Professional Documents
Culture Documents
11/26/2008
|Submitted by:-
334, Gaurav Kumar
328, Jaybind Kumar Jha
359, Nilesh Chandra Sinha
368, Saurabh Kumar
329, Smriti Jha
Book Review
AN INTRODUCTION:
Among common masses, IBM is known for its leadership in terms of computer technology.
”THE IBM WAY” by Buck Rodgers, written in 1986, brings out a new face of IBM, in terms of
sales, in terms of marketing and in terms of customer satisfaction. The book brings out the
importance of sales driven approach and importance of customer satisfaction in the success of
IBM.
The book starts with description of basic values of IBM which has laid its success story for
years. They are as follows:
1) Respect for each and every customer, employee and even the competitors.
2) Providing highest level of customer satisfaction
3) Excellence in delivering the job
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“Everybody thinks selling” has been IBM’s dominant theme since its earliest days. And to ensure
that the above said theme holds good IBM recruits the best minds from approximately 350
colleges across the country, focusing on 100 top schools. Its recruitment program is truly a
selective talent search.
The newly recruits are sent for extensive training program before they go into the field. What
representatives say and do, and how they say and do is very crucial for the company’s image and
credibility. IBM’s training program is well funded ,planned and structured ,so by the time
training finishes, trainees has the skills to meet the customer with confidence. Trainees spend
time with marketing people on customer calls to get a feel for the business. A customer won’t
judge a salesperson on what he knows, but on how well he communicates what he knows. The
instructors at training programs are the company’s top sales staff that not only understand the
selling techniques but also have the keenest perceptions and business acumen that is second to
none. The trainees are taught to work as a team.
Sales target:
Each year people are provided with quota that is allotted to them after a number of
considerations. Everyone has to cover up his quota by the end of year, there are provisions for
those who just missed by a narrow margin to complete it in next year. Two basic types of quotas
each person must deal with are- product and installation, they decide the incentives that the rep
will get at the end of year. Company has nothing to do with world situations because quotas are
set considering everything, and are generally covered by the end of the year. Commissions are
given to rep for their performances, getting customers but, commissions are deduced from their
salary if the company loses the customer. Sounds harsh but the simple reason is to keep the rep
prompt enough to look after the old customer.
Company believes in giving awards and rewards to people who perform outstanding, and these
awards is distributed by every level of the line management throughout the company, the higher
the manager’s position of the manager the bigger money he has in his kitty. Company encourages
the employees to come up with innovative ideas to improve the administrative processes,
enhance products and reduce costs on the manufacturing floor and such similar ideas of use to
company. Employees were involved, to realize that their ideas count and will be respected. There
were awards like Eagle award for marketing reps, Corporate Technical Award and IBM Fellows
for technical people.
Company devotes a great deal of time to find out ways to give the people incentives in such
manners that it just don’t fulfill their monetary wishes but, also motivates them for further
development in their work.
Entrepreneurship:
The entrepreneurial spirit with which a person starts a business is needed throughout the life of
the business but, it is generally observed that even the gigantic organizations with great
reputation finds it impossible to sustain that one quality- entrepreneurship. People start becoming
very calculative, in place of having trust in self they trust the figures produced by others, though
it is needed but the trust in self should not go off. For a company to continuously grow risk
takers are important not only at the top of the organization, but throughout all levels of the
company. Nurturing of the new generation is equally important for the growth of any company
and for this each manager is given only ten to twelve people under him so that they can be
nurtured properly. To promote the sense of entrepreneurial spirit in its sales and marketing
divisions, company’s management must take its share of risk and give the salespeople a sense of
territorial proprietorship, should be as much authority and responsibility as much they can handle
as quickly as possible.
Motto of most of the ambitious employees is to move up and move on. The company should
facilitate them by giving proper opportunities so that they can relate to the company. Salary hike
is a momentary thing; they should be given opportunities to find what is within them, what they
can do and how well they can do. Talents in the people in organization should be uncovered
before it drives away.
Key Learning:
The key learning from the book was that any company should not just act as a vendor or service
provider. Rather it should be complete end to end solution provider and try to develop true
partnership with the customers. Another important point is being responsive to the customer and
appropriate actions should be taken once the feedback from the customer is recorded. The effort
which should be put in order to retain the customer should be as important as the pre-sales effort.
Also the role of field people should not be limited to only salesman; rather they should be the
mix of consultant, analyst and salesman. The marketing strategy of a firm should be based on
future needs and not just the present requirements of the customer. Appropriate awards and
rewards should be given to the employee who performs outstanding.