Interested in making big sales? If so, I have a book for you. I recently e-interviewed Tom Gunn, author of GUNN SIGHTS: Taking Aim on Selling in the High Stakes Industry of International Aerospace.
What inspired you to write Gunn Sights?
I’ve read many business books. Some of them were well-written but offered forgettable messages, but too many spoke more about the ego of the writer than the needs of the reader. Most offered glittering platitudes and rules of business behavior, but lacked relevance. There is a big difference between the basics—any book can tell you to wear a clean shirt and show up for meetings on time—and working in the knockdown drag-out of the real world. I wanted to pass on the benefits of my experience — the team I assembled was credited with selling $250 billion worth of military and commercial aircraft, missiles, and support services world-wide, against tough and often cut-throat competition with millions of dollars at stake on every sale.
What is it about and is it more than a memoir?
Well, this is not a book about engineering, research & development, process planning, manufacturing, cost containment, or human resources, but it does touch on those topics. It is a book about selling. Before, during, and after development of a product. About selecting and assembling a professional sales staff. About developing a process to shape your effort and keep all members of your team headed in the same direction. About strategic planning. About assessing the competition and understanding the customer. About the proper (with some comment on the often improper) interrelation of politics, politicians, and lobbyists. And, yes, there are sea stories galore, but the book offers a comprehensive step-by-step approach to winning the big sale.
How did your time as a Senate staffer prepare you for the aerospace industry?
In a direct sense, by exposing me (with the highest level clearances) to the latest advanced military programs, and by giving me solid experience in dealing with defense appropriations. But in a broader context, I benefited from spending seven years working for a man – Senator John McClellan — who taught me how to think, how to organize an argument, how to stand up for what I believed to be right and true.
Who should read GunnSights?
The flip answer would be anyone who wants to learn about selling. But many others could benefit: financial analysts or fund managers might discover some things worth exploring beyond a balance sheet and behind a 10K; people on the government side of military procurement might gain a understanding of what happens on the contractor side of the equation; students, interns, junior trainees, up-and-coming managers or directors at any large company—not just in aerospace or defense contracting—might learn how to better serve their customers, their employer, and themselves.
How did you save the Harpoon from the budget axe?
That was my first challenge, just after I joined the company in 1975. Congress wanted to kill the development program, because the Harpoon anti-ship missile would be so expensive, half a million dollars, each. Congress thought that much cheaper tried-and-true naval gunfire, bombs, and torpedoes were quite adequate, thank you very much, don’t mess with success. Congress didn’t understand the trade-off, a weapon that did not put a pilot in harm’s way, that could be launched long before our surface forces themselves could come under fire—long before the enemy would even know our forces were there—and home in on the enemy ship, skimming just above the surface, literally, flying under the radar until, at the last moment, it would go vertical and then come straight down on the unprotected topsides of the ship. One half-million dollar missile to take out a multi-million dollar warship. How did I save the program? I organized my argument, sat down with a couple of my friends in Congress and staffers on the Senate Appropriations Committee and cleared up the misunderstandings. I’m proud to say that Harpoon is with us yet, almost thirty-five years later.
What other big-ticket items were you involved with during your time at McDonnell Douglas?
Almost everything the company produced . . . F-15, F/A-18, C-17, Apache helicopters (I was president of the Helicopter Company when we introduced the Longbow version), some commercial airliners, and a range of support and overhaul services. Our customers covered the world: U.S. Army, Navy, Marines, and Air force – and various armed forces of Israel, Finland, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Malaysia, Korea, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Spain, Singapore . . . each presenting, I may say, a unique challenge.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
I believe that the sale is the most important factor in business. Most important. What about “shareholder value,” the catch phrase of the day? No sales, no value. Start at the beginning. You can have superb engineering and great products or great ideas but if you can’t get them to market and sell them to a willing buyer, you’re dead. Getting them to market, and selling them, is the job of marketing professionals — not engineers or production managers — who should be seated in the corporate councils as co-equals with the folks who create the product.
I could offer more comments, of course, but I know we’re running out of space . . . so . . . I am, after all, a salesman . . . may I suggest your readers try the book? Thanks!
