From ESCAPE to Premium

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In my last post, I discussed the creation of PUMP-FLO and its transition from a DOS application to a Windows application, developed and first released as E.S.C.A.P.E. by the Aurora Pump Company. With the completion of E.S.C.A.P.E., it was time for us to release PUMP-FLO as our MS Windows pump selection program.

The major difference between PUMP-FLO and Aurora's E.S.C.A.P.E. at that time was that PUMP-FLO could select pumps from ANY supporting pump manufacturer’s catalog. E.S.C.A.P.E. could only select pumps from the Aurora product lines. In other words, PUMP-FLO could select any centrifugal pump provided the manufacturer had an electronic pump catalog for use with our program.

After a couple of months of development, we released PUMP-FLO for Windows version 1. Upon the release, we had one pump manufacturer onboard, Aurora (the Aurora catalog ran with both PUMP-FLO and ESCAPE.) Now it was time to get some more manufacturers onboard.

Once again I got out my list of pump manufacturers and sent them all a letter describing how they can use PUMP-FLO as their pump selection program simply by creating and adding an electronic pump catalog. Once again, we were overwhelmed with silence. Crickets.

Since we had firsthand experience with the Aurora sales group, we knew the value PUMP-FLO held for a pump sales team and we would not be stopped. So I decided to start calling the pump manufacturers on my list to tell them the story first hand.

After a couple of months I had over 90 pump manufacturers identified in North America, complete with their company address, markets served, along with their sales manager. I discovered that many of the manufacturers had multiple brands they sold their products under (Original Equipment Manufacturers or OEMs).

Once I got the pump market sorted out I decided it was time to go visit them and sell them on the idea of creating their company’s electronic pump catalog for use with PUMP-FLO. What was really disappointing is that we were offering to create the manufacturers’ pump catalogs for free, and we still didn't have any takers. All a manufacturer had to do was to supply us with their pump curves in paper form, we would create their catalog, and send it for their review and approval.

As an engineer I never had a business class, nor did I know how to sell, but now I was on a mission. I took my 10-pound laptop on the road with me and demonstrated the program to manufactures, pump distributors, to pump buyers at trade shows, in airport waiting rooms and even on a cross-country flight. Based on the positive response I knew that we had a winner, but we still had the problem of getting the manufacturers on board with their electronic pump catalogs.

After 18 months, PUMP-FLO still only had the Aurora catalog available for selection. Getting the manufacturers to commit was much harder than I originally thought. I then had a great idea, we would create mini-catalogs (25 pump curves of our customers choosing) for our PUMP-FLO customers for free. The PUMP-FLO customer would send us a copy of the manufacturer’s paper catalog pages they wanted, we would enter the data, and send them a disk back in the mail that could be used with PUMP-FLO. To make it even more valuable we would merge previous curves from the same manufacturer into the catalog so over time we would have a bigger catalog for the manufacturer.

We did this for about six months and in no time we had a collection of manufacturer’s catalogs. We then started sending out press releases announcing the availability of the each manufacturer’s catalogs. One of the manufacturers found out that we were distributing an electronic pump catalog for their products and had their New York lawyer send us a letter wanting to know how much money we were making so they would know how much to sue us for.

Needless to say we got our lawyer on the case and after spending a week in study he gave us a lawyer opinion. He said there was precedence in favor of what we were doing, and precedence favoring the manufacturer (just what you would expect from a lawyer). I then asked him what he would recommend and after 30 minutes of disclosure, precedence, and hemming and hawing he suggested we write a letter to the manufacturer "Asking for forgiveness and promising to sin no more." I spent the weekend writing a very contrite letter; it must have worked because they said they would drop the suit if we never sent out their pump data ever again.

Finally our luck changed and after two years of trying we finally got our second manufacturer to sign. I wish I could say that it was because of my excellent salesmanship. It turns out I was out of the office when Don Smiley of Weinman Pump called.

Since I was out, Carolyn Popp, (our President & Chief Technical Officer) answered the phone and had a nice talk with him. He said they were really interested in getting added to PUMP-FLO, but they didn't want their pumps listed next to their competitors. She said that was not how the program worked.

She explained that our mutual customers would buy PUMP-FLO from us, and get the Weinman electronic catalog from them. Don then asked how the customer got the electronic catalog. Carolyn explained that we would create their electronic catalog for them from their paper pump curves. Once we create the catalog they would review it, and once approved they would get a master catalog disk that they could freely copy and send out to their customers with PUMP-FLO. She went on to explain that since they sent out their catalog they would know everyone who had their electronic catalog.

