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Posted on Tue, Jan.23, 2006
By DANIEL C. BARTEL
Special to the Star-Telegram
FORT WORTH -- In the sales office of Trend Micro, a computer security products maker, life isn't centered on the clock or even the water cooler. Instead, life spins around a 27-inch wall-mounted flat screen that looms over the office, giving a minute-to-minute accounting of the day's top sellers.
From their cubicles, sales reps burn up phone lines and glance at the wall periodically to see who's leading.
It's a horse race of sorts as reps jockey for first place.
That's how Shawn Murphy, the office's director of inside sales, likes it.
In addition to ranking the sales leaders, the screen lists fantasy football results, general announcements, even random jokes.
Murphy is the quintessential cool boss. He allows his sales managers to take some time to practice skits they'll perform at a company function. He also said he doesn't believe in strict oversight and prefers to give his sales employees independence. The motivating sales screen relieves any need to crack whips.
It was different before Murphy came onboard in 2002. A vice president of inside sales at crosstown rival McAfee, he disapproved of Trend Micro's overall management style when he arrived, which had put the office mood largely in the dumps. Workers were unhappy and difficult to motivate.
Murphy went to work boosting morale with competitive games and antics, flushing out the general malaise. Thanks to him, staff members agree, work is fun again.
"As fun as any job could be where you make 75 calls a day," Murphy said.
A lively work environment has helped boost sales, he said. In 2005, the office did $100 million in gross revenue. That is projected to grow about 25 percent in 2006. The company is adding about 2,500 square feet of floor space with plans to hire 15 more reps, bringing the total to 60.
Not bad, considering that the office started with six callers and brought in less than $20 million when operations revved up in 2001. The office's status as a rising star has even led old sales buddies to defect from rival security companies, Murphy said.
With its U.S. headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., Trend Micro (ticker: TMIC) makes security products for servers and network gateways and ranks among industry leaders Symantec, McAfee and Microsoft.
Of course, all Murphy's boosterism would be for nothing without a good product and plan to market it.
The Fort Worth office is Trend Micro's main hub for processing sales orders and renewals. But that's the administrative side.
The office's core objective is to track and sell to the largely untapped small-to-medium business market, or SMBs. The company's latest product, a "worry-free" line of security software, is designed specifically for that market niche.
When loaded onto a server or network, the software essentially installs itself, saving SMB owners the time and expense of hiring someone to do it or doing it themselves.
"They install it and get back to running their business," Murphy said.
Trend Micro could carve out a considerable portion of this market with such user-friendly products, said Gary Chen, an analyst with the Yankee Group, a Boston-based research firm. There are about 7 million SMBs in the United States, and they tend to be less computer-savvy than larger companies.
"SMBs usually have limited or no IT staff support. The easier you can make a product to use, it's always a benefit," Chen said.
Having a good reputation never hurts either. Bob DuPuy, director of IT management for Half Price Books, said the company switched to Trend Micro on the recommendation of a partner that monitors the company's computer network. A central hub connects Half Price Books' 40 servers, which move data to and from 85 stores in 14 states, he said.
The company has plans to open more stores in 2007, a move that will undoubtedly elevate the security risk, DuPuy said.
"An unprotected computer is like a honey pot sitting out in the wild waiting for a bear to come along," he said.
From a sales standpoint, though, Dallas-based Half Price Books is hardly a small company; it is among the nation's largest bookstore chains.
Well-known companies are obvious sales targets because they're easy to identify. However, there's only so much antiviral product you can sell the big guys, Chen said.
The real challenge coming up for security companies will be in finding off-the-radar mom-and-pop businesses that are making Internet inroads. It should create a new arena of competition for those hungry enough to work for it. Analysts are forecasting moderate growth in the computer security industry as companies look for hidden SMBs.
As the fastest growing segment for security providers, the SMB market is where the big players are devoting energy and effort, Murphy said. It's enough to keep Trend Micro's ears pressed to the phone and eyes on the big screen.
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