Michael Dell starts to sound like a Cluetrain convert himself: “There are lots of lessons here for companies,” he says. “The simple way to think about it is, these conversations are going to occur whether you like it or not. Ok? Well, do you want to be part of that or not? My argument is you absolutely do.

That’s the crucial word you hear at Dell: relationship. Dell blogger Menchaca has led the charge in convincing bloggers that “real people are here to listen.”

“The challenge is how you create a network of advocates for your business…. By listening to our customers, that is actually the most perfect form of marketing you could have.” And Michael Dell? He predicts that customer relationships will “continue to be more intimate” and response times faster. He even spoke of “cocreation of products and services,” a radical notion from a big company. “And I’m sure there’s a lot of things that I can’t even imagine but our customers can imagine,” Dell says, sounding darned near like a blogger himself. “