These are a few of my favorite things....

Valentine's Day is coming this week. Rather than discuss the best ideas from Victoria's Secret (wah-wah-wah), Godiva Chocolate, the florist or some other expected purveyor of romance, I think I'd rather go in another direction. If you really love someone, show them how much with a gift of .....wait for it...PRODUCTIVITY!

...hey, give me a break, you try to come up with witty, fresh sales-blogging ideas on a regular basis...

Now, here's what I'm talkin' about:

BLACKBERRY PEARL - BEST BB FOR ME.

Late last year, I bought a Blackberry Pearl. To borrow and butcher a phrase, "How did I ever leave home without it?!?!"

For a few years, I rejected getting a Blackberry, because I knew inevitably I would "holster" it and rub up against a wall, car door, file cabinet, etc. and ruin it. Or worse, like I've heard from numerous others, I would inadvertably test its buoyancy in the rest room. I know, that's gross. But I've heard at least three versions of the nasty tale: 1) "when I loosened my belt, it just slipped in"; 2) "my thigh hit it and it jumped in"; or 3) (this is the worst one) "ever try balancing one of those between your shoulder and head, while..." well, you can figure out the rest.

I also felt a little dread whenever I was in a face to face meeting without my laptop open and someone asks if I'm available at a certain time and date in the future. "Um, I think that works for me." I would stutter. If only I had a Blackberry, or some other smart phone that synched with my Outlook calendar. I had tried a bulky windows-type mobile device and hated the size, user interface and navigation.

So, instead I prayed each night before gooing to sleep for two things: 1) a Blackberry that comfortably fit into my pants pocket like a clamshell cell phone and 2) a Giants Super Bowl victory.

WOO-HOO!!!!!!

This thing is amazing. It opens attachments, holds my MS outlook calendar, contacts, notes, and email. It even has a good-enough camera. One feature I haven't tried yet (no reason so far) is the external memory. You can shove one of those mini SD cards in the side making it a true mini-computer. It can hold songs, videos, pictures, or more importantly, sales tools like scripts, proposals, slides, etc.

Love it.

GOOGLE DESKTOP

Thrive even with one of these:

I've been using Google desktop for over a week now, and I'm very impressed. You really don't need folders in Outlook or My Documents anymore. I believe a neat desk is the sign of a sick mind. If you agree, this tool is for you.

Let's say you need to put a proposal together. You'd rather not start from scratch, and it is a hassle or at least time consuming to search your electronic folders for a good template. But, you know intuitively that if you just had a particular email and/or file from the past, you could pull the proposal together quickly and move on. Enter Google Desktop with search. Tap in a few key words that relate to the proposal you need to write, wait a couple seconds, and Viola` up pops a list of files - word docs, spreadsheets and emails from the cracks and crevices of your hard drive that you can borrow from to create that winning proposal. yes, it seraches outlook email as well as you electronic folders.

We teach CustomerCentric Sellers to confirm what they've learned on sales calls through correspondence. Often the current situations and capabilities discussed are similar from one account to another. Why start from scratch? Use Google desktop to save time for more important things, like doing something sweet for your Valentine.