Conference 7.286::digital

    Okay....
    
    Let me make sure I understand that last one so that I can 'splain it to
    the rest of the folks who come across this gem:
    
    
    Linden -- some type of tree
    
    Cortex -- inner area of the brain
    
    Sahara -- desert in northern Africa
    
    K2 -- brand of skis based on some mountain somewhere
    
    Kalahari -- I don't know!!! (but its sounds African-like)
    
    DMCC -- some new type of RAP group?
    
    NEBS -- a mail order business forms business ?New England Bus. Systems?
    
    
    :-)
    
    Randy
    

    I couldn't help .1 -- my fingers wouldn't leave the keyboard alone.
    
    
    Sounds like you did good -- REAL good!!!
    
    
    Randy
    

I didn't do anything......

They, the customers, need our stuff. We need to tell
them we have it....

When it's booked and shipped and invoiced and paid for
and the customer is still delighted, then I'll have done
'something'

	definition of terms...


		
	Linden is a 2100 server with a VME chassis in place of EISA

	Cortex is the new 288mhz Alpha/vme single board computer

	Sahara is the 10/8/1 (pci/isa/cpu) slot OEM backplane

	K2 is a PCI/ISA SBC that incorporates a 275mhz 21064A

	Kalahari is the 10/3/1 slot backplane 

	DMCC is the acronym for Digital Modular Computing Components
	(previously know as LEGO)

	NEBS is a telephony acronym for Network Equipment Building
	Standard.

All of this from the resurgent group that built the PDP11 so many years
ago............ we're baacckk!  

    kalihari, desert region in Africa.  Best known in Popular culture for a
    movie "The Gods must be Crazy."
    
    ;-)
    
    I need a bit of levity this late at night.
    
    meg

    
    Prima facie example of a Man With A Mission.
    Congratulations, Rod!
    Your story is the kind of success that needs to be highlighted in
    Digital Today. Your attitude reflects a sense of purpose that I talked
    about in another note. And I know that there are many other people like
    you out on the front lines and here in the trenches - (sorry for the
    war metaphor, but it's the first thing I thought of, what with thunder,
    lightning, blackouts, and coded language (^:)
    
    I've asked Bob Schneider of Digital Today to get in touch with you.
    Hope that's all right.
    
    Gloria

    RE: The Original Note
    
    All of us in the field need to get above the current fray going on in
    the company, and do our jobs, as the original noter has done.  In the
    recent weeks I have also done/been involved in, shows and specific
    non-disclosures.  They are very, very productive, IF we get the correct
    word out to the customers.
    
    As an example, the recent non-disclosures we did in Maynard (great
    group, BTW) resulted in orders for approximately $1M already.  I don't
    mean stuff that was coming our way already.  I mean incremental, since
    they reinforced my selling points and helped to put the customers over
    the edge as far as ordering.  More orders will result because of this
    activity.
    
    Recent industry shows we have done in the Government space have
    resulted in not just orders, but customers questioning why they are
    using other vendors over Digital.  Again, incremental and long-term $
    are resulting.
    
    While it's okay to occasionally vent in some of the conferences in the
    Notes area (we all need a vent now and then), realize as has the
    individual in the original note that there are some customers that need
    our offerings.  Keep plugging away - you might even have some fun doing
    it.
    
    Thanks for starting this note.  It was good to see a positive one after
    all the BS that has occurred recently.
    
    Chuck                

    Nice job, Rod!
    
    

    
    Had the opposite experience today...  Spent several days setting up
    for a 1/2 day show at a LARGE prime contractor here in Denver.  We 
    used to pull $21 MILLION a year out of this account.

    Net attendance:

    	RSVP: 		25
    	Attending:	 5


    I had a long conversation with one fellow who loves Alpha and Digital.
    He's had workstations that have been running for three years with no
    problems, while the competitors crash frequently.  It was quite a boost
    to hear him say such positive things.

