IBM Innovations Center

Consultant

An inside-out sales solution for Big Blue OR Yes, you can teach an old Blue dog new tricks

SITUATION

In 1998, the pace of technology change was extraordinary.  The emergence of the PC 10 years earlier, client server architectures, and the rapid growth of the Internet were impacting IBM’s business so profoundly that it was nearly impossible to get detailed knowledge and strategic resources out to the field fast enough.  Outbound sales were running at about a 25% close rate, so IBM decided an inbound model for sales would be better. The company intended to improve that close rate, while maintaining its category leadership position.

Working for a dominant market leader, IBMers also sometimes had a habit of proudly extolling their technology and the value of their solutions, before understanding the customer’s actual problem or need.  This could create an egotistical distance between company and customer, and make it difficult for IBM to actually contribute to measurable customer business results in a reasonable time frame.

OPPORTUNITY

Create an attention-grabbing, world-class problem/solution design center that would serve up product, software and service simultaneously, while for the first time since the 70’s representing the entire range of IBM’s capabilities on a destination, but localized, basis. (The project was piloted in Atlanta, Chicago, NY, LA, Beijing, and Hamburg).

SOLUTION

IBM had already been instrumental in bringing the Innovation Center concept to life, working with architects like George Yu and design firms like Imaginary Forces to create a compelling environment in which to host inbound meetings with clients. Mike was engaged to help design the consulting experience component of the overall Innovation Center experience.

Working with a core team at IBM, Mike introduced a thought leadership program around adaptive enterprise and experience design. His team also developed tools that IBM strategists and practitioners – both at corporate and in the field – could use to stoke interest and deliver the compelling experience the Innovation Center concept promised. The global effort was further powered by state-of-the-art, visual effects and interactive communications that were superior to anything anybody else could offer.

RESULTS

Sales closing rates improved to more than 75%.  Results were so compelling that IBM pushed the Innovation Center concept into nine additional cities, with comparable levels of success.

Interestingly, the most compelling innovation for the center had nothing to do with technology or fancy consulting; it was simply the introduction of the practice of listening before talking. This “new” approach created a wholly different communication and accountability between customer and company, a customer-focused behavior and value set that continues today.