Against the Odds: Inter-Tel the First 30 Years

Rodengen, Jeffrey L.

ISBN 10: 0945903316 / ISBN 13: 9780945903314

Published by Write Stuff Syndicate, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, U.S.A., 1999

About this Item

240 pgs. Illustrated. Fwd by Jon Kyl, US Sen.

Seller Inventory # 019579

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Against the Odds: Inter-Tel the First 30 Years
• Publisher: Write Stuff Syndicate, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, U.S.A.
• Publication Date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0945903316
• ISBN 13: 9780945903314
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Cruz, Sandy
• Edition: 2nd Edition
• Condition: As New
• Dust Jacket Condition: Fine
• Seller catalogs:
  • Biography, Profiles, Memoir
  • Business, Management, Marketing

About this title

Synopsis

Against All Odds: Inter-Tel The First 30 Years is a study of how a small business can thrive in the shadow of a corporate giant like AT&T. In 1969 a driven salesman and entrepreneur named Steve Mihaylo, took on the telephone monopoly shortly after court decisions forced AT&T to allow non-AT&T equipment to be connected to its network. Emerging from a one-man office with a desk made of an old door nailed to the wall, this company grew through consultative selling. Using the companys relative small size as an asset, Inter-Tel found it could more quickly adapt its product to customer needs and was able to bring innovations to market at a speed only dreamed of by its larger competitors. To most people in the 1970s, the merger of computers and telephones was a far-fetched proposition. Mihaylo committed to growing his business through increased research into microprocessors. This costly gamble allowed Inter-Tel to introduce the first microprocessor-based phone system, bringing features never before available to small businesses. As a result, in 1981 Mihaylo took his company public. Opening at $12.50 a share, the stock sold out its initial offering in 30 minutes and reached $16 per share. By 1982 the stock reached $54 a share, and it was a tremendous financial success. Just one year after such notable success, tragedy loomed, and Inter-Tel experienced unexpected disconnection problems on its key phone system the SPK. As a result, Inter-Tel was forced to redesign its product. Assembling a team of talented software engineers, a new more programmable phone was created, and once again this innovative company was poised for tremendous growth. Using its financial acumen, Inter-Tel introduced its own financing program, and purchased several distributors in order to handle the growth in sales that resulted