The Bill Hewlett Story

Don Thomson, a sales professional with Hewlett Packard in the 1970s, had been calling on a university on the east coast for six months, and obtained a prospect valued at $350,000 near the bottom of his FUNNEL. About this time, Dr. Ron MacKinnon, the chairman of the selection committee informed him that although they had been considering the HP solution, the competitor had recently made two significant announcements.

• Their newly announced computer system was superior to the HP product.
  
• They had heard from reliable sources that HP was not staying in the computer business.

The chairman also stated that the competitor had invited them to visit their factory in Detroit and software development center in Santa Barbara.

The following week, Don was visiting the HP factory when he met HP President Bill Hewlett. He introduced himself and said, "Bill, I had expected to book a large order from an east coast university this quarter, but they have been told recently by the competitor that HP is not staying in the computer business. If I could arrange for their chairman to meet with you, would you be willing to explain that you are committed to HP staying in the computer business?"

Bill replied, "Absolutely, Don."

Don phoned the chairman and asked him if he would like to meet Bill Hewlett while he was in California visiting the competition. He stated Bill would confirm that HP was committed to staying in the computer business. The chairman said he would very much like to have this meeting.

Don's sales manager was delighted that he had set up this very important meeting with Bill Hewlett, and insisted that he stay in the Bay area for the weekend to host the chairman. His sales manager's last words were to make certain the chairman got on the plane Monday morning, so he wouldn't be returning to Santa Barbara for another meeting.

What was to be a meeting with Bill Hewlett, the chairman, and Don quickly expanded when three middle-level HP managers somehow managed to include themselves. After Don made the introductions, Bill immediately said to the chairman, "Ron, I understand that you come from a beautiful part of the country. In fact, I have a friend who worked with me on radar research during the war is now living there. He has been trying to get me to visit him for some time now. The chairman replied, "Perhaps you could time this visit with the commissioning of our new HP system."

What a great way to start, as up to that point, there had been no signals that HP might win this business. After a lengthy pause, Bill turned to the HP middle-level managers and asked, "How in the world are we going to support this installation in the Northeast when our nearest support facility is 1,000 miles away?" One of the managers replied, "Well, Bill, we've just designed a remote diagnostic capability that includes hardware and software pop-up panels permitting our systems engineers to run remote diagnostics."

Bill replied, "I understand that this capability has been delayed for nearly a year." His words punctured the euphoria, but by the end of the meeting, Bill stated that he was personally committed to HP staying in the computer business.

During the weekend, Don and the chairman visited many Bay area tourism sites and late Sunday afternoon, as they were leaving a winery in Napa Valley, the chairman said, "Don, you don't even know why I am going to order from HP, do you?"

"No," Don replied.

"Don, any company that has a President like yours, who is more interested in ensuring HP customers are properly supported than in just obtaining the sale is the only kind of company with which I want to do business."

The following month, the university booked an order for a $350,000 system, and a few years later they ordered a second system for $400,000. Shortly after receiving the first order, Don wrote Bill a thank you letter telling him they had won the order. About a month later, Don received a congratulatory letter from Bill Hewlett saying to feel free to approach him directly any time he needed help.

Despite all the tips and guidelines presented in KEEPING THE FUNNEL FULL, nothing is more important than the prospect knowing you care about him and knowing you will do everything in your power to help him maximize success.