazine forum. They would to the honest conclusion that the mass majority doesn't know how, or is to lazy to use google. So to get the point across you have to walk up and knock on their door and spell it out. The easiest way into their homes is thru the TV, magazines, and internet. Ads ads ads. Could never be to many. Show the devices in action.
    03-08-12 08:03 AM
  12. Sith_Apprentice's Avatar
    RIM needs to ADVERTISE, ADVERTISE and ADVERTISE, 1 million dollars invested in a NEW marketing department will NOT be enough in today's economy, I'm not sure how much they would need, but something needs to be done no matter the cost.
    I thought it was $100 million a quarter? ($400 million total) in 2012?
    03-08-12 08:04 AM
  13. Sith_Apprentice's Avatar
    I'm not trying to bash anyone in the market but, I have stopped using google as a search engine due to their datamining. What is their operating system doing?
    Blackberry gives me security and as far as I know they don't collect my data. I think the other system is going to bite users in the . Just saying.......
    Tony Renier
    Green Bay, WI, USA
    This information is now on google. Trying to avoid a product/service the size that Google or Apple offers is impossible. You WILL run into it, and you will have to deal with it. RIM cant be isolationist in this. They have already taken the first steps and brought Android player onto the Playbool. They also need to continue making partnerships and bringing essential products into their fold. For instance (and this will be in the OP shortly).

    7. RIM needs to bring Microsoft Office to the Playbook (and future BB10 devices). Docs to go was a nice stop gap, but its garbage overall. They also need Adobe to bring the FULL reader to the Playbook (and BB10 devices) as well as Adobe Pro. Continue these high level partnerships and give your customers the best experience out there
    Scottish Lad likes this.
    03-08-12 08:07 AM
  14. _StephenBB81's Avatar
    For RIM to stay relavent they need to actually make a clear plan.

    OS7 devices are still business focused, they they are not being targeted at business.

    if RIM wants to stay relevant with their current offerings they need to adopt a business to business sales strategy, until BB10 is out,

    RIM needs to have a sales/training force showing Enterprise users, the power of BlackBerry, they've sat on their butts because they were the best at email for so long, but people lost sight of the question of Why BlackBerry?

    RIM needs to address this, RIM needs to have the answers for Why BlackBerry?

    Its not like I can ask them to release something new today, or change their current software, but what they already offer has a lot of merit, and they need to put that in the forefront.

    They NEED to be showing major Enterprise users BBM, BBM is not just for consumers, BBM can reduce email load on Enterprise servers, BBM can increase collaboration between groups, BBM can reduce your corporate communication fees while retaining tight security and control.
    BBM Groups have a lot to offer, yet are grossly under utilized in Enterprise in part because Enterprise don't know what they are, or how to control them.

    RIM needs to address the VOIP capabilities of MVS, and possibly make MVS a FREE addition to BES, and BES Mobile fusion, my company's IT department did not even know MVS existed when I suggested it for those of us who travel to China, and areas of zero cellular signal but have wifi access, they needed some actual training and sales about the product!

    RIM needs to get refocused on the Carriers, start negotiating with the carriers for lower BIS fees based on user volumes, the more BB users they have, the lower their BIS fee per user is, that is incentive to push BB users.
    RIM needs to negotiate with the Carriers for REAL BlackBerry user Plans, LOW volume data plans with unlimited BBM, at reduced fees, this is to target the teen market, and bring in the feature phone user market to their first smartphones, example verizon offering a BlackBerry Plan for $12 offering 100MB of data and unlimited BBM, on top of any Voice package. the person wants more, they go to a standard plan. in Verizons interest as more people sign up for this low cost plan, which doesn't strain their servers at all, it reduces their BIS fees and there for generates more margins,


    NEXT RIM needs to address NEW Markets and Plan additions to their BES, and BIS to make them more feature packed.

