Out of the Blue

Tweet

The entrepreneurs who have left IBM found much good to take with them. They were horrified not at big business, as you might imagine, but at bad business. So they set about building thriving companies by taking the best of what IBM taught its employees and shedding what no longer worked. Their new companies may be seen as attempts to re-create what IBM once stood for -- to re-create the company they joined rather than the one they left.

The most visible sign of an IBM heritage is a company's well-trained sales force. "The ability to sell is key to growing a company," says Mike Coles, chief executive of Timecorp Systems Inc. He's convinced the rigorous training and motivation of his salespeople was the reason his $5-million company achieved the #410 spot on the 1994 Inc. 500 list of America's fastest-growing private companies.

At Big Blue, Coles learned IBM founder Thomas Watson Sr.'s first business principle: respect for the individual. Coles saw how that philosophy translated into myriad company-building strategies and everyday tactics. Perhaps the most visible was a sales philosophy propelled by people rather than product.

Historically, according to Tom Watson Jr., "IBM used sales commissions, advances, quotas, and guaranteed territories, at a time when most of those practices were still looked upon as innovations." The company groomed its elite force by sending every new sales hire to one year of intensive training followed by an apprentice period spent observing veterans, and then graduating them into a culture that encouraged excellence with lavish recognition and rewards.

Coles joined the company straight out of Florida State in 1966 with a dream of one day becoming IBM's controller, and like everyone else who aspired to the top management at IBM, went into sales. After the yearlong training program in Tallahassee (yes, he even sang songs from the IBM songbook), Coles won "rookie of the year" honors in his first year as a salesman, qualified for the Hundred Percent Club (which recognized salespeople who sold at least 100% of their annual quota) five times, and earned one coveted Golden Circle recognition, which sent him and his wife on a paid trip to Bermuda.

IBM's values took root for Coles, who left in 1980 out of disillusionment over the company's flagging performance. He went on to form and sell two companies before launching Timecorp, in 1988. Timecorp sells software systems that enable large retailers like Wal-Mart and Chi-Chi's to standardize rules and regulations or scheduling practices. Coles made sure building a sales-driven culture was his company's first priority. "You are not going to build a company without crack salespeople," he says.

Timecorp's training resembles IBM's down to everything but songs from the company songbook. Rather than hiring one employee at a time, Coles signs on at least three or four sales staffers at once, so he can train them in Timecorp University's four-week symposium. At that intense cultural and product indoctrination, Timecorp veterans teach newcomers about the company's products and how to sell them. After that the rookies do an obligatory apprenticeship with the pros. Once they complete training and become salespeople, they fight for corporate prizes.

Timecorp has also cloned IBM's practice of giving trips and recognition to excellent performers. Last year 16 of the company's 45 employees were rewarded for their efforts: each of the 16 winners was invited to bring a guest along on a cruise to the French West Indies aboard a windjammer. Drawing from the time when "you could not go into an IBM branch office without seeing a new-account bell or horn," Coles has mounted a huge brass bell in the Timecorp lobby for employees to ring to celebrate when they land a new account or debug a key product.

Coles also writes annual "quota letters" to his salespeople, detailing such goals as how much business he expects them to do in the coming year. He took that tradition directly -- and unconsciously -- from IBM. "I do that without even thinking about it," he says.

Well-motivated teams with a cultlike commitment to the company aren't limited to businesses like Timecorp. In fact, many companies founded by former IBMers extend the rewards and company-culture building beyond sales. At Bottomline Technologies, whose 150 employees include 30 IBM alums, all are treated to rewards, recognition, and corporate-culture building as extensive as the computer giant's. Bottomline started this year with a company "Kickoff Meeting," in which about 100 employees gathered at a local movie theater for a daylong event. At the meeting promotions were publicly recognized, divisions summed up their goals, and a dozen top performers were honored with $400 leadership awards. In March the high-performing salespeople attended a "winterfest" in Las Vegas. "It's important," says president Dan McGurl, "to have a regular system for rewarding excellence."

 PREV  1 | 2 | 3 | 4  NEXT 

Read more:

Sign-up for our Sales and Marketing Newsletter

Email Address: