CRM Update – Jun 20 : 1:06 pm

Have you used Pinterest to promote your business-to-business (B2B) company?Many consumer-facing businesses have had a lot of success promoting themselves with Pinterest.A recent study by SteelHouse shows that “Pinterest Users Are Nearly Twice as Likely to Purchase Than Facebook Users.”However, many B2B businesses are still wondering how to promote themselves with Pinterest.Check out how these B2B businesses are using Pinterest. Try to replicate their techniques for your business.Here are 7 tips for successfully using Pinterest for your B2B business…

Although Apple’s mobile operating system iOS is still leading the app-downloading market, Google’s Android platform is keeping up pace with its rival, according to a new infographic.
App Annie, a provider of app store analytics and intelligence for iOS, Mac and Android publishers, highlights in an infographic that shows iOS makes up 71% of global revenue for app downloads — compared to Android’s 29% share — but both companies are growing 14% year-over-year in revenue for app downloads.
“iOS publishers are undoubtedly making more money than Android publishers,” an App Annie spokesperson told Mashable…

A couple of weeks ago, we shared the story of Devotee, who tried to buy a computer directly from Lenovo’s site, only to have the order canceled out from under him with no explanation why. You may remember reading this story, and so did Lenovo employees. They wondered what happened, too, and reached out to Consumerist to help Devotee and figure out why they weren’t able to sell him anything and what went wrong.

Devotee explains what happened next:

After my issue was posted by the Consumerist, i was contacted by Lenovo’s Consumer Experience Manager, who put me in touch with their Sales Manager…

2.6 million out of 11.2 million Cubans are Internet users.
Imagine a world that prohibits you from logging onto your Facebook? No status updates, no friendly photos. Imagine needing permission to check your daily deals and emails, even from a mobile device. Image if Internet was banned.
Welcome to Cuba.
Broadband Internet is restricted in Cuba, leaving the small population of Internet smugglers to agonize over the long wait time for an email to load. Businesses and government operations are greatly affected by the lack of connection to “the outside world,” but clearly Castro had other important things going on…

If your sales calls aren’t working, you might be sabotaging yourself. Make sure you’re not clinging to any of these ideas.Yesterday, I provided a basic script for cold calling–but there are still people out there who don’t think cold calling actually works. If you’re one of them, it’s possible that you’re actually sabotaging your own sales calls.Before going any further, I want to point you at a cool resource, a free e-book by Wendy Weiss, one of my favorite experts on this subject. In the book, she points out that it’s your beliefs about cold calling that can make you ineffective…

Forget those paper “Buy one, get one free” cards that customers tend to lose anyway. There’s a better way–no hole-punching required.Still handing out those “Buy 10 get the 11th Free” cards? Mobile payment start-up Square thinks it has a better way to reward customers’ loyalty–no hole-punching required.The San Francisco-based company announced software updates Tuesday to both its consumer app, Pay With Square, and its merchant app, Square Register. Pay With Square, which is available on iOS and Android devices, will let consumers keep track of multiple digital loyalty cards on their smartphones…

You might be surprised what drove the four-star general to succeed.For years now, in my writing and speaking, I have been making the point that a company culture of kindness and respect is not only the right thing to do, it’s good for business. I was very proud recently when one of my frontline call center workers, Linda Bean, cut out an article on this topic from a local paper and highlighted important sections she wanted me to read. When I have gotten to the point that my CEO message is resonating with employees so much that they point out relevant ideas they’ve seen elsewhere, I feel good that I’m getting through…

“We appreciate and value your feedback.”
How many times have we heard that particular assertion while waiting on hold for yet another customer service representative? How many times have we seen that written at the bottom of another receipt survey that we’re invited to take? Or how about the large-scale stickers on the back of commercial vehicles querying you right then and there: “How is my driving?”
At every turn, (across industries and businesses large and small) organizations are telling us how important it is that they get good feedback from their consumers…

Carol has been watching the AMC program “Breaking Bad” using Comcast on-demand. Specifically, the Catch-up service so she can catch up on season 4 before the new season starts next month. This service skips episodes and doesn’t seem to actually be designed to catch anyone up, though…unless that customer is an HD subscriber.

I have been watching “Breaking Bad” through Comcast’s on-demand Catch-up service. Last week they offered episodes 401 through 403. So this week, it should start with episode 404, right? Wrong! It skipped an episode and started with 405…

Microsoft Dynamics CRM is all about efficiency and automation. However, there are certain tasks related to CRM that can take way too much time. In particular, if you ever had the need to add a large number of options to an Option Set, you know how time consuming it can be.  Well, JoeCRM is about to make your day!
(Please note that this functionality is not available with Global Option Sets)
In this example, we are going to assume that your Option Set (OptionSet or PickList) is on the Account Entity…

7 Midsummer Night Dream Insights for Social Media
Like William Shakespeare’s popular play, A Midsummer Night Dream, blurs the line between dream and reality, social media blurs the line between digital and real relationships.
For many participants, social media engagement can feel more authentic than our actual lives. In honor of the summer solstice, let’s examine Shakespeare’s valuable social media lessons.
Here are seven quotes from Midsummer Night’s Dream that show us how to interact on social media…