    RIM needs to allow for a Carrier supported Calendar in BIS for users to sync with their BlackBerry's and make [email protected] a web address that can be connected to desktop email / calendar / contact list options, Carriers used to have the vendor lock in of Carrier email addresses, RIM is in a position to help bring that back, they just need to market it to the carrier, AND make their provided address something more of value,

    BES needs to expand to the needs of more markets, RIM should be looking beyond big business, how can BES controls help manage and monitor technology in other segments such as manufacturing, Education and Medical? what plug ins need to be added, what partnerships need to be chased, RIM needs to be chasing these and getting installations in NOW moving to when BB10 is launched and they have footholds to move their new products into, and show faster adoption numbers.


    Features RIM needs to add to BlackBerry's to make them more relevant.
    Call reporting, contact management built
    When someone calls a person or receives a call, there should be an option to log this call into your calendar, AND leave comments about it, the call duration is left in the calendar with a link to the contact, or a new contact is made and again linked in the Calendar, this would be great for Business users who either require follow up work, or require time billings, and even consumers who want to remember a phone call. being able to apply tasks, and reminders to the calendar entry and call back options would be ideal,

    This should easily be added to the existing BlackBerry software, and be an addition moving forward, ALL the parts are already in BBOS5 and newer, they just need to be linked together to make a very useful and "innovative" solution for Mobile business users.

    BBM groups
    RIM needs to add more to BlackBerry groups, document file sharing would be key addition to making BlackBerry groups more Enterprise focused, AND again would help in Education, and for consumers, it is a small addition that RIM can make exciting. and sell it.



    RIM could do lots with hardware, and inventory reductions, and trying to get an extra 100K units into the hands of people at lower ASP's but they SHOULD be looking for ways to maintain their ASP while adding value, and they could do a lot of that with just education and improving a few things already included in their services.
    03-08-12 08:10 AM
  15. stick_slinger's Avatar

    1. Bring out a new playbook this year, prior to BB10 launch, with upgraded internal specs. We have heard rumors (some more than that) about a dual core 1.5Ghz processor in the device, but what about more RAM? and include a LTE/4G/3G radio in the thing.

    2. Market the Playbook with a BB7 device in general. Show it in stores this way, with Bridge enabled, remote control enabled. Let users play with the FULL feature set.
    Let them see the full hardware ecosystem before they even start thinking about the software one. This brings me to the next point.

    3. Pair the Playbook with a BB7 device. The inventory write down has already happened, RIM has been giving away thousands of Playbook devices already. So for every NEW activation on a BB7 device (two/three year contract), give away a Playbook 16GB for free. If you do this worldwide, you will get millions of BB7/Playbook combos out into the wild.

    4. Assuming 3 is not to your liking, do the following. Give a $100-$200 credit towards the purchase of a BB10 device when you purchase a new/upgrade to a BB7 device. This gives your new/existing customer base a reason to upgrade to BB7 now, and still go to BB10 later on.

    5. $100 million in marketing seems like a lot, and its a dramatic increase over prior years. But you need to market to your existing customers. A RIDICULOUS number of users are still on BB4 and BB5 phones. Change this. Send DIRECT PIN messages to the users giving them coupons to upgrade to a BB7 phone (see above for options on further marketing efforts). For companies, send your sales rep directly to them. Work with the carriers. BB7 phones are generally free on upgrades/new activations. Get them there, help companies deploy them.

    6. Put boots on the ground. Set up marketing events/trainings/etc in major cities. Bring back, and improve, the BlackBerry road show tours. Show the consumers what the phones and tablet (especially together) can do.
    YES!!!! All these ideas are brilliant ones.

    #6 is really important. RIM really must start advertising and getting out there showing/educating consumers what the devices can do.

    #3 is a brilliant idea too. Give away a PlayBook with each BB7 device and then when BB10 comes along more people are going to know about the features of QNX having had hands-on experience and showing it to friends/family.

