Would You Have Sex with a Potential Customer?

Confession time. When I went to my first big business conference as a callow youth, they had an open hospitality bar and, long story short, I ended up in the sack with a decision-maker for a potential customer. I wasn't in Sales at the time and certainly wasn't thinking about our division's quarterly revenue, but be that as it may, the account subsequently ordered several million dollars worth of computer equipment from us.

Another time, I was responsible for buying market research for a Fortune 100 company and was on a focus group tour in Europe. The PR firm handling the research assigned me a translator who, frankly, could have stepped out of the pages of a men's magazine. We were thrown together almost constantly for a week, and while we didn't have sex, we came awfully close. I don't think that she was trying to ensure that her firm would get more business. However, the idea gnawed at the back of my brain powerfully enough so that I made absolutely certain that things didn't get out of hand. Plus she said no.

My personal misadventures notwithstanding, I gather that customer relationships that get a bit too friendly aren't all that uncommon in the world of B2B selling. I've got a good friend who's been in B2B Sales all his life and he's told me half-a-dozen stories where he's ended up sleeping with clients. However, much as I love the guy, he's pretty much a world-class gasbag, so I don't know whether to believe him or just chalk up his stories to wishful thinking. I do know that a lot of B2B salesfolk have dynamic personalities -- and are good at closing deals. And under the right conditions that combination can lead to, well, some interesting situations.

Anyway, now that BNET finally has the anonymous "poll" feature up and running, I just have to ask:

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