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The Murphy brothers' software-selling family tree
Do you know the Murphy brothers?
If you bought software at any time in the past 30 years, there’s a good chance you do. The brothers from Belmont — Tom, Frank, Dan, Jeff, Joe and Bob Murphy — have sold software for more than 40 companies among the six of them, turning portions of the region’s innovation economy into a family business. And if anyone can offer insight into how good companies sell during hard times, it’s the Murphys.
The software Murphys, who are six of nine Murphy children, said much of what they know they learned at the family table. Gathering for dinner every Sunday, each child had to recount for their parents the triumphs and travails of the week.
The Murphy brothers, now ranging in age from 46 to 60, learned teamwork through that exercise — not to mention the need to air out bad news early. It was a lot like going before the board of directors, Jeff Murphy said.
“There might have been a touch of competitiveness (at Sunday dinner),” Bob Murphy added. “I was the youngest. I’ve never been late to a buffet table.”
The tradition of reviewing success and failure has continued, said Dan Murphy. Once in a while, the brothers got together somewhere along Route 128 for a beer after work. “Those (outings) were harder than any quarterly business review,” he said.
By checking up on one another, the Murphy brothers learned mentorship. In a successful sales organization, relationships among new employees and more experienced employees is key, they said.
“I’d bet money the six of us have done more mentoring than we’ve done anything else,” Tom Murphy said.
Tom Murphy, the eldest of the six, gave Highland Capital Partners general partner Bob Davis his second job — as a salesman at Wang Laboratories Inc., in 1982. Murphy hired Davis after meeting him at IBM Corp., where Davis worked as a Northeastern University co-op student. “Even at that point he took me under his wing and guided me,” Davis said, “where many others were very focused on their own purpose and not (having) enough time for a young kid trying to get started.”
The skills learned from Tom Murphy have stuck with him — through founding Lycos Inc. and as a venture capitalist, he said. “If you’re going to develop and nurture and grow a person, you have to understand what a person’s capabilities are. Tom has a good way of helping bring out the best in people,” Davis said.
Nowadays, the Murphy brothers agree, many companies put less emphasis on mentorship and training than they should. When some of the Murphy brothers started in software sales, it wasn’t uncommon for account executives to get two months or more of sales boot camp. The last time a bubble burst, that training showed its value.
“Now it’s become, ‘I won’t train you — I’ll just throw you out there and see who sticks,’ ” said Joe Murphy.
That works fine when an economy is booming, said Tom Murphy. “Some of these folks come in and they get into markets that are hot. You’re kind of just taking life easy,” Tom Murphy said. “When it gets hard and you’ve got to demonstrate why your product is better than someone else’s, they don’t know how to do it.”
No one is born with sales skill, Frank Murphy added. Rather, success comes with discipline and perseverance.
“Each prospect call should have a defined goal or next step, and success is measured on getting to that next step,” he said. Sales is a process, he said, and a good salesperson enjoys it.
“It is one of the highest-paying jobs on the market today, and every company is always looking for solid professional sales help — always. Even in the worst of times.”
Family Tree
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Tom Murphy |
Jeff Murphy
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Frank Murphy
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Joe Murphy |
| Dan Murphy Director, strategic alliance sales, Open Solutions Inc. History:: AT&T Inc. Applied Data Research CA Inc. Systems Center Inc. Legent Corp. Highground Systems OpenService Inc. |
Bob Murphy
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