From a former boss on my blog: “Paul, this is a great read with some great insights. To keep Goldmine relevant in the world of SF.COM, MS Products, Sugar, and others is a credit to you and your team”
“relevant”: that’s the mission.
i have spent almost a third of my life working on GoldMine… and earning money, traveling, multiple roles , weathering change.
GoldMine first shipped in 1989. I started in 1999. Version 6.5 was the most popular version circa 2005. it was sold through retail and value added resellers.
Early versions relied on the Borland Database Engine as part of dBase. We released a Microsoft SQL version in 2000. We quickly became the largest SQL OEM.
GoldMine had many firsts:
- For many companies, first networked application (I kidded we could be a network wiring test equipment)
- Built in “instant message” for users
- An email composer and inbox ( this was before Al Gore invented the internet 🙂 )
- Knowledgebase
It has all these and more.
I was hired to manage a region of resellers — help them stay informed, help with deals, ride alongs. I spent a lot of time on the road.
the channel was key: feet on the street, close to customers, and complementary services.
- the unequivocal logic of Spock;
- the party host of a love cruise director;
- the wisdom and inner strength of a King Fu master;
- the antics of Bozo;
- a little negotiating and arm twisting of a Soprano;
- Leona Helmsley? Hmmm
It was important to show some gratitude. Benihana was a favorite.
We’d do quarterly regional sakes meetings… a bit of training and recognition.
I remember one meeting where the crystal award hadn’t arrived — so I hand lettered a piece of paper as a temporary piece. A few weeks later I was in the partner’s office and I noticed that the paper was in the display case. I asked, “ didn’t the award get here,” … he answered, “yep, but THIS is what YOU gave me… recognition is very personnel. I was very humbled.
We did a lot of trade shows. I had a fun trick where I’d go into walkway of visitors, hold my hand out and start walking towards someone saying loudly, “Bob, its great to see you!” Someone Always grabbed my hand. My young friends in the booth were amazed, the subject confused: that’s trade shows.
I attended one show and our partner AT&T /ncr had a booth… so I asked if I could join them instead of having two locations: turns out they were a bit miffed that we were there competing… so my gesture went a long way… they talked up that they had the publisher in their booth and I introduced them to my larger deals… one gesture generated a lot of good will, a trusted working relationship, and commissions
we sold a lot of box product to staples and Office Depot. But I noticed we were never on the shelf…so I asked, “why aren’t we on the shelf? “; “well, your price is $200 and we lock up anything more than $100.”
well, what can we do? So no we implemented the “empty box” program where we’d include at least one empty box for the shelf that the customer could see and take to the register and then pull the product for them.
some times a store would close or have an excess inventory sale… many complained but any sale was good and customers could trial it and then buy the latest version upgrade and/or add users. Making lemonade out of lemons.
The APAC VP liked how I was so focused on Goldmine and invited me to visit Australia and do some workshops. One such trip we also headed to Japan and China.
Our events in China were packed: so much so I was afraid of blocked fire exits.
As I looked out at the audience, I noticed many seniors… and all had the same umbrella. It turns out that the events had low registration and so our local marketing staff offered lunch and an umbrella to attend so we would not be embarrassed.
Our trip to China was a gastronomic disaster: our CIO was medevac’d home, the Aussie rep went home two days into the trip, and towards the end our marketing rep turned green so I put her on a plane. Two of us “survived”: kevin ate carefully, I only ate well done burgers on toast — and drank a lot of gin: “feed the big kill the bug.”
We were able to visit the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, and I climbed the Sydney bridge.
I asked for two sessions a day, 2 hours each. Instead, I got one session, 4 hours . Riveting.
At a sales meeting I registered under the name Gel Kayano: it’s my brand of running shoe and inspired by a Simpsons episode where homer changes his name to Max Power from a hair drier. we were also playing a game to get an adult film star name…
During the event, our ceo called on me but I had left the session for the bath room. I hear the door open and a young girls voice sheepishly calls out, “Mr Kayano, they need you on stage.”…. You have to have fun.
To motivate my team, the supporting depts, I’d say, “time to re elect Mr. GoldMine …. Every dollar counts.” It was a rally cry at every quarter end.
One quarter end in Colorado Springs I was asked to attend a major presentation in Houston. I flew down and back but somehow I get a spider bite and at 1am I knew I had to go to emergency room. I call a colleague and he offers to take me in.
We get there and dr says I need a shot and a few hours of observation. I’m dropping trou… “ah, steve, a little privacy please.”… so he heads out to the hall and I hear him asking, “so where do you keep the medical marrijuana? Is it rolled up?”… hilarious. The real pain was I lost the sale.
I gave the order management team little calculators: to prove that my discounts were “small”
One quarter our Microsoft OEM agreement ended… we had one last chance to offer free SQL for new and upgrades. We had a bang up quarter, working late into the night. It was dubbed The SQL Panic of 2013x
I flew in at the end of every quarter —- to sit in the orders area and be available to address exceptions or errors. Some quarter end bits:
- I’d buy lunch — but it’s not about the money: I’d take the orders, call it in, pick it up. Gratitude is something you do…shows respect
- we’d meet for wings and drinks at least one night at Back East
- one year end, we noticed that there weren’t many orders — then discovered that the fax machine was out of paper…
- On New Year’s Eve I stayed at home. We’d go to dinner and at a table of doctors, it was me as the one on call.
- one quarter a partner promised an order.. but decided to go home and take a nap—, I called and reminded him of his promise, told him to get off the couch and get me the order. I had him take pictures if the order and fedex way bill and of him dropping it off…our CFO accepted it.
- we had a theme song;
This chapter isn’t finished… there is lots to share about marketing and product management. frankly, if I add GoldMine After Dark it’s a separate volume.
In my 20 tears, there has been a lot of change. There is an old Cagney/Fonda/Lemmon movie called Mr Roberts —- about a naval officer who weathers the storm above while keeping the troops focused. My team recognized a similar attribute— and another VP gave me feedback on my style ; “that I lead from the front.” I’m incredibly proud of this. I live and breathe what my team experiences. I’m with them. The Order of the Palm is recognition that keeping cool is a good thing. As a middle manager, I kept the team focused on our mission.. and helped maintain a calm situation.
Today, I am General Manager. I run the business as an intrapreneurship e.g., a company within a company. I help the team set development priorities, manage customer escalations, deliver marketing, manage our channel relationships.
when is an intrapreneurship appropriate?
- when it is a business that is not a synergistic fit with the main product line
- little or no synergies in marketing, development, or other aspects of go-to-market
- Success requires:
- P&L accountability
- independent decision making
- use of company systems to avoid duplication
- follow corp policies on most business policies
- allow team to focus on their customers
- separate sales/marketing
My day is spent fighting to win deals, delivering product releases and communications to retain users.
I estimate by some napkin projections I have managed over $150 million.
I focused our messaging to support the brand. We are authentic, responsive, and provide a great value.
My 24 years have been wonderful: so many business decisions, so many great people, so much fun.
our successes were because of all who helped us, who cheered us on. Any missteps are on me.
We will keep on keepin on.
A blog by Paul Petersen 
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