    His biggest question is why we don't tell the world how wonderful
    our hardware is.  That was one question I couldn't answer.

    Sharon

    It sounded nice, but if you scratch the surface you see that:
    
    - We still talk in INTERNAL terms that mean SQUAT to each other unless
      you dig into it.  This internal lingo confuses our distributors and
      folks outside the company.  Let's start using product names early
      and often to create mindhsare and DROP the internal code words
      of dingbats, safaris, kalaharis, and gleeboles.
    
    - You can identify all that you like, unless the lead and distribution
      mechanisms are there it just made you feel good but did not pay your
      salary.  Are the mechanisms in place for you to follow up on those
      leads, track 'em, see if they're going forward or south?  If not,
      nice try but no order.  (Digital, the forever 'feel good company'
      seems to forget that after the event, there is a lot of hard word
      that needs to get done that we did NOT budget for nor think about, 
      but is often "oh that's a field problem" or "an implementation
      issue...")
    
    - There are likely hosts of folks in management (i.e. mid level,
      product, to VP level) who really do not know how their product
      is actually marketed (crept into prospect awareness), sold (money
      change hands), supported (customer kept happy), grown (the start
      of the NEXT sale).  Until the VP of a business unit can pick up
      any sale and MENTALLY track it and then go VERIFY that his or her
      concept of tracking works - we will NOT be fixed by a long shot.
      Management must both KNOW how the product marketing, sales and
      support process works as well as be able to check (via admin 
      systems) at any point any specific detail.  (By the way, the lack
      of ability to do that causes us to 'bury costs' in product prices,
      not be able to attribute hidden costs (like flashlight batteries)
      to specific product revenue streams, NOT track it into product
      designs, NOT track support costs of products to fix product designs,
      etc.  We make a profit on paper in one area (sales out) and then
      eat it in support, service, post-sales fixups.
    
    My challenge to the base noter is to track all of that, cost of sales,
    support and service for those specific sales for the next year.  Also
    see if the DISTRIBUTOR and CHANNEL could support it WITHOUT specific
    local help. Start doing that and we'll stop managing by spreadsheet and
    numbers and begin to see relationships of costs to numbers and
    processes.  Understanding the processes is the key to managing to
    success - not just numbers of salesout or widgets per second.
    
    We build absolutely phenomenal products. But our inability to integrate
    the boxes in the organization (manufacturing, sales, distribution,
    support, etc.) and fix their interrelations is killing us with costs.
    
    What I really would like to see is a Digital organization chart with
    the CUSTOMER on top, and a clear articulation of how each of us touches
    the customer - from front line sales and support thru to product
    engineering.  If we did THAT chart right - we would be on top of the
    world.
    
    How has what you done today helped make it easier for somebody to
    become a customer....?  Can you VALIDATE that assumption and trace it
    through the maze?
    
    my 2�
    j

re: .9
    
>    What I really would like to see is a Digital organization chart with
>    the CUSTOMER on top, and a clear articulation of how each of us touches
>    the customer - from front line sales and support thru to product
>    engineering.  If we did THAT chart right - we would be on top of the
>    world.
    
Yes, and that would strongly imply organizing the company on an
"outside-in" basis, where the customer sees one Digital (the
solutions provider), rather than a collection of groups often
working at cross-purposes.  Then each successive layer of the
organization behind that would have to justify itself to the one
in front of it in order to exist.

But breaking the "inside-out" organization habit seems to be
difficult, as it's so taken for granted.  (Plus i suppose it
makes it somewhat easier to sell off parts of your business, if
that's the mode you're in.)

- paul

Well Bucko (.9)

They are my leads. In my territory, for my product.

So I'll track them, move them, close them, ship them
and keep the customer happy.

You don't like K2? Is EBM44-AZ better? I don't think so.

Cha......ching!!!!!

.9 is loonng note and hard to digest.

