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 Many say that the
biggest change Diebold underwent was its entrance into the ATM business.
I believe that is true; however, I’d say another big change happened
even before we started selling ATMs….and that was the change of
ownership of Mosler.
This was an important milestone because it weakened a good competitor
and led many regional banks to consider independent local dealers. Prior
to the change of ownership, Mosler had a personal touch with its
customers, like we did. However, when it was purchased, those
relationships were lost. Also contributing to this change was the
retirement of many of Mosler’s older sales associates who had strong
relationships with customers.
Overall, this
change had a significant impact on the industry. If a customer wanted to
receive more than one proposal for business, it no longer had another
company that was comparable to Diebold’s business and prestige. More
than they had in previous years, customers began doing business with
independent and foreign equipment suppliers, which caused price to
become more important than value, at least for some customers. Diebold
competed against these parties and did well, but this transition greatly
affected the nature of the business.
Despite the
emphasis on price, we focused our efforts on selling the best quality
products (which also happened to be higher priced than some local
companies with fewer capabilities), as well as our performance and
responsiveness to fix problems. I also steered my sales staff to do the
same. To assist in this matter, I held meetings to study and review how
different types of buyers were motivated to make purchases, and made
personal calls with sales associates to customers throughout the Eastern
area. I always told them not to take me to their friends, but to their
“enemies,” my nickname for the non-buyers.
This approach was
successful not only because it built personal relationships, but because
it provided a level of comfort for customers. When a customer gets to
know you on a personal basis and know they have someone they can count
on if something goes wrong, you’ve created a sense of reliability. That
is something the independent and foreign equipment suppliers could never
do.
I joined Diebold
in 1965 as a sales engineer in the New York City, N.Y., office. I
remained in that office for 25 years, and retired officially in 1989. My
overall time with Diebold was a wonderful experience. I loved getting up
and going to work in the morning. I was fortunate because my working
time was spent with good people, from the Eastern area sales staff and
office people, to the senior officers and home-office people. My wife
and I also still remain personal friends with a number of senior bank
officers and their wives. And during those years, we were successful in
winning many significant orders for both security equipment and ATMs
from large financial institutions.
My focus was always on getting the job done to the customers’ and
Diebold’s mutual advantage. And, if a serious problem arose, we
concentrated on how we could move forward to solve it. Later, we would
identify how the trouble began so we could prevent it from happening
again.
Most importantly, no matter what happened, I know I could always count
on Diebold’s top officers, including Ray Koontz, Earl Wearstler and
later Bob Mahoney and Bob Barone for their support.
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