In dealing with clients three orders of magnitude larger than yourself, you need a "hook." Years ago, due to an electronic miskeying, I got to listen in as a c

In dealing with clients three orders of magnitude larger than yourself, you need a "hook." Years ago, due to an electronic miskeying, I got to listen in as a company lead purchasing agent, who had a law degree, discussed with other purchasing agents how they were going to push us around, complete with disparaging comments about our size. We had provided a specialized piece of equipment that the company's employees were sometimes too lazy to perform preventive maintenance on, despite training. I never got on a plane unless the service contract check had cleared.