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As i've said in earlier writings, it's important to prepare for all kinds of chance customer exchanges. It starts with being clear on the most important value propositions you have to deliver to your customers. Building the 30-Second Exchange, as I did before meeting with Michael Dell, forces you to become very crisp on your most important value propositions. From there you can build 3-Minute and 30-Minute Exchanges that prepare you for any impromptu interaction with prospective or existing customers....

Golf is a popular way that sales people, and business people in general, use to develop customer and partner relationships. But it isn't the only way to develop long standing relationships and it can have negative results. Here's a short, hopefully fun read on how golf worked, or didn't work, for me in doing business....

Product people sometimes ignore feedback claiming that all sales people will always side with the customer and are not to be trusted. It's called going native. That is a certain way of missing valuable information, alienating customers and, of course, losing business. As Randy Jackson, of American Idol, would say, 'sales people are in it to win it' just like product people. Find out why this assumption is bad....

Having good customer relationships doesn't equate to siding with them on every issue. The customer needs sales people to be objective with the right balance between customer advocacy and company representation so there are no surprises when it comes time to deploy what is purchased. Find out why going native is bad....

Having a clearly strategic and unique offering is a luxury most sales people never get to enjoy in their careers. Even so, many of these same sales people have incredibly successful careers and many would say they not only got better, but also had more fun, when having to sell as an underdog. Exercising their creativity to redefine an offering to get a win, is one of the most fun things a sales person can do....

Is it always right to let your customer spend money they want to spend with you? Even in B2B, there are customers who feel they're getting a better product or solution if they pay more. Some want to take the safe route and never be caught without the maximum capability. Others don't know that they're over-buying, that is until after they've deployed your solution and realize they over-spent. How does telling a customer to spend less, result in getting more revenue?...

You can run into decision makers anywhere and you always want to be prepared for an exchange that will gain you VisABIITY and CredABILITY. With the caveat that you always want it to be an appropriate time, I recommend you always have a 30 second exchange planned and rehearsed, even if there's the remote chance you'll run in to people who impact your business. The 30-3-30 (30 second, 3 minute, 30 minute) tool has always worked for me and this is a story of how that preparation and a chance meeting, got me quarterly meetings with Michael Dell...