I recently talked to someone who wanted to start a business. He said, "But there is something I don't like to do: sales. It's something I'm really not good at."

Well, I said to him, "You better learn fast."

Sales is critical for any successful business owner. In fact, it is more than just about nabbing customers. It's also about hiring, forming partnerships, and even courting the media.

And, in the current economic environment, sales is perhaps even more important. After all, who wants to part with his or her money right now?

Today Bear Stearns lowered its rating on Starbucks Corp (NASDAQ: SBUX) from 'outperform' to 'peer perform' and the stock took a nosedive of sorts, falling $1.16, or 5.67%, to $19.31. I say "of sorts" as the past year has been nothing but nosedives, occasionally modified by small gains, before the stock dips again. The coffee chain has entered into the slumpiest of Suessian slumps. The problem? Discretionary spending is taking a hit in the poor economy, and Starbucks lattes are the first to go.

When was it that Starbucks passed from a hip hangout of Early Coffee Adopters and sunk to the many comparisons with McDonald's -- and the customers to match? Certainly, McDonald's reputation as a franchise powerhouse and ubiquitous brand is a positive association of which Starbucks management could be proud.

Most young companies dream of getting their first heavyweight customer -- a huge player, central to their industry, like Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), or better yet, a General Electric (NYSE: GE).

Snaring such a customer can change an entrepreneur's fortunes overnight. Of course. But how do you gain the attention and trust of a large and important company? It's certainly tough -- but there are some strategies to help out.

First of all, make sure you are in a niche that large companies don't consider core to their business, advises Steve Waldis, who is the CEO and founder of Synchronoss Technologies (NASDAQ: SNCR). The company develops software for the telecom industry and even powers the activation for Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone. This was the result of a deep customer relationship with AT&T (NYSE: T).

An article in Sunday's London Times reveals first hand how some unscrupulous sellers on eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) are defrauding honest customers out of their hard-earned cash. A reporter, posing as a well-to-do individual looking to sell high value antiquities, easily talked one of eBay UK's largest sellers into admitting that, oftentimes, the practice of shill bidding was used to assure adequate value for items sold on eBay.

In explaining how the process of shill bidding to inflate prices is accomplished, the subject of the interview stated:

"I've got some of my big clients who buy big items off me, I look after them. So I can get on the phone to America and say: Mr XXXX . . . you're a multi-millionaire. You buy a hundred grand's worth off me a year. Do me a favour would you. Just put - yeah. Exactly."

In response to the investigation, eBay claims that its new practice of hiding user ID's from view during the course of bidding has helped to address the shill bidding problem. I and many of my fellow sellers fail to see the connection. In times past it was fairly simple to formulate and chart patterns regarding systematic bid manipulation by specific seller groups, and we had success in shutting some of them down. Now however, there has been a iron wall placed between the identities of bidders and the balance of the eBay populace. This means that eBay itself is solely responsible for scouting its site for bidding violations, and I feel eBay's actions have made it abundantly clear that while the company will try to help, it's really not eBay's responsibility to protect you or your money.

I want to know: how does reducing transparency within the eBay auction venue result in greater safety for eBay buyers? It's problematic that eBay is only set to gain from high prices; if fraudulent sales practices do drive up final value fees, eBay's bottom line is given a boost. Obviously shill bidding is not an accepted practice; but why would eBay create the appearance of trying to hide it?

I love breakfast.

But I'm not a morning person. And when I happen to be out and about, garage saling or running errands or recovering from what I like to call a "mommy hangover," I find myself at a McDonald's. And all I want is breakfast. Somehow the Sausage McMuffin satisfies that need I have for protein, salt, and iron, without making me feel as if I've given my soul to the demons of empty calories.

If it's after 10:30 a.m., though, I'm sunk. And given that I (a health-conscious adult who tends to steer clear of partying 'til the wee hours) want breakfast past 10:30, I can only imagine how much the considerable teenager and, umm, hungover demographics would appreciate being able to eat Sausage McMuffins and hashbrowns and all kinds of other deliciousness at 11 a.m., or 12:30, or even four in the afternoon. I know. Shocking, right?

I've thought since my own teenage years that McDonald's and fast food restaurants of every kind were ignoring a huge consumer need by cutting off breakfast in mid-morning. Now, it seems that McDonald's finally agrees; the news from Jim Skinner's presentation at the Bank of America 36th Annual Investment Conference: breakfast, all day, will soon be here. All that's needed is a change to a new "flexible operating system."

If I were the CEO of McDonald's Corporation (NYSE:MCD), I'd be slapping myself on the forehead. Doh! Why didn't they figure this out sooner? Hello? Customers don't like to be told, "no, you can't have that which you most desire. We made a rule. Breakfast 'til 10:30, not a moment later!" Customers don't come to fast food restaurants because they're looking for discipline, limits, lessons in punctuality. They come to fast food restaurants to satisfy a desire, to indulge their longings for fat, crispy, sweet, bacony sausagey eggy...

That's why I, a health nut, a disbeliever in fast food, might now buy MCD stock. Because offering breakfast all day is an indication that management gets it. McDonald's stock was up 37 cents to $38.15, a 1% increase and a few cents from its 52-week high, on the news today.