In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve got a pretty cool life. I get to interact with experts on a very unique basis. I enjoy the freeflowing exchange of expertise and ideas with people that are good at what they do and realize that collective thought is usually much more productive than the sum of individual thoughts.

Dave was conducting a workshop today for veteran OMG distributors. Being able to eavesdrop on that session would be enough for the average salesman, but remember that I’ve got a cool life. I was sitting at my desk and in walks Howard Popliger.  In case you don’t know, Howard is the Founder and CEO of Epic Development. We talked about strategic account management in Fortune 100 accounts, retainer relationships vs. project relationships and the importance of samples, demos, and pilots.

I also had an interesting precall strategy session with Bruce Bower and Chris Mott. (That’s right. We actually practice what we preach.) Why would somebody with Bruce’s experience, Chris’ experience, or mine take the time to talk about tomorrow’s call? Because in 5 minutes, we had three different approaches that all made sense. Our collective thought and experience made the salesperson 3+ times as prepared for tomorrow’s call.

Finally, earlier today, Mark Paskell introduced me to Ron Roberts. Ron and I talked from 6:30 to 8:38 this evening. That’s right, two hours and I don’t know about Ron, but I could have gone longer. Ron calls himself the Contractor’s Business Coach, but his website is http://www.filthyrichcontractor.com/. How’s that for posturing? Ron and I had a great time sharing contractor stories and I see great synergies down the road. Incidentally, if you’re a contractor, you should subscribe to his newsletter. Check out his website to preview the content.