During my first job interview with Diebold in 1976, I asked how long vault doors lasted. With great pride, my interviewer said he knew of doors that hung for more than 100 years. At that point, I walked toward the door and said I could not live long enough to sell a second door. My interviewer laughed and then explained that bank branches were growing and Diebold could provide them with more than just vault doors. Throughout the next 33 years in sales, I witnessed Diebold grow from a $90 million company mostly focused on steel-related products into a $3 billion global leader and services-based corporation.

I joined the company when it was still new to the ATM business with the TABS 500 and 550 product line. Considering the risk and courage it took for Diebold to enter an industry with well-known competitors like NCR and IBM, the company still succeeded because the right people made the best decisions at the appropriate times. Diebold’s willingness to take reasonable risks has made it successful, and that is apparent today with its diversified customer base in both the financial and consumer industries.

During my early years, a typical day work day consisted of three to five sales calls and additional business communications through the office or pay phone, the postal service or personal visits. Many times presenting my business card would grant me access to bank board rooms. Upon receiving sales, I was responsible for all customer-related issues, and any customer concerns were immediately elevated to top management to be resolved in five days. Any conditions not accepted by the customer resulted in a personal visit by upper management, including the president and/or chairman of the board.

The banking industry during the late 1970s was much different than it is today. Banking laws allowed banks to branch across county lines only if the city occupied part of the adjoining county. The primary ATM issue for banks during the time was whether to purchase online or offline ATMs. Diebold mostly sold offline ATMs, meaning the machine was available to customers 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but transaction settlement occurred manually during regular working hours or evening hours using paper magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) documents. Though this was a disadvantage, I still obtained sales because consumers liked the display screen on Diebold machines better than the competitive alternatives. They were menu-driven, and there was softness to the usability.

Throughout my 33 years with Diebold, I worked as a direct sales representative in central Kentucky and became a manufacturers’ representative in 1990, which is my current position. I still work in sales, but I sell directly for the company through a private contract. During my time with Diebold, my team and I have enjoyed many Diebold awards, including Salesman of the Year, Diebold 100 Club, Manufacturers’ Representative of the Year and several Master Circle Awards.

My decision to stay with the company can be attributed to the quality people and their abilities to successfully manage quality solutions. We not only lead a path toward solving problems for our customers, we blaze a path to accomplish our objectives.