Sometimes the Market Tells You What It Needs
THE PROBLEM: Stitching together a new market.
In 1980, Patrick Martucci, just out of high school, left his hometown of Cleveland with $300, pointing his Trans Am toward Dallas. He landed a $6-an-hour job at a company that was launching an odd, new product at the time -- "voice forward mail."
When he tried to explain voice mail to his grandmother, she thought he was a postal worker. Others, however, caught on. He was soon in the sales department, where he was a natural. "I had the opportunity to watch a product go out the door and gain world-wide acceptance," he says.
He leapfrogged to increasingly challenging jobs across the telecom industry, setting up distribution channels, running sales departments. A stark opportunity stared him in the face when he worked at a company that provided maintenance on Rolm phone equipment. Mr. Martucci was thrilled to pitch a sale to J.C. Penney, which, after a trial, offered him the maintenance contract for the entire retail chain's phone service. But his company could handle only Rolm equipment in specific geographic areas, not the full sprawl of a retailer with a mishmash of phone systems. Mr. Martucci says he saw what could have been "a $10 million contract go to $1.5 million, and that bugged me from that day forward."
THE SOLUTION: From Chicago, he launched United Asset Coverage, which could have struck that deal. It would informally stitch together a network to fix anyone's office equipment -- no matter the brand, and no matter the place, a sort of managed-care approach to the frustrating world of office-machine maintenance.
Mr. Martucci unveiled the concept to a small venture fund, where he worked at the time. "It's a $36 billion marketplace, and I'm familiar with it," he told his partners. They jumped in, investing a total of "a couple million" dollars, he says.
He called the best salespeople he knew from previous jobs and hired 17. They told potential customers that UAC would handle all the maintenance chores for less if they paid upfront. Just like explaining voice mail to grandma, the new business model, part insurance, part repair clearinghouse, wasn't an easy sell. "There is nothing more boring than telephone maintenance," Mr. Martucci admits.
It took six long months in 1997 for the company to secure its first customer: A TGI Friday's in St. Louis signed up for UAC to maintain its lone copier. By 2001, UAC installed a call center in Chicago so that anyone could call and order service. Establishing a network of service providers proved easier. Once they saw that UAC provided steady revenue, acting as a sort of agent for them, many agreed to discounts on their services to be part of the network.
Though new competitors are sprouting up, today UAC is the largest telecom-maintenance company in the world. The closely held firm doesn't disclose revenue, but earnings reached $40 million this year.
THE LESSON: When you're not selling what your customer needs, an opportunity to innovate is at hand.
有时，市场会告诉你它需要什么
《华尔街日报》案例分析
问题：聚拢一个新市场
1980年，刚刚高中毕业的帕特里克?马特希(Patrick Martucci)揣著300美元，开著他那辆庞蒂亚克Trans Am离开家乡克利夫兰，直奔达拉斯。他在那里的一家公司找到了一份每小时6美元的活。这家公司当时刚刚推出一种奇特的新产品──语音邮件。
他试图向祖母解释这种新生事物。结果，他祖母还以为自己的孙子成了一名邮差。不过，幸好其他人都能听懂他的说明。马特希很快进入销售部门工作，他天生就是搞销售的料。他说，他有幸亲眼看著一种新产品走向市场，并为世界各地的人所接受。
后来，他跳到更具挑战性的电信行业中的工作岗位，比如建立分销渠道，掌管销售部门等等。终于有一天，一个绝佳的机会一下子跳到他面前，当时他在一家为Rolm电话设备提供维修服务的公司工作。马特希在向J.C.Penney推销业务时很卖力，J.C. Penney在试用一段时间后给了他一份合同：为其全部连锁店提供电话维护服务。
但是，马特希所在的公司当时只能对分布在某些地区的Rolm设备提供服务，而J.C. Penney分店遍布全美、各家店使用的电话系统也是五花八门，这样的任务非它所能胜任。马特希回忆说，他看到一份金额有可能达到1,000万美元的合同已经到手，而他们只能消化150万美元，从那天起，这件事一直让他耿耿于怀。
解决方案：后来，马特希在芝加哥成立了United Asset Coverage。如果当年有这家公司，它就能接下那张大单子了。这家公司能以松散的形式“聚拢”起一个网络，为任一家公司维修办公设备，不论它用什么牌子的设备，也不论它分布在什么地方。在办公设备维修行业，它的角色就有点像美国医疗服务体系中的保健服务管理公司。
马特希向他当时供职的一家小型风险基金提出了他的设想。他对合伙人说：这可是一个360亿美元规模的市场，而且我对这个市场很熟悉。于是，他们说干就干，一共投入了“几百万美元”。
他从以前在工作中结识的最出色的销售人员中聘用了17个人。他们对那些潜在客户表示，他们能处理维修方面的各种棘手问题，而且，如果他们在UAC预存一些费用，一旦发生维修服务，他们实际需要支付的费用还可享受优惠。这种一半像保险、一半像修理服务中心的新业务模式开始还真不太容易被接受，就像当年他向祖母解释语音邮件一样难度很大。马特希承认，没有比电话维修更乏味的事了。
六个月之后，他的公司终于迎来了第一家客户：圣路易斯的一家星期五餐厅(TGI Friday's)聘请UAC为它唯一一台复印机提供维修保养服务。2001年，UAC开设了电话呼叫中心，这样，任何人都可以打电话预约服务。相比之下，建立服务商网络的事就容易多了。看到UAC能提供稳定的收入来源，就像一家代理机构，许多服务商都同意加盟服务网络，并在收费上给予优惠。
今天，虽然UAC的同类企业如雨后春笋般涌现，但UAC仍是世界上最大的电信设备维护服务公司。它未上市，也不公布收入数字，不过，今年它的利润额达到了4,000万美元。
经验总结：如果你们还不能提供顾客需要的服务，这就意味著，创新的机会就在眼前。
