The most valuable part about this article is understanding what you're asking about. Being sure that you truly understand your customer is invaluable. You need to understand everything from WHY are they trying to solve a problem, HOW much is this problem worth to them, WHO is involved in solving it and WHAT would it take to get a solution in place.
Place yourself on their team. Act as if you sit inside their four walls and it's your problem to solve. Care more for making the person you work with successful rather than about pushing a product on to them.