IBM: selling boxes or solutions?

["Reeve Fritchman" <reeve@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Dead on.  The Mid-Market Server Group drools at the thought of replacing a
server farm with a single iSeries; they have lost sight of grass roots
customers.  IBM'ers are stuck in the server room instead of selling in the
board room.
IBM'ers have forgotten about applications; business partners are supposed to
handle those sales.  IBM doesn't realize business partners need a different
sort of sales motivation than IBM reps; many IBM reps are competitive
personalities, and "winning" is the thing.  Getting the box of steaks from
the branch manager at some internal pep rally is a powerful reinforcement
(take it from me, a proud-to-be an ex-IBM'er: you don't believe it until it
happens to you).  IBM'ers say  "Show me the money", but if they really
wanted to make money, they'd be working for a business partner!
For those of us choosing to stick with solutions, it's up to IBM to _win
back_ our loyalty by providing competitive iSeries pricing and <rant>good
development tools</rant>.
<rant>
IMHO, IBM lost touch with the fact that we, as a professional community,
sell
solutions, not boxes.

I would sit at these "meetings" which amounted to nothing more than a pep
rally
with the promise of a box of steaks to whomever sold the most of whatever
for
the month.

Give me a break.  I'm not sure which was worse, IBM doing the pitch or the
other
business partners drooling over the steaks.

There has been a shift in culture in this country since I started in this
field
of endeavor.  Maybe not.  I don't know.  Maybe I was just nieve in my youth
and
I've finally learned the "real" way that the Fortune 100 operate.

But I don't care.  I'm staying on my path.  I'm sticking with solutions.

</rant>



David.X.Kahn@gsk.com wrote:
>
> James wrote:
>
> > The 600 CPW is a special (ya, that's it, it's "special") feature to
> > make your month end closing run faster. Ya, that's the ticket!
> >
> > That's what IBM calls "selling". <g>
>
> I have a different word for it. Quite a number of them actually.
>
> Dave...
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