RE: New iSeries Purchases ? "Family loyalty"; IBM's big mistake (IMHO)

["Boling, David E." <bolingde@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

-----Original Message-----
From: Pat Barber
Here is an interesting point... N.C. State Gov. remains a "huge"
customer of IBM even with no reps(that I know of) making calls.

--------end original message-----

NC State Gov. is not as "huge" as customer as it use to be, very little new
business, mainly upgrades to mainframe, pc business etc.  The iseries can't
be even considered in most projects because it is considered a closed
system.  The public schools are about the only offices with AS/400's.

IBM will send in teams of Reps, off and on, to State of NC (I was mainly
speaking of local governments which is still a large market).

-----Original Message-----
From: Chris Rehm
Well, I guess there are some questions to consider. When you mentioned Ford,
Campbell's, and Colgate it made me consider how Ford would respond if I
called their corporate offices and told them it was time to rebuild
my transmission.
--------end original message-----

The fact is, Ford wouldn't sell many auto's if they didn't have a system in
place to service their products (rebuild their tranmissions).  Having good
dealerships takes money, time, effort and leadership on Fords part.  Ford
surveys new car purchasers about the dealer and the service they received.
Ford web site sends your request to purchase auto' to dealers in your area
and tells you of dealer only options that are available.  I would image Ford
spends millions on building dealers.

The point is, it's the manufactures duty to have these in place and have
them working correctly.  IBM could have industry call centers that would
field all calls for solutions.  These could then be turned over to marketing
Reps with personal connections to BP's that are the best in their industry.
Ones that they know, first hand, will do an excellent job.  All thing equal
(incentive, etc.) I think the Iseries would fair well.  To the customer one
call for a solution gets you connected to a list of the best solution
providers for what you want to do.