Cracked BuckeyeCracked Buckeye

Ohio inventions and firsts · Company innovation · 1884-1893

NCR pioneers modern sales training and corporate welfare

After taking over NCR in 1884 Patterson created 'Sugar Camp' sales training, a commission-based sales force using scripts from the 'N.C.R. Primer' (reportedly the first sales training manual), and worker-welfare measures; in 1893 NCR built a glass-walled 'daylight factory'.

At a glance

Year
1884-1893
By
John H. Patterson
Company
National Cash Register
Place
Dayton, Montgomery County Dayton · Montgomery County

The story

In the 1880s, selling a machine like the cash register was a hard business. Shopkeepers did not think they needed one, and early salesmen had no common method. John H. Patterson, who bought the company in 1884, decided selling could be taught.

He built what the company history calls the American Selling Force, a commission-based sales team that followed set scripts from the N.C.R. Primer, described as the first known sales training manual. He opened a sales training school in 1893, held first in canvas tents at a place called Sugar Camp. He also used direct mail and a Get a Receipt campaign, called one of the first advertising campaigns.

Patterson also changed the factory. NCR was called America's model factory, with safety devices, drinking fountains, baths, lockers, better chairs and ventilation. In 1893 it built what the history calls the first daylight factory buildings, with floor-to-ceiling glass windows. Some of the practices of the time, such as separate restrooms for women, reflect the period.

NCR also trained people who went on to bigger things. Thomas J. Watson, later founder of IBM, Charles F. Kettering and Edward A. Deeds all worked there. Patterson was not without trouble: in 1912 he and 27 executives were convicted under the Sherman Antitrust Act and given one-year sentences, which were overturned on appeal in 1915.

Timeline

  • 1884: John H. Patterson and his brother Frank acquire the company and form NCR. (Dayton, OH) source
  • 1893: NCR builds daylight factory buildings with floor-to-ceiling windows and opens its sales training school. (Dayton, OH) source
  • 1906: Charles Kettering, an NCR employee, designs the first electric-motor cash register. (Dayton, OH) source
  • 1911: NCR has sold one million machines and employs nearly 6,000 workers. (Dayton, OH) source
  • 1912: Patterson and 27 executives are convicted under the Sherman Antitrust Act. (Cincinnati, OH) source
  • 1913: During the Dayton flood NCR builds nearly 300 rescue boats and opens its factory as a shelter. (Dayton, OH) source
  • 1915: The antitrust convictions are overturned on appeal. source

What it changed

  • By 1911 NCR controlled about 95 percent of the U.S. cash register market.
  • Watson, Kettering and Deeds all worked at NCR before founding or leading other major companies.
  • During the 1913 flood, NCR built nearly 300 boats and sheltered flood victims in its factory.

Why it matters

NCR alumni included Thomas J. Watson, Charles F. Kettering and Edward A. Deeds.

Places in Ohio to see

Further reading

Sources

Confidence. Medium: the main facts were confirmed, but some details (often an address or ZIP code) were not.