First Impressions

By bknippers | Posted on January 18th, 2008

          When I first arrived at Intuit I was unsure what to expect.  As a new employee you’ve only had a brief glimpse behind the scenes through the interview process.  I was a nervous Nipper!!  I’ll never forget a day in my early twenties when I started my first corporate job.  I walked in, greeted the manager with a smile and then proceeded to spill a 20oz cup of coffee all over my desk and chair.  Well, I ended up swapping chairs with what I belived to be a vacant desk and the gentleman who sat there came in and sat down in a chair and absorbed 20oz of coffee into his creased khakis.  The gentleman’s name was Stan.  Needless to say Stan didn’t speak to me for the next 6 months.  Of course Stan had no problem telling everyone else in the company to be careful of the new guy because he may spill something all over you.  That memory has haunted me so I always want my first day to be a low key, relaxed, calm and productive.  I also use sippy cups. 

My first day at Intuit describes the entire on-boarding experience.  I was greeted by Mr. Herbert whom I knew through a previous job.  It was immediately comfortable and that put me at ease.  Then Sally Russell and I sat down and reviewed the new hire paperwork.  Sally was very polite and cheerful so once again I was very optimistic about Intuit.  It was immediately obvious employees were treated well here in Waltham.  I don’t remember all the details of my first day but I do remember that everyone I met greeted me with a smile and welcomed me to Intuit.  Eric and Sally had put a plan in place for me so I didn’t have a lot of idle time.  All the resources I needed to perform my job were waiting for me.  As a ‘Sales Guy’ that’s really important.  You need every ratchet in the toolbox to be successful and here I was set up for success.  I remember walking away from day one impressed by the company, impressed by the culture, impressed by the values and really excited to delve into the job and get started.

Eric assigned a buddy to me and I think that was a huge help.  When you’re new all the little things are hard.  Where’s the bathroom?  Where’s the coffee stirrer thingies?  Who sells the best subs in Waltham?  So on and so forth.  Tim Conte was my buddy and he has been awesome to work with.  The application specialists welcomed me with open arms.  That’s unusual for a sales team.  As gregarious as we all may seem there’s always a level of competitiveness on the sales floor and in the past, at other companies I’ve worked for, I have felt resentment starting on day one from sales people who weren’t overjoyed there was someone else on board and they might have to share territory or leads with.  I was never made to feel that way here at Intuit.  Kevin, Jim, Amy, Tim, Sean, Dick, Kirk, Eric, Alex and Darren all welcomed me and offered assistance.  I met with the management team individually and asked them, “What’s the best way for us to work together?”  The response was great.  It wasn’t as if I was talking to someone who didn’t have time for me.  These people genuinely cared about my experience.  Everyone took 30-45 minutes to tell me what they were working on, how they’d like sales to interact with their department and what the best approach would be in facing clients to describe the solution.   As a sales guy this was super helpful because I was able to define the process up front.  Normally working with other departments is a trial and error process and you upset a few people along the way.  At Intuit my role was defined immediately?  I know that sounds like a QuickBase ad but it’s true! 

I met with Jim Sullivan daily.  Jim showed me the inner working of QuickBase and made me realize the incredible value of the solution.  In fact, Jim got me so fired up; I started mapping and building applications immediately.  Jim’s help during training was invaluable to me.  After three days at Intuit I knew who I could go to in every department and the best approach to take when working together.  In some companies it may take weeks or even months to clarify that information.

The marketing department also deserves a lot of credit for shared vision.  I almost fell out of my chair when the Director of Marketing, Peter Fearey, came into our sales meeting and walked through some ideas he had for lead gen.  I was uber impressed.  He diplayed marketing graphs, helped us modify Trial Tracker so we could optimize efficiency and track leads through the process in a more detailed way.  He listened to our ideas and then implemented them.  Very impressive!!   

By the end of my first week I was calling my Mommy to tell her what a great company Intuit was.  From the automated systems for bringing a new hire on board, to the resources and training provided during the first week, to eating lunch with Bill Lucchini on my 5th day with the company and having an open forum lunch to discuss how my first week went.  In my experience that’s the best approach to bringing a new team member on board I have ever experienced in my life.   I thank Intuit for understanding how important this process is.  If other organizations had the same dedication to the new hire experience I’m sure they’d have more longevity in the workforce and a better overall employee culture.  I’d like to thank everyone who has assisted me thus far in my daily workings at Intuit.  There are many of you.  I truly believe as a team we’ll accomplish any goal we set our minds to.