    #5 - great, give consumers incentives to upgrade their old devices. If I was still on OS5 I'd love this idea. As it is I'm on OS7 now :-)

    Lets hope the powers-that-be at RIM get to see this. Kevin, perhaps you could pass this thread/OP on. Afterall, Thorsten saidn that he would listen to the CB community and take ideas on board.

    Sith_Apprentice, maybe you should be the new Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)

    Come on RIM - show us the Marketing in action!!!
    Last edited by stick_slinger; 03-08-12 at 08:30 AM.
    Scottish Lad likes this.
    03-08-12 08:17 AM
  16. _StephenBB81's Avatar
    RIM needs to ADVERTISE, ADVERTISE and ADVERTISE, 1 million dollars invested in a NEW marketing department will NOT be enough in today's economy, I'm not sure how much they would need, but something needs to be done no matter the cost.
    Advertising will not fix all,
    Education is what is needed, RIM's advantage can't be fit into a 30 second slogan,

    "tools not toy's" "BeBold" etc

    they are catchy and fun to say, but they aren't going to sell devices, or stop an Enterprise or even a SMB user from moving from BlackBerry, RIM should expand on their advertising effort with a 30M budget for RIM sales staff, not rep houses and 3rd party groups but a group of people for North America with a unified mission statement, a list of BES installations, Carrier support/sales staff who are specific to each carrier, and leaders/managers targeting the message of Products to Businesses, to Universities, to Governments .

    Apples Ad strategy has been great because each ad has been something that really is a simple feature to promote in a single ad spot, RIM can not play that game, they don't have that. it is the beauty of complexity that makes BlackBerry's great tools, it is full device and software integration saving seconds here and seconds there, it is the hardware feel, you can sell a feel on TV.
    03-08-12 08:17 AM
  17. Sith_Apprentice's Avatar
    Advertising will not fix all,
    Education is what is needed, RIM's advantage can't be fit into a 30 second slogan,

    "tools not toy's" "BeBold" etc

    they are catchy and fun to say, but they aren't going to sell devices, or stop an Enterprise or even a SMB user from moving from BlackBerry, RIM should expand on their advertising effort with a 30M budget for RIM sales staff, not rep houses and 3rd party groups but a group of people for North America with a unified mission statement, a list of BES installations, Carrier support/sales staff who are specific to each carrier, and leaders/managers targeting the message of Products to Businesses, to Universities, to Governments .

    Apples Ad strategy has been great because each ad has been something that really is a simple feature to promote in a single ad spot, RIM can not play that game, they don't have that. it is the beauty of complexity that makes BlackBerry's great tools, it is full device and software integration saving seconds here and seconds there, it is the hardware feel, you can sell a feel on TV.

    The problem is, RIM has this. They have what are called BUMs (Business Unit Managers) whose sole responsibility is regarding a single carrier (or in the case of the Tier 2/3 carriers multiple) and a geographic area. They are responsible for sales in that area. They also have hired marketing firms (MarketStar being one) to go around the country and train sales reps. Now i dont know the status on the current MarketStar partnership, but they used to have to meet, educate, greet, etc X number of reps/managers in each of the carrier stores and 3rd party retailers.

    As for your prior post, i tend to agree mostly. Education is very important, but this is a golden opportunity for RIM. The cost of the Playbook has been written down, they already got hit (and hard) by that. So get the rest out there. 10+ million BBs per quarter. If you run 1/3 of that in Playbooks (for upgrades/new customers in a 30 day period) that gets you over 3 million playbooks into the hands of users that otherwise wouldnt have them (likely). That brings Playbook sales from what, 1-1.5 million to 4-4.5 million. That is going to attract quite a bit more developer attention.
    03-08-12 08:34 AM
  18. Sith_Apprentice's Avatar
    YES!!!! All these ideas are brilliant ones.

    #6 is really important. RIM really must start advertising and getting out there showing/educating consumers what the devices can do.

