Last week NYT profiled David Topus, who regularly gets on an airplane for the sole purpose of meeting potential clients there.
“It doesn’t really much matter where it’s going, he says, as long as the fare is right.”
I was surprised that he was able to engage so many people on an airplane without immediately turning them off. But then again, Mr. Topus flies first class, and I would imagine (I can only imagine, I’ve never been) that conversation is easier to come by there. Though I am a little skeptical by his claims of his abilities to be able to identify a qualified decision maker:
“In a hotel buffet line, it used to take me till the dessert section before I could figure out who near me was a qualified decision maker that I wanted to talk to. Then I got to where I could do it by the entrée line. Now that I’m at the top of my game, I can usually do it by the salad,” he said.
