The NEW ROLM Book
A collaboration of history from the people who lived it best...ROLM EMPLOYEES!
So what happened in the field at ROLM? Sales, Service, Marketing, Business Administration, Channel, Operations, Training/Education, etc. From Geo Accounts to Public Sector to National Accounts….
We are asking you ROLMANS to dig deep into your memory and resurrect some field stories for a New ROLM book. If you were employed during the years of ROLM, IBM or Siemens… send us your best story. Tell it in a story format. We want to publish stories that made a difference, stories that someone else can learn from, fun, humorous, educational and something we can do together and hopefully make a nice donation to a worthy cause. Try to write it with an audience in mind that doesn’t know the jargon… like if you mention a “Schedule A” well, it’s a contract that was automatically written with IBM and Microsoft language even if you were not buying any of their products. AutoQuote, APS or agreement for products and services (a master agreement now a days) or technical terms like ISDN, CorNet, Rolmbus295.
- What was the most creative thing you did in Sales to win deal?
- How did you prospect to get new logos?
- If you managed a large Account what tactic or strategy did you deploy to make quota?
- What training course helped you win? Holden Power Based Selling, Critical Path Strategies, Selling to VITO? Any books like The Art of War help you win a deal?
- How did you beat Nortel or Lucent/Avaya?
- Most unusual Service Call you went on?
- Best Marketing event because________
- I was PMing this job and you won’t believe what happened _______.
- Remember most about a training class…
- Tell us something about your creative expense reporting.
- Unique technical workaround in the field?
- How did NRUG help you close business? (National ROLM Users Group)
- Field Product Training Story?
- What story can you add to a New ROLM book?
- Favorite customer use of ROLM Equipment… and why. What did it do for their business?
Executive perspectives? Sure… love to hear about it.
We all also had losses of that went up in flames.. some with deep financial loss… to protect the innocent, if any of those come in, we will change the name of the (likely Siemens) Sales Prevention teams that could have caused such hardship. We’d rather focus on the positive, so unless there is humor or something good that came out of it, don’t send it.
Katherine’s book was a great start to telling the story about ROLM, the founding and really zeroed in on the headquarters perspective. With the talent we have up on the ROLM Alumni site, we'd like to collaborate with you on a new ROLM book about the best of the best of what went on in the field. Initially, we thought about writing a book on sales, but why not open it up to others who worked outside of HQ. Most of the big sales were compromised of many other support staff and team effort.
We want to hear your story!
We will likely self publish and any and all proceeds will go to Tunnel 2 Towers.
Disclaimer: ROLM.ai, LLC, dba ROLM is an independent entity, founded in 2024 and is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by ROLM Telecommunications, IBM, Siemens AG, Gores, or any other previous owners of what was ROLM Telecommunications or previous owners of ROLM. Any references to these companies or their products are for informational purposes only and do not imply any endorsement or association with whatsoever.