When IRMCO, a $15 million maker of water-soluble lubricants based in Evanston, Ill., launched a product last year, President Jeff Jeffery didn't even consider adding salespeople to his 20-person workforce. Instead, he found a partner. Today, IRMCO piggybacks on the sales staff of a company that makes a device that uses IRMCO's new lubricants. Both are happy. IRMCO products are widely used in the metal-stamping industry, where the partner wanted a foothold. So now, when its sales folks push the device, they plug the link with IRMCO--and its new lubricants. The resulting calls to IRMCO's four-man direct-sales staff come from informed end users with the authority to buy. "I'm giving him a market, he's giving me a sales force," beams Jeffery. He also is bolstering his sales team with existing employees. One production worker is shifting to sales support. They're all willing to work harder because of a labor-crunch-inspired profit-sharing plan that pays quarterly. "Now, employees don't have to work their butts off for a year and hope for a raise," says Jeffery. He has gotten proactive on salary, too, renegotiating with key employees before they leave: "In the old days, the first thing we'd discuss was where are we going with customers, not 'Have you had any offers lately?'"

On the tech side, IRMCO has filled jobs with students from Northwestern University's work-study program. IRMCO's draw? Students get experience in product development, not data entry. Some turn into the genuine article: a full-time employee.

By Maria Berss in Evanston, Ill.

This article was originally published online as part of the May 25, 1998 edition of Business Week's Enterprise.

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