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June 2006• $5.00• www.sellingpower.com

HOW A LEADER MASTERS CHANGE

How a

Leader
Masters
Change

JUNE 2006 • VOL. 26 NO. 5

Bill McDermott, CEO
of SAP Americas, shows
you how to create
a sales team of winners

How a

Leader

Bill McDermott, CEO of
SAP Americas, shows
you how to create a sales
team of winners

Masters

Change
BY KIM WRIGHT WILEY • PHOTOGRAPH BY JAMIE TANAKA

I

n 2002, SAP America was going nowhere.
The U.S. and Canadian subsidiary of the German software giant had gone through five
CEOs in six years and revenue was growing at
less than half the rate of the company’s European division. The market buzz was all about
dot-coms out of California, and SAP, whose software
focused largely on mainstream functions such as
accounting and manufacturing, seemed like a big yawn.
But that was before Leo Apotheker, president of
customer solutions and operations, and the Executive Board of SAP AG brought in Bill McDermott as
CEO of SAP America.
McDermott, then 41 years old, joined SAP America
in September 2002 and immediately set about creating
a sales machine that was second to none. During the
next four years, the stock price of SAP would rise from
$9.75 to $54. The market cap would increase 400 percent to $55 billion. Employee turnover (after an initial
bloodletting) would drop from 40 percent to 10 percent.
Now the dot-coms are foundering and SAP has become
the leading business brand in the field, racking up
record profits year after year.
It’s a stunning reversal of fortunes. But how did
McDermott and his team do it? What makes the SAP
Americas’ team one of the most successful teams in the
region – and how can you get what it’s got?

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