The next day Don flew up from Conway, Arkansas and signed the agreement in person. Finally we had our second manufacturer committed. From then on I made sure that the pump manufacturer understood they were in the loop and their electronic pump catalog was their property to give to any PUMP-FLO customer they wished.

A couple of weeks later we got a call from Brian Tims of Paco Pump (then located in Oakland, California). Brian was calling from one of their pump distributor’s office and said he saw one of their pumps selected using PUMP-FLO. He wanted to know what we were doing.

Paco was one of the manufacturers that we had created the “free” customer requested catalogs and had many of their pumps already created. Fearing another unpleasant letter from their lawyer, I let them know we were not doing that anymore. Sensing the fear in my voice, he asked how the program worked. I gave him the discussion about how we worked with them to create their electronic catalog, and once reviewed and approved it was their property for them to distribute. He then asked how long it would take to get their catalog created and I confessed that we had previously created their entire pump catalog because of the initial response from our PUMP-FLO customers. Once again, swearing that we no longer send it out.

He then asked how he could get a copy of PUMP-FLO to all his pump distributors, so I told him it was available for purchase. To sweeten the deal, I mentioned if he bought enough copies of PUMP-FLO we would give him the Paco Electronic Pump Catalog that we created for no additional charge. He asked how many they would need to purchase (I assumed that 100 would be the maximum number we could ever possibly sell to pump company), so I said 50 (may as well go big, right?). He said, "OK, I'll send you a check for 50 and once we get the catalog reviewed and approved we'll send in a bigger order." I was elated!

After that we knew without a doubt, that PUMP-FLO was a winner. Re-doubling my sales efforts, I started visiting every pump manufacturer I could. With all the long plane flights, I decided to read some sales books. Every book suggested listening to your customers to find out how their sales and selection process worked, and ask about their current challenges. So I started listening, and began to learn how pump sales groups wanted to use our program in order to do their job better. This allowed me to focus on their needs and show them the existing PUMP-FLO features that best meet their requirements. This in turn, allowed me to determine what new features we should add in the future. Once I started listening and helping them streamline their internal workflow we started signing up pump manufacturers left and right.

In the mid-1990s, the Internet gained in popularity and wide use. Before you knew it, all anyone was talking about was the paradigm shift (remember that buzz word?) and how the Internet would “CHANGE THE WORLD FOREVER.” Before you knew it everyone I talked to, wanted to know when PUMP-FLO would work on the Internet. We then started examining what it would take to create a Web-based version of PUMP-FLO and based on the requests from the pump manufacturers we decided we needed to make the shift.

This time we partnered with Big Machines, an Internet startup based out of Silicon Valley. We started working together so PUMP-FLO could select the pump, and the Big Machines configuration program could help the pump sales person price the pump. After going to a short training course on developing Internet application we were once again on the bleeding edge of technology. After a few months we had PUMP-FLO running on the Web and started shifting pump manufacturers pump selectors to their own Websites. This allowed the manufacturer to send their customers to their company website and have online pump selection that looked like their own brand.

In early 2002, shortly after the dot com bust, we still had pump manufacturers and end users using the program to help them select and specify pumps for their needs. We had survived the bubble and even began to thrive in the next generation of the Internet, Web 2.0. We continued to develop the programs features both on the Windows and Web versions, and now we have more than 115 pump manufacturers using PUMP-FLO to select pumps for their customers. They are even using PUMP-FLO on their mobile devices now. Here are some interesting statistics about the success of the Web version of PUMP-FLO.

Since we started the PUMP-FLO.com website, we have over 243,700 registered users with an average of 2,000 new registered users per month. Every day, over 1,000 people use PUMP-FLO.com to select a pump for a pumping application.

I don't know if this is a paradigm shift, if pump manufacturers have frictionless commerce, or if we have changed forever the way people buy pumps. I don't think so, but I do know that PUMP-FLO is able to bring pump buyers and sellers together. Using PUMP-FLO, pump buyers are better able to understand how a particular pump will operate in their system. The pump sellers can now explain to the pump buyers why the choice they made was the best one for their application. After all isn't that what business is all about, listening to your customer, and giving them what they need to make their life easier?

Do you have any questions for me? I would love it if you left a comment or even sent me an email to blogger @ eng-software.com. In addition, we are currently welcoming guest bloggers. If you are interested, just send me a message about becoming a guest blogger, and what you would like to write about. Thanks for reading!