STRATEGIES & ANALYSIS
Business Corner

process is to earn the role of an implicit partner with the target customer. Alternatively, the SVS wants to literally earn a seat at the table of decision-mak-ing within the confines of that customer.

My mentor was Bill Smith, product manager and excellent SVS. When Bill was discharged from the Marines at age 28 he had already received his BS in Advance Chemical Engineering from the University of Missouri in only two and a half years and became a chemical salesman in a New York office. One of his assigned accounts was the Fleers Double Bubble Gum Company. Fleers was the market leader in bubble gum at that time but used BF Goodrich latex, the main component of the bubble gum formula. Bill was determined to crack the account.

Bill tried in vain to make an appointment to see the president since he was the one to make all material change decisions in the company. He decided to bring a birthday carrot cake to Sid, one a week for as long as it took. By the third week Sid came out to see this weird person and ask, “why the cakes?” Bill admonished that he had to get Sid’s attention in some unconventional manner. Sid laughed and asked Bill what he wanted.

Bill said, “All I want is the chance
to assess your production process to
determine how I, and Goodyear Tire
& Rubber Co., can make you more
money. I have a bedroll, changes of
cloths and toilet articles with me
now, so I would plan on staying
inside your plant until I can tell you
something of value to your business.
Can I start now?”
Bill solved issues with the BF
Goodrich latex, his competitor and
the Fleers’ incumbent, amounting to
$450,000 per year in process cost
savings and, within eight months
took all of the $5.5 million latex busi-
ness into Goodyear’s chemical divi-
sion at a slightly higher price per
pound selling price.