Let me say first, that I'm the sales rep, not marketing
not sales support, not engineering. SALES!!! Got it?


All of these prospects now have my card, with my E-mail 
address and my home office number. They know what I look 
like and what I sound like. They know how they can talk 
to ME.

I don't need a distributor, even though they should be
involved for low volume. I don't need anything more than
what I have already; especially not the need the TRACK
cost of sales. What a useless suggestion. What a waste of
effort. Close it, ship it. 

Go build your org chart. Make it perfect. And a perfect org
chart is all you'll have... a snapshot in time of how 
everybody link to everyone else. for that particular moment.

Useless twenty minutes later.

Forget all the tracking, charting, adminstrivia. Go meet a 
customer. Find out what he wants. Compare it to what we
have and tell him about the matchups. Feed the excitement!

What this whole note was about was that we need to 
let the entire mass of customers out there know what we
do as a company. Build it...they will come. 


Digital paid me .7 times 20% of my week's pay for 8 hours
on Thursday. Digital received 150% of what they paid for.

Me? I found an opportunity to exceed my annual goals by 
40-50% if I can win it all. I got the better deal.

Now I've got some quotes to do.......C'ya
 

    G'day,
    
    Rod, it would seem that being a salesperson is a bit like being a
    car driver who knows little of mechanics and engineering - as long as
    performance of the vehicle meets expectations ie press gas pedal, go
    faster, then all is great... Now I see that as fine... indeed, I wish I
    knew of more salesfolk who can convey the excitement and sense of sales
    urgency that your note gives....
    
    but where .9 is coming from, I suspect, that when you want (or need) to
    know more about the car's mechanics, then it becomes real hard... to
    draw the analogy further, if you are the computer bit that monitors fuel
    efficiency, you had better know what fuel costs, and where it is
    used/wasted or you will not control the economy very well.  (as
    happened with the Airbus that crashed at the Paris air show a year or
    two back... the pilot moved throttles to full power since the ground
    was getting raaaather close..and the economy system said that was 
    wasteful, and pulled them back.....)
    
    To achieve this understanding, there is an accounting philosophy of
    attributing costs where they are incurred which is usually ignored for
    the easier philosophy of averaging them.. This means that some products
    carry excessive burden and become too dear, or at least do not return
    the profit (or recognition of contribution) that they deserve. Worse,
    some products are sold too cheaply, because they do not carry their
    real costs. Does this matter... you bet. 
    
    To be able to sort all this out means that costs do have to be tracked. 
    
    
    ... and when you sell something, do you sell the support and
    maintenance? DO you introduce the customer to their support rep? or at
    least give them a phone number that will work and get them the service
    they need?  and one for when it does not?
    
    if not, then, I suggest, the customer is buying on your excitement, and
    could become dissilusioned as 'buyer remorse' sets in. If you are, then
    hey great going and tell more folk about how its done..
    
    Regards
    Derek

    Where can I get more info on DMCC/LEGO?  What Web page did the customer
    get a look at?
    
    Frank

    re: .9 & .13  Start your own topic for such internally focused "Whine
    of the time" notes!
    
    Rob: Will DMCC have any SMP machines (not VME)?  Who to ask? 

Frank:

> -< Is there a TOEM NOTEFILE? >-

  There is, but it's restricted. Meanwhile, I'll send you a pointer
  to someone who should be able to help you, or at worst, will be
  one "indirection" away from helping you.

                                           Atlant

	RE: WEB page for DMCC

	Internally check out 

	http://www.ayo.dec.com:80/ert/dmcc/

	\Bob Lail

    Re: .13 (and .9, .12, ....)
    
    

    Build it....and they will come?
    
    >FIELD OF DREAMS?
    
    > A BETTER MOUSETRAP?
    
    Sell and market it and they will buy?
    
    Good luck to you folks in the trenches...do Digital still make watches?
    
    Shane
    

    
>    Rob: Will DMCC have any SMP machines (not VME)?  Who to ask? 

