The Night the Lights Went Out in Metcalf. While myths and urban legends take several years to formulate, current events and ICS-CERT alerts raise awareness immediately. It’s great to see the industry and PG&E (Pacific Gas & Electric) finally have detailed and open discussions on vulnerabilities within the electrical grid. Experienced salespeople use alerts as compelling events to highlight their pre-fabricated, selling hypotheses for executive buyers. Rookie salespeople use current events as starting discussion points on how their solutions-platforms lower risk to customers. Rick’s article provides a number of compelling starter points (Metcalf, Ukraine, ABC News, Associated Press, ICS-Cert, Stuxnet, etc.). Any of these examples can be left with customers to raise (quarterly) mindshare. Bottom Line: Knowledgeable salespeople leverage compelling events to advance buying discussions and strengthen their (strategic) customer relationships.