    #3 is a brilliant idea too. Give away a PlayBook with each BB7 device and then when BB10 comes along more people are going to know about the features of QNX having had hands-on experience and showing it to friends/family.

    #5 - great, give consumers incentives to upgrade their old devices. If I was still on OS5 I'd love this idea. As it is I'm on OS7 now :-)

    Lets hope the powers-that-be at RIM get to see this. Kevin, perhaps you could pass this thread/OP on. Afterall, Thorsten saidn that he would listen to the CB community and take ideas on board.

    Sith_Apprentice, maybe you should be the new Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)

    Come on RIM - show us the Marketing in action!!!
    I doubt this thread will receive enough traction to make it to even the FB, let alone RIM, and even then not to the CEO's desk. As for the CMO job, I am very much unqualified for the position. I just like to bring ideas up and when it seems fit, pass along to a few people at RIM I know and see how it does.
    03-08-12 08:45 AM
  19. _StephenBB81's Avatar
    The problem is, RIM has this. They have what are called BUMs (Business Unit Managers) whose sole responsibility is regarding a single carrier (or in the case of the Tier 2/3 carriers multiple) and a geographic area. They are responsible for sales in that area. They also have hired marketing firms (MarketStar being one) to go around the country and train sales reps. Now i dont know the status on the current MarketStar partnership, but they used to have to meet, educate, greet, etc X number of reps/managers in each of the carrier stores and 3rd party retailers.

    As for your prior post, i tend to agree mostly. Education is very important, but this is a golden opportunity for RIM. The cost of the Playbook has been written down, they already got hit (and hard) by that. So get the rest out there. 10+ million BBs per quarter. If you run 1/3 of that in Playbooks (for upgrades/new customers in a 30 day period) that gets you over 3 million playbooks into the hands of users that otherwise wouldnt have them (likely). That brings Playbook sales from what, 1-1.5 million to 4-4.5 million. That is going to attract quite a bit more developer attention.
    The BUMs are just that! BUM's they are not sales and education people they are managers who outsource, they don't seem to have a unified mission statement, they are a miss managed group. The RIM sales team needs to have levels of staff, hiring marketing firms isn't going to help RIM, they need to have a unified mission statement, they need to sell the Why BlackBerry? to the IT professionals, the the COO's the the CTO's they need to sell the Why BlackBerry? the Carrier managers, not the sales staff on the floor, the sales staff on the floor sell what is easy, the Carriers managers who build promotions need to be worked with, they need to give the incentives to the floor workers, they need Carriers that WANT support staff from RIM.
    03-08-12 08:47 AM
  20. Spencerdl's Avatar
    Advertising will not fix all,
    Education is what is needed, RIM's advantage can't be fit into a 30 second slogan,

    "tools not toy's" "BeBold" etc

    they are catchy and fun to say, but they aren't going to sell devices, or stop an Enterprise or even a SMB user from moving from BlackBerry, RIM should expand on their advertising effort with a 30M budget for RIM sales staff, not rep houses and 3rd party groups but a group of people for North America with a unified mission statement, a list of BES installations, Carrier support/sales staff who are specific to each carrier, and leaders/managers targeting the message of Products to Businesses, to Universities, to Governments .

    Apples Ad strategy has been great because each ad has been something that really is a simple feature to promote in a single ad spot, RIM can not play that game, they don't have that. it is the beauty of complexity that makes BlackBerry's great tools, it is full device and software integration saving seconds here and seconds there, it is the hardware feel, you can sell a feel on TV.
    I agree with you, but you can't put everyone in a "classroom". You have to start somewhere and get consumers re-interested in BlackBerry products. That starts with promoting a product.
    03-08-12 08:50 AM
  21. Sith_Apprentice's Avatar
    The BUMs are just that! BUM's they are not sales and education people they are managers who outsource, they don't seem to have a unified mission statement, they are a miss managed group. The RIM sales team needs to have levels of staff, hiring marketing firms isn't going to help RIM, they need to have a unified mission statement, they need to sell the Why BlackBerry? to the IT professionals, the the COO's the the CTO's they need to sell the Why BlackBerry? the Carrier managers, not the sales staff on the floor, the sales staff on the floor sell what is easy, the Carriers managers who build promotions need to be worked with, they need to give the incentives to the floor workers, they need Carriers that WANT support staff from RIM.
    The BUM do not have any real authority. They are, almost, placeholder positions. Everythign they do has to be approved from on high.

