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In his new Best Seller, Jeff Meshel writes a chapter about Todd Klein's consulting services.  See excerpt below:
 

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One Phone Call Away: Secrets of a Master Networker (Hardcover)  by Jeffrey W. Meshel, Douglas Garr  Publication date: November 16, 2005

Page 26.

"You might recall that a number of years ago long distance phone service was expensive. It was right after new federal laws were passed, and telecommunications began to break off into different pieces. Suddenly, deregulation had multiple carriers sprouting up, all competing for our business. I used to receive calls weekly from salesmen trying to get me to change my company's carrier for a supposedly better deal. The cold calls were incessant, time consuming, and annoying. My company's long distance bill at that time was approximately $3,000 a month, and like many small businesses, focusing on our phone bill was low on my list of priorities. It was commonly believed that the difference in rates was probably nominal, and the idea of switching to another carrier was at the very least an office disruption.
One day I was having dinner with a few friends, one of whom was In the telecom business. We started chatting and my friend, Todd, told me that he was a master distributor for one of the major carriers. This status gets his clients preferred pricing.

Page 27.

According to him, there were a limited number of master distributors and because of the amount of business they controlled, they had the best rates available. Todd offered to review my bill to see if he could do better for me. No charge, he insisted. You have no risk at all. Consider it a favor. Obviously, it was a smart business move to offer to look at my bill for free, especially since he was confident he could better my rate. While I stored away the information, I still really wasn't that interested.
As much as I liked and respected Todd, I didn't expect to make a change. It was not something that I felt compelled to do anything about. I did the polite thing, and I told him I'd think about it.
During the next month, I continued to receive more solicitation calls (from salesmen) to switch my phone service. Finally, somewhat exasperated, I called Todd and asked him if he would review my phone bill. He did. A week or so later, he called and promised that he could reduce my bill from $3,000 a month to about $1,300 a month. I was shocked. I couldn't believe the dramatic difference in rates, less than half what I was accustomed to paying and suggested that we meet. I needed to understand how this worked.
Todd and I spent a couple of hours together. The explanation was pretty simple: The volume he controlled enabled him to get the lowest price. Clearly, if I was overpaying so was almost everybody else and, probably just like me, not focusing on it. I made the switch, and I never looked back. But also I thought this might be a wonderful opportunity to bring value to others I knew in my business orbit.
So I decided to spend a morning making some calls to "extend" the favor. I contacted a client who was in the paper business. His Company had ten locations situated all over the country, and I correctly surmised that he had to have a fairly hefty long distance certainly bigger than mine. He was happy to hear from me but then I immediately shifted gears, and asked, "Tom, I'm just curious, how large is your long distance phone bill?"

Page 28.

"Why?" he wondered. I related the experience I had with Todd and the amount of the savings that I began reaping.
"I would guess that my bill is around $30,000 a month." "Tom, if you'd like, I could have Todd give you a call." His initial response was pretty much as I suspected it would be just like mine, a lukewarm reaction.
"I appreciate it, Jeff, but we've been using MCI for a long time and I know they treat me well. I just don't believe it will be worthwhile." (Now think about his response. This is not unlike a sales situation. I know I wasn't selling him anything; I was only trying to do a friend a favor. He did not say no; the door was ajar. (Sometimes even when you simply want to help someone, you have to apply your best sales techniques.)
"Tom, the pivotal word in what you just said is 'believe,''' I countered. "Wouldn't you rather be sure that you are getting the best price? What's your downside? The guy doesn't charge anything to review your bill."
Tom paused and said just about the only thing he could say: "You're right. Have him give me a call."
About a month later, I heard from Tom. The conversation went something like this:
"Jeff, what's your favorite restaurant? I want to take you and your wife out for dinner."
"Why?"
"I could shoot myself. Your friend Todd did the review. He's able to knock my bill down from $30,000 a month to $16,000. I've been overpaying by $14,000 a month. That's $175,000 a year. I can't thank you enough."
The dinner was fine, by the way, but the personal satisfaction I received from creating value for his business left a far sweeter taste in my mouth.

Page 29.

But let's continue for a moment to look at what actually occurred with a more practical analysis. By making this introduction, how is it valuable for me? I totally transformed my relationship with Tom, having become one of his trusted advisors. This occurred because I brought him additional value outside the parameters of my business. It is a classic example of not just "thinking out of the box" (the corporate cliche du jour) but of actually "working out of the box." (I'll discuss this in more detail later in the book.)
Prior to my helping him with his phone bill, Tom had never introduced me to anyone. I never asked him, and he never offered. Since the introduction to Todd, Tom has made it his priority to introduce me to several people, many of whom have become clients of my firm. When you find something that has value, why not share it? It doesn't cost you anything..."