No SMP planed at present.  This is a PICMG (PCI Industrial Component Manufacturing
Group) standard board.  This places strict contraints on size and I/O.  But it
does mean it is plug compatible with our own Intel products and other PICMG
compatible boards.  So, we can sell our passive backplane for other processor
boards or our processor boards for other peoples backplanes.

Al Cook
FAE
OEM group

    G'day
    
        <<< Note 4734.15 by USPS::FPRUSS "Frank Pruss, 202-232-7347" >>>

    >re: .9 & .13  Start your own topic for such internally focused "Whine
    >of the time" notes!
    
    No-one is whining... .9 is, I suggest saying that internal affairs
    should have the same attitude as Rod about servicing the customers.. and
    I was trying to explain to Rod (who quite as likely knows already) that
    internal processes kinda matter (and that maybe we do not have it quite
    right [though generally, it _does_ work] )
    
    And if Rod's enthusiasm is anything to go by, those orders will close!
    
    Maybe we should start a note called 'Ring the bell... here's a sale!
    where every sale of any size can be recorded - with any luck it would
    soon outstrip the WAF note in joyoflex!
    
    We need all the good news we can get!
    
    dj

      Boy, .0 sure was a breath of fresh air!  Thanks!

    re .21
    
    We did have a "Bell Ringer" award for folks who closed large orders. 
    That year we rang lots of bells, grew the business by 30% over goal,
    and at the end of the year they fired most of the Sales and Support
    folks.  It was very motivational.  There are NOT enough people in most
    field locations to even hear the close of the door at the beginning or
    end of the day...let alone a bell. (i.e. we have *NO* field offices in
    some states anymore!)
    
    re .15
    
    I'll stop griping about our internal focus when we own 80% of a few
    markets, don't have to worry about job/company stability, when folks
    stop calling me about reading about layoffs in the paper and "are you
    OK" etc., get the 800#s that we have to provide one-stop support, NOT
    get put on hold for 10-15 minutes with 800#s, and when I concentrate
    90% of my time selling more products and only 10% in exception
    management, and have more distributors beating our door wanting to sell
    our product as opposed to me begging them to switch a customer to our
    line.
    
    We have a LOT of work to do and NOT a lot of time...

    Now, look...
    
    I'm just trying to find the right fly to catch a trout that will weigh
    in at 1800 quad-cpu EV56 units.
    
    When I find a note that looks useful, I don't want to be interrupted
    by any drivel about cost of sales, "did you quote services" etc, ad
    nauseum.  Those folk can sit on the beach with their EXCEL
    spreadsheets.  We'll nail 'em sooner or later.
    
    Bottom line: do you want your BYTE magazine and Christmas packages a day
    earlier on not?  The USPS thinks you do and is willing to spend $200M
    to make it happen.
    
    Even if you don't really want it, the USPS will spend the $200M to make
    it happen, as they will save $100M a year in labor (labour) if they
    commit.
    
    We think we want the business and have the products to make it real. 
    If DEC can't make a buck on a deal like this, then we're all history. 
    That's not something I can worry about.  I just don't have time.
    
    Back to our regularly scheduled notesfile...
    
    FJP

    RE: .13
    
    Folk who buy from my team don't get "buyer's remorse".  They get my
    home phone number and pager.
    
    And they're good even if DEC sh**can's me!
    
    FJP

RE:.13
(For a Support perspetive)

	I have a few "important" customers who know my pager and 
mobile number, and I am contactable on one or the other at all times 
of the day or night. When they get serviced by me, I try to give them 
the best I can. I don't get paid for it, it just means I am willing 
to help and if Digital drops me, they still have my number, and its 
amazing how quick a company will offer you 40/week if they hear 
things are shaky..

    re 40/week
    
    40 what?   Steve.
    
    If it's 40 hours I can't imagine you being satisfied with that :-)
    
    /Chris.
    

    $40/week?