“That’s a fast breakfast.”

I turned to see a man of about 50 years, athletic-looking, pretty big arms and chest (well, compared to mine anyway, low bar to get over!) just sitting down with his breakfast that included a mound of hotel serve-yourself breakfast potatoes, some sausage, and a cheese omelet. He was looking at my bowl of oatmeal. [It looked so plain that I’d put ketchup on it to give it some flavor. Hard start to the morning.]

He smiled and repeated himself. “That’s a fast breakfast.”

“Yeah, plane to catch.”

“Michael,” he said, extending his hand to shake.

“Nick”, I replied, completing the handshake.

We’d both spent the night at a hotel close to where we’d been doing our business. Michael works for private equity companies.  He’s a professional disruptor. He shakes up companies in which his employers have invested to boost their sales and profitability. He’s often face-to-face with business owners or executives who resist changes that could increase their business by 25% or whatever the number. They want to keep doing what they’ve always done to get to this point.

“So, what’s special or powerful about the way you handle that?”, I asked.

“I have the ability to help people see things that they are either too dumb or too tied into status quo to see.  I’ll give you an example. Earlier in my career, I was representing a company that had a catalog of premium-priced restaurant equipment.  I called on a buyer who said, ‘Tell me why you’re worth the extra 20%.’ So, I said, ‘OK, pick any item from our catalog and I’ll tell you.’”

“She flipped through the catalog for a moment and picked an ice scoop, like you’d have behind a bar or in a restaurant. A small shovel with a handle, right? Ours had a hand shield that prevented the user’s fingers  from touching the ice as they pushed the scoop through the ice.”

“She looked at the price. ‘Our scoops are fine. I wouldn’t pay that price to replace them.’”

“’OK’, I said and I offered her a glass of water.  And, just as I handed it to her, I dipped my fingers into the water. She balked. So, I took the glass back, put my fingers deep into the water, stirred it around, and then handed it to her.”

“She said, ‘That’s disgusting.’ I said, ‘Yeah and, with your ice scoops, you think it’s OK for servers’ fingers to touch ice as they scoop  – ice that goes into a customer’s  glass where it  turns to water.  Same as my fingers. Here, have a drink.’”

He shoveled some potatoes into his mouth.

“She bought the new scoops, didn’t she?”, I said.

He smiled.

Nick Miller is President of Clarity Advantage based in Concord, MA. He assists banks and credit unions to generate more and more profitable relationships, faster, with business clients, their owners, and their employees through better sales strategies and execution. Additional articles on Clarity’s web site.