Death Of A Pushy Salesman

Mike Dionne epitomized the hotshot sales rep of the heady late-'90s info tech boom. A master of the full frontal assault, Dionne, who works for San Jose (Calif.) chipmaker Altera Corp. (ALTR ), juggled 25 accounts, winning customers on complex features that only an engineer could love. But when the bubble burst in 2000, Dionne's sales dried up fast, and no amount of wheedling could persuade many of his customers to meet with him. He talked a lot but listened for the wrong things. The market had changed, but Dionne hadn't.

Six years later, he handles only seven accounts and often takes four times as long to close a deal. He listens more, too. In early June, for example, Dionne met with an exec at a Massachusetts-based medical firm for the first time. He reiterated what he had said on the phone: Altera was looking at how it should invest in the medical field. For 90 minutes, Dionne sat quietly as the potential customer described the technology he planned to buy and the obstacles he expected. Dionne never said Altera wanted to sell him chips. "You could tell [the IT exec] was jazzed," says Dionne. "He was comfortable, leaning back in his chair and talking freely."