The old switcheroo

LAS VEGAS--How do Lenovo execs sell computers? They aid and abet pen stealing.

Steve Dusi, director of marketing for the notebook business unit at Lenovo, gets tired of hearing that chips, notebooks, desktops and other tech products are mere commodities. So he's come up with a way to demonstrate the point that they are not.

He asks people at a sales pitch to hold up their pens. A lot of Bics and freebie pens go up in the air, but there are always a few $100 Mont Blancs. He then makes a Mont Blanc owner switch with an owner of a plastic pen. "'They both do the same thing,' I tell them," he said.