The other day, I was visiting Portland with my wife sampling the different food trucks and shopping. Oregon has no state sales tax and decent shopping.  After following her to the usual department stores, we walked into the new downtown Nike store. Right in front was the display for the Nike+ FuelBand. Finally some fun gadgets.

The Nike+ FuelBand uses a sports-tested accelerometer to measure your movement in NikeFuel, a universal metric of activity. It calculates how many steps you take, your sports activities like basketball and tries to count the calories burned (this not accurate but it’s consistent). Cool stuff.

I’m not a person obsessed with fitness. However, I’m pretty disciplined about a healthy lifestyle. I don’t work out all the time, but I’ve “learned” to enjoy healthy and balanced foods. I don’t count calories but I’ve “learned” to listen to my body about how much to eat. I lift weights when it feels right and stretch in hot yoga when my body tells me to. It’s not a routine but a sustainable lifestyle that works for me as I live with a lot

of energy.

A Nike+ FuelBand is perfect for someone like me. I’m naturally competitive and keeping score would be motivating.

At the store I could not decide between the white or the gray one. So, when my wife walked by, I enthusiastically asked for her input. She, looking very annoyed, said that I didn’t need another gadget that is going to just sit on the night stand for months. She told me to just donate the money to the homeless instead. She then walked away.

When the guy helping me started putting the bracelets away, I said, “Hey, hey, wait.  Don’t put those away, I’m still buying one!” He looked somewhat worried for me but sold me the gray one.

In selling, always learn who the budget owner is. Don’t let the other opinion and noise distort your view of who is the actual buyer. I guarantee in the flea markets of Turkey or Vietnam the vendors would have known that they always had me.