    So since we partly agree, at least in theory, what needs to be done, "Why BlackBerry" then? How can they push that idea to sales staff that honestly couldnt care less? The sales people also want the iPhone or the next Android device. Very few of them use the BB as their personal device.
    03-08-12 08:51 AM
  22. anthogag's Avatar
    They need to give us the cool things we're seeing in demos at the various conferences.

    They need to be exciting. Leaders. Fun. Exciting news spreads quickly.

    They need to make things easy and clear for people. Ex. people are still asking wtf is NFC

    Phones need to be eye-catching. Ex. 'the ladies' want attractive phones

    The playbook needs another OS upgrade soon to give use some wickedly cool features in Ex pictures, camera, file manager, DocsToGo.

    ...a beautiful super hi-res screen in the next gen playbook

    And keep up with advertising, contests, promotions, community events...
    03-08-12 08:53 AM
  23. _StephenBB81's Avatar
    I agree with you, but you can't put everyone in a "classroom". You have to start somewhere and get consumers re-interested in BlackBerry products. That starts with promoting a product.
    You don't need to put everyone in a classroom.

    I'm in sales, as I'm sure most who read my post realize, my sales are LARGELY due to Education, I don't spend time Educating the people who actually use my product, I spend the time educating the people who mandate my product, who purchase my product, who own the businesses who sell my product, They in turn spend the time educating their staff, or just mandating and creating best practice procedures based on the information I provided.

    Advertising IS needed, but to say just to advertise, and more and more, is going to fix thing, it isn't. they need so much more.
    03-08-12 08:55 AM
  24. _StephenBB81's Avatar
    The BUM do not have any real authority. They are, almost, placeholder positions. Everythign they do has to be approved from on high.

    So since we partly agree, at least in theory, what needs to be done, "Why BlackBerry" then? How can they push that idea to sales staff that honestly couldnt care less? The sales people also want the iPhone or the next Android device. Very few of them use the BB as their personal device.
    See if the BUM's have no real authority they are not useful tools to RIM.

    The RIM sales team need to have some automony to promote RIM with education, training, and products.

    I think we are talking different segments of sales. you seem to be thinking I want to train the floor workers in carrier stores.
    when I want to train the corporate marketing managers, purchasers, the training staff, people who make the corporate decisions for the carriers, and feed it down to the people who sell to the public.
    I want to train and sell to the Enterprise managers, RIM does NOT have the toys that the consumer market wants as a full market, they DO have features that Businesses can use, they just need to know they exist and HOW to use them
    03-08-12 09:00 AM
  25. Spencerdl's Avatar
    You don't need to put everyone in a classroom.

    I'm in sales, as I'm sure most who read my post realize, my sales are LARGELY due to Education, I don't spend time Educating the people who actually use my product, I spend the time educating the people who mandate my product, who purchase my product, who own the businesses who sell my product, They in turn spend the time educating their staff, or just mandating and creating best practice procedures based on the information I provided.

    Advertising IS needed, but to say just to advertise, and more and more, is going to fix thing, it isn't. they need so much more.
    I agree with you, and I spent quite a bit of time in sales also (my younger years), but before the education starts you have to get the consumer interested. Out of site, out of mind.....don't need education on a product that's not visible. If I SEE a product advertised all the time, my human nature takes over, and I become inquisitive. THEORY is sound and works
    03-08-12 09:05 AM
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