SELLING THE WHEEL by JEFF COX & HOWARD STEVENS

Author:JEFF COX & HOWARD STEVENS
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction
Publisher: Simon and Schuster

“Well,” said the Oracle, swirling the last chunk of lobster in the last of the melted butter, “it’s not hopeless.”

“But there’s not a lot of cause for optimism, either,” said Max. “Is that what you mean?”

“What it comes down to is that you have a big strategic decision to make,” said the Oracle. “Either you can follow the technology . or you can follow the market.”

“Uh-huh. But . what do you mean?”

“Let’s say you take the first choice. You choose to be a technology company. In that case, you’re going to have to reinvent the Wheel.”

“Reinvent the Wheel? Why?”

“By that, I mean your future growth will be based on your ability to create new advances in technology. You’ll be on a path that takes you into territories of undiscovered knowledge. The role of your company is to sell what you learn—and what you can make useful—through products and services. Now, if you make this choice, you won’t have to change very much in terms of your market strategy and your company’s culture. Yours is already a technology company.”

“So . we’d keep on selling Millstones or what?” asked Minnie.

“Millstones, advanced Millstones, and whatever other new, high-tech products you can create from your research and development.”

“Oh, you mean like when I wake up in the middle of the night with a new brilliant idea,” said Max.

The Oracle rolled his eyes. “Anyway, let’s say you keep on developing and selling new technology. You could do quite well. You’d keep on using salespeople like Toby—wizards and other technical experts who also know how to sell. Or you might again retain the services of a closer like Cassius if you’re selling the next wave of high-end, high-tech products that are sold ‘as is’ with no extensive support and no custom alterations, just a wham-bam-thank-you kind of a sale.”

“Wait a minute. If we do this, will the company be profitable?” asked Max.

“It can be. Very profitable, in fact. But there are some caveats. Like you’ll have to accept that your company will probably never be huge. It’ll probably never be a household name. The kind of business you’ll be doing will tend to be project work—do the job and move on—rather than steady, continuing business. And as you keep learning, keep developing, you’ll also forever have to keep finding new customers.”

“I’m not sure I like that part of it,” said Max.

“Well, technology is only new to so many people for so long. Then it becomes familiar, and they don’t need a Cassius to convince them to take the plunge or a Toby to teach them how to use it. You see, as a technology ages and matures, it becomes familiar to the people who buy it and use it. As the number of these experienced customers increases, they begin to outnumber the newbies—”

“Newbies?”

“The novices. The inexperienced customers. See, until recently, most of those who were buying wheel products had no prior experience with them. That’s what is now changing. An ever-increasing segment of the world has tried the wheel and found it to be of benefit.

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