With my 2022 sales target firmly achieved and with the year drawing to an end, my attention has drifted to reflecting on the past 12 months. In fact, this year’s refection is a little different because it sees the end of my 25th year with Revelation Software. I did leave Revelation for a year (no choice of my own), but who’s counting that? So my reflections have extended somewhat further this year and to one customer that shares this milestone anniversary with me.
Following a 12 year stint in the motor industry, which saw me climb from parts van driver, then to parts person, then to warranty admin and finally to heading up the service department and looking after a 100 user company wide computer system, I took a leap of faith into the IT industry and a position as Internal Sales Engineer for Revelation Software.
I will never forget that first morning. This was something very new. I felt like a fish out of water. I was more nervous than most people on their first day and my first department meeting was less than great. With a mispronunciation of a customer’s name (British Gas Reading), I had the team around me dissolve into a fit of giggles and laughter. Yup, I felt about 2 inches tall and slunk back to my desk with a list of customers to call and with one instruction – to ask if they needed any licenses.
As I began to work through the list, I began to relax and I switched from “Hi My name is …., do you need any licenses….”, to striking up more informal conversations of introduction, familiarisation and getting to know the people that I would go on to work with for many years.
One such person was Don from a company called Clayton Associates. A small fledgling company, operating out of the far west reaches of Wales, but someone who clearly knew where he was going, what he needed to do and what help he needed from me. Although I have had millions of conversations with clients over the year, I remember that first conversion with Don very well. Firstly, he gave me one of my very first orders and helped me to break the ice that had formed on the top floor of the offices following that initial meeting. Secondly, through an informal “Hello, my name is Marty and I’ve joined Revelation to …..” conversion, Don and I quickly hit on a common interest, being photography. Something that Don went on to embrace with his own photography studio when he later sold the Merit Software business, as it had become by that point. Moreso, it was obvious that he was customer focused, he knew what his customers needed and therefore he knew what he needed and this was something that I wanted to emulate during my time with Revelation, no matter how short, or long that might be.
Don left a lasting impression on me. He clearly had some great technical skills, but he also had a very clear vision and direction that he wanted to take for his company. I joined Revelation Software as an ‘Internal’ Sales person and that meant building relationships with our existing clients and to help them to become successful. Afterall, if our clients are successful, then we will also succeed. Listening to Don during that first call cemented how I was going to approach this new position that I found myself in. My aim, from day one, was to build long lasting business relationships with as many of our clients as I could and to do my bit to help them to be successful. I’m please to say that I ‘think’ that I have achieved that on a few occasions, one of my most memorable successes was seeing and personally developing an opportunity that resulted in a system that was used by Google and Facebook employees – but more on that at another time.
During the early DOS days, when Don was using our DOS based application development toolset (Advanced Revelation) to build a leading payroll system, I helped where I could. However, I’d come from a Windows background, having done a little programming in Basic and investing in a 285 SX25 machine from Evesham Micros, which led to me getting involved with implementing and managing several Windows 95 based systems in the motor industry. So, I knew very little about DOS application development, but I knew about Windows and the value of a feature rich graphical user interface (GUI) and we quickly began talking about the future of Don’s system and the need for a GUI for his system. As I mentioned earlier, Don knew from the very early days what he wanted and where he was going – something that the new generation of talent at Merit Software have continued to very great effect.
From the very early days the whole team at Merit Software always knew what they wanted, where they were going and they listened and asked questions. They would always keep up with where the Revelation based Windows products where going, they would always listen to their customers and their needs and then they would always match the technology to those needs. This helped them in the early days to deliver industry leading products and services, something that the team at Merit Software continue to do very, very well today.
The Merit Software team very quickly learned to get the most from the technologies that they had invested in and not least Advanced Revelation and then later OpenInsight. The company quickly grew into a team of specialist professionals who are 100% committed to delivering the best possible customer service and powerful leading systems. Through diligently listening to their growing customer base, they continue to drive their systems forward, with countless customer and industry driven features. From DOS, to Windows GUI, to Web and now mobile and SaaS based solutions, Merit Software have continued to grow their team, to deliver market leading solutions and to pick up many well deserved awards along the way.
It has been great to work with the team at Merit Software over the least 25 years. Their products developed and grew very quickly in the early days, as did their pool of knowledge about OpenInsight, resulting in my technical team and I being called on less and less for technical assistance. However, I continue to enjoy supplying new licenses to Merit Software, on a monthly basis, as do I enjoy working with Revelation Software’s many clients in the EMEA region.
So why highlight Merit Software in particular in this posting? Well, during 2022 Merit Software have also been celebrating their 25th anniversary. Like me, our time working with Revelation Software’s tools span that same quarter of a century and this makes this relationship just that little bit more special. Do I miss my chats with Don? Sure, but I now value my time working with the dynamic and award winning team that underpins Merit Software’s continued success. It has been interesting to see how they operate, how they support their growing client base, how they identify and exploit every developing opportunity and, most of all, how they have grown the business over the last 25 years.
You can find out more about Ben and his team at Merit Software by clicking here – https://www.meritsoftware.co.uk. And, if you are looking for a leading payroll software partner with the knowledge and skills to help your payroll business, Merit Software really ought to be one of the companies at the very top of your ‘to contact list’.
Happy 25th anniversary to Merit Software. I doubt that I have another 25 years left in me, but I sure know that Merit Software does and I wish them all the very best success for another 25 glorious years.
Martyn's RevSoft UK Blog 