For the nearly five decades I spent with Diebold, I witnessed the company’s revenue grow from $20 million to $3 billion. I worked in sales for almost 47 years and earned memberships in both Master’s Circle and Century Club. During my second and third years with the company, I made 100 percent of my quota.

When I was hired in 1957, Diebold’s training process was quite different from today’s. For example, Diebold never trained more than one or two people in the bank division at a time, and the training lasted six months. We had the opportunity to meet people from many different departments, including engineering, service, installation and order entry. This really benefited me throughout my entire career because I became familiar with how each operation worked. The order entry department was especially helpful in familiarizing the trainees with all types of orders and pricing.

Once my training was complete, I took a sales position covering North Carolina and South Carolina. I worked there for three years with two other Diebold associates. At that time, Diebold did not have an installation department for those states, so whenever we made a sale, we had to call associates from Georgia, Virginia or sometimes the home office in Canton, Ohio, to install the equipment.

During this time, I continued to work with each of the groups I’d interfaced with during my training, unconsciously selling with a team concept before it was labeled team selling. I communicated with each department on a regular basis, which made customers feel comfortable because we were all involved. Sometimes I would take associates from other departments on the job with me, and we would work with the customers, architects and various contractors together.

We didn’t have as many products to sell during the late 1950s. Branch banking was becoming popular, but the entire transition to nationwide branch banking was slow – lasting almost 10 years. Initially, during the 1960s, branches resided in the counties where the main office was located. Later, contiguous county banking was permitted, meaning branches spread to surrounding counties. Then branching became a statewide, interstate, nationwide and now global trend.

During the 1970s, Diebold entered the ATM business, which required the hiring of additional skilled associates who came from other corporations, including some from NCR. Around the same time I started selling some of the first ATMs, Diebold purchased a company that built modular bank units, which were similar to modular homes. We installed everything in the building, including the furniture, drapes, vaults, drive-ups, alarms, cameras and any other equipment necessary in a branch operation. We ended up selling this company primarily because branching had slowed since some banks thought they had over-branched. Eventually branching became popular again, and Diebold resumed business as usual and offered additional new products.

I retired from Diebold in 2003. During my time with the company, I am most proud of the margins I sold at—I was known as “Mr. List Price.” It was always a goal of mine for the company to see a profit after the manufacturing, installation, service and warranty costs. I did run across some challenging customers, however, who were always looking for lower prices. I told them exactly where they could find those prices, but I also reminded them that they would not receive top-quality Diebold equipment or highly-trained technicians to install and service that equipment.

Utilizing the team-selling concept made it much easier to sell at list price, and it definitely made my career as successful as it was.

Though I loved my job and got along great with those I worked with, I am enjoying my retirement. Now I spend my time reading, playing golf, traveling out of state to see my children and going to the gym at least six times a week to swim 1200-1500 yards each visit.