The way I look at it is that Twitter has become one of the most influential and important sources of information for all sides of the sales and marketing equation. I certainly counsel my clients to carefully monitor their brands as well as that of their competitors and to react quickly whenever a market opportunity arises. Seems only fair that the same would hold true of the companies which are mentioned in my Tweets.

While I agree in principal with the best practices you’ve listed above, I still have to applaud the tenacity of the sales rep that called me directly. And when their company’s fiscal results are announced next year, I won’t be surprised if they’ve leapfrogged the competition.