The "I" stands for "International"

November 5 2009

From my inbox:

Edward,

I have recently sent you a couple emails regarding [XYZ Company] assisting IBM in international sales.  I was wondering if your competitors are gaining ground in lucrative international markets while IBM sits on the sidelines.  Or have you put off growing your business overseas due to the economy, budgetary constraints, or lack of resources? Going global doesn't have to break your budget. ...

Edward, I would welcome the chance to discuss the value of building IBM's international presence, starting with a quote for our affordable and effective international business development services.  Please feel free to contact me at [phone number].  I look forward to your call.

Ed Brill Highland Park, IL USA Category:  IBM  Add/View Comments [25]

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  1. 1  Pete McPhedran http://www.corefusion.com | 11/5/2009 1:27:13 PM

    Edward,

    I think it would have been reasonable to include the senders Company Name as well as his name and phone number.

    So, did you call him?

    --Pete

  1. 2  Joseph Hoetzl http://www.josephhoetzl.com | 11/5/2009 1:27:34 PM

    Wow, I'd love to hear a recording of that phone call! :-)

  1. 3  Volker Weber http://vowe.net | 11/5/2009 1:27:41 PM

    I have been told it stands for "I've" and more lately "My job has".

  1. 4  Volker Weber http://vowe.net | 11/5/2009 1:27:43 PM

    I have been told it stands for "I've" and more lately "My job has".

  1. 5  Graham Dodge  | 11/5/2009 1:31:29 PM

    Maybe he was judging your need for international business development services by the (lack of) IBM/Lotus advertising in other countries?

    .

  1. 6  David Racicot  | 11/5/2009 1:34:33 PM

    It stands for "Itty" :)

  1. 7  Christopher Byrne http://www.controlscaddy.com/ | 11/5/2009 1:49:26 PM

    Too funny!

  1. 8  Mike Lazar  | 11/5/2009 1:52:30 PM

    I got the same spam this morning. Made me chuckle since Orange/Orange Business Services is a top 50 brand in a recent study I saw, yet here in the US, virtually no one has heard of us. We don't need help growing international sales, as we're quite successful in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the like. Well, at least from my perspective we're good internationally. If you ask the folks at the mothership in Paris, we DO need help internationally in some markets. ;)

  1. 9  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 11/5/2009 1:54:51 PM

    @1 I sent him an enail with the single sentence that became the subject line on this blog post.

  1. 10  Peter Presnell  | 11/5/2009 2:07:32 PM

    Hi Ed. Could you please forward me the guy's contact details. I represent a company that sells Business Machines. Perhaps we could work together to pitch a more complete offering :)

  1. 11  Rock http://www.lotusgeek.com | 11/5/2009 2:24:06 PM

    WHAT!?!? International?

    I thought it stood for Iguana!!!

  1. 12  Keith Brooks http://www.vanessabrooks.com | 11/5/2009 2:24:10 PM

    Today has been brought to you by the letter...

    You get all the fun mail :-)

  1. 13  Colin Williams  | 11/5/2009 2:33:06 PM

    "I" stands for "It's" (Better Manual). _Everyone_ knows that :p

  1. 14  Richard Schwartz http://www.poweroftheschwartz.com | 11/5/2009 2:35:23 PM

    I think you should ask him for a set of quotes , one in each of the local currencies of the 170+ countries that you already operate in.

  1. 15  Gab Davis http://blog.turtleweb.com | 11/5/2009 3:15:40 PM

    So he went with the more formal "Edward" instead of the more casual

    "Eddie-baby" . an interesting choice for him and one that clearly didn't work out as he hoped :-)

  1. 16  Scott Skaife  | 11/5/2009 4:04:55 PM

    I thought that the 'I' was chosen because like the 'B' and 'M', it is only one letter away from the corresponding letters in 'HAL'. You know that super advanced computer in that old sci-fi movie. Why IBM would want to associate itself with a self aware homicidal computer system is beyond me.

    ... Unless you know something about extra terrestrial life that we don't.

  1. 17  Andy Dempster  | 11/6/2009 3:54:33 AM

    "Lotus Knows" that even spam can make you smile...

  1. 18  Tom Berge  | 11/6/2009 4:22:56 AM

    That's very funny Ed - He's lucky that you're such a decent guy, I would have hung him out to dry, named and shamed!

    Tom

  1. 19  Paul Mooney http://www.pmooney.net | 11/6/2009 6:17:25 AM

    made me smile...

  1. 20  Brian  | 11/6/2009 7:20:05 AM

    To be fair, he probably also contacted people from MS and asked if they needed help in the country they have "100%" market share.

    Too funny

  1. 21  Tony  | 11/6/2009 8:55:12 AM

    ...duh, and all this time me thought that 'I' stood for iNotes <shrug>

  1. 22  Henry Ferlauto  | 11/6/2009 11:54:02 AM

    It will never cease to amaze how some sales people thing a canned approach to e-mail or cold calling will ever work.

    So Ed, are you the person responsible for the electrical or long distance telephone decisions at your company? :)

  1. 23  Brian O’Curran http://www.doingmorewithless.biz | 11/6/2009 6:13:34 PM

    I'm taking notes, this e-mail copy is BAD.... but the best bit in this whole thread is @Gab - Eddie-baby! LOL! That's made my night... you guys have a good weekend!

    Brian

  1. 24  Roberto  | 11/9/2009 1:03:57 PM

    Is "I" for "International" a promise? Looking at the German Lotus Notus 8.5 on Mac OS X (supported 10.5.8, not the unsupported 10.6 Snow Leopard) in the menu you'll find international words like "Preferences..." or "Hide others" instead of the German term. In iNotes the German 8.5 comes with spelling errors in the Out of Office function. Activating it, people receiving your OoO will doubt on your German skills. Both seems not to be fixed with 8.5.1. Let's check the "I" for "International" end of this week, when the German version of 8.5.1 will be released.

  1. 25  Joel Demay  | 11/9/2009 2:44:35 PM

    @Roberto: Of course there are always going to be issues with software including the occasional localization issue. But IBM is as International as it gets. I mean IBM Gave the French language (my native tongue) the word for "Computer" aka Ordinateur. The word was introduced by IBM in 1955 by the local IBM France advertising dept. So back to Ed's point, approaching IBM to improve our International presence, would be analogous to me approaching Tiger Woods to teach him how to Golf. Or Ed approaching Lance Armstrong to teach him how to ride a bike.