• Patterson was so impressed that he bought the cash register company for $6,500. He re-named the company National Cash Register, shortened to NCR. He was convinced that selling cash registers would make him rich. • He started out by mailing out 90,000 brochures to every major retailer in the Midwest. It was the nation's first serious direct-mail campaign— and was a complete failure. Patterson discovered that the brochures had been received by the same salesclerks that were stealing cash. The brochures were destroyed before they could be seen by the business owners. • Patterson changed his strategy, next sending out fancy hand-addressed envelopes marked "highly confidential." Inside, the store owners found a fancy invitation asking them to come to the best hotel in town for a demonstration of a fool-proof method of ending employee theft forever. Just for showing up they would receive a handsome gift (such as a nice letter opener).
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• Cash register sales, barely 1,000 in 1886, reached 15,000 in 1892 and 100,000 in 1910. The following year, NCR sold its millionth machine, as it became apparent that a cash register was an essential tool for retail sales. • Next he turned to improving conditions for his workers. In an era of sweatshops, his factory in Dayton, Ohio, had floor-to-ceiling windows and landscaped gardens. There were hot showers and a cafeteria serving subsidized food. Free medical care was provided. Employees were invited to take advantage of night school, a library, and lectures and concerts, which were all on company grounds and provided for free. • But Patterson had a temper as well, and was well known for firing people on a whim. One of the people he fired was Charles Kettering, who had designed many improvements in the cash register. Charles was fired for failing to demonstrate proper horsemanship in a company exhibition. Kettering went to work for the auto industry instead, where he made many astonishing discoveries. Another fired employee was Thomas Watson, who subsequently went to work transforming IBM into an industrial giant. • By the time Patterson died in 1922 at the age of 78, National Cash Register was a thriving industry. His son took over after his death and ensured that the company continued to thrive.
Answer
• The machine was a crude cash register that kept a running tab of money received during the day. The saloon keeper patented it in 1879 but had sold only 19 in two years. Patterson ordered two of them sight unseen. They cost $50 each. In the next six months his previously unprofitable coal store turned a $5,000 profit because employees were no longer able to stuff money in their pockets.
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• John Patterson's coal company had a problem with employees robbing the till. There was no reliable method of making sure clerks didn't simply help themselves to the cash that came into the store during the day. When Patterson heard about a saloonkeeper who had solved the problem by inventing a money tabulating machine, he investigated.
• Patterson's next move was to carefully coach all his salesmen in what was the nation's first "canned speech." He made sure they had their sales speech completely memorized, drilling them on questions prospective customers might ask. He instructed them how to behave towards the clients, and sent them fully prepared into the field. He also gave each salesman their own territory, which was another new innovation. Then he invented the sales convention, which was "part circus, part camp meeting, and part Chautauqua."
Answer
JOHN PATTERSON
King CROSSWORD
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