Larry Chiang closes deals in rooms that he was not even invited into. He edits the Bloomberg BusinessWeek channel “What They Don’t Teach You at Business School”. After Chiang’s Harvard Law keynote, Harvard Business wrote: “What They Don’t Teach You at Stanford Business School“ (its the same title as his NY Times bestseller. If you read his scandalously awesome “What a Supermodel Can Teach a Stanford MBA” and “How to Get Man-Charm”, you will like his latest post: “Top 8 Places to Close a Deal at TechCrunch Disrupt”.
 |
By Larry Chiang
Call me new age, but I think there is an energy about where you congregate for a meeting. Some have an almost religious zeal around this called ‘feng shui’.
My passion is to network a room and get my readers scandalous tips to press palms and even get deals done. My tips also work in rooms they were not invited to. Google, “migrate from crasher to VIP”
Here are the top spots to close a deal
-1- The Lobby
Some lobbies hold all the action. Here at the councourse, a good dose of chin wagging happens at the ramp area. Its off the side of the companies demonstrating but close enough to the action. It also has a natural bottle neck where traffic gets stopped up.
-2- The Upstairs Concourse
There’s a semi-secret upstairs area where there’s seating. It makes it perfect for the meet-up where you can ambush a prospect with legal papers to sign. Sometimes there’s security but if you tip, bribe, comp and tip, you should be able to secure all hours access.
-3- Backstage
Balls of brass are needed to crash this area.
If you do gain unauthorized access, the deal you ‘close’ better benefit the party that is legitimately there before your crasher-ass
Hint: if you are crashing, I recommend either charming security or circumventing it (or both).
-4- Blogger Pit
There are signs that say; “Reserved for TechCrunch”
These are the 1st three rows.
This is where a lot of the action happens. Funny insight is that w/the top bloggers, you can “network” with them best by being near them and physiologically communicate… you don’t need to be verbose and use words
Close a deal by laying the groundwork in the blogger pit and taking advantage of breaks to wedge in and work your conference agenda and goals
-5- AfterParty
Yes, I love the deal action at the afterparty
When you have a pre-set group of people that all paid $3k, there is going to be an urgency to get that 3k back
I bring a sharpie with me so that any inkling of an idea gets the proper chance to see the light of day when both parties put sharpie to cocktail napkin
Remember, if you have it in sharpie, you’ve got a prayer, if not… you’ve got nothing but air
True story
-6- AfterParty #2
Lets say you were lame at the first nights afterparty… you now can close at the google event.
Do you keep seeing that lovely honey that keeps giving you the eye?! Do not bang at the conference.
Remember, we can lose money chasing ass, but you can never never lose ass chasing money.
Note(s): If she’s employee #11 @google, flirt a little to get some angel money. If she’s employee #3 at mint.com, she’s probably flirting you up for funding since the only people that made money were Aaron and 3 VCs.
-7- AfterParty #3
The third day is the best day for the lay-down deal. People are tired and easily swayed. I love day #3 of a conference!
My conference crystal ball says that the day #3 afterparty, people will be exhaused. Bake up something decent and the barriers to objecting should be reduced.
-8- Speaker Ready Area
Every conference has a speaker ready room. If you want to network with a speaker, getting at them before they speak lets you have a better crack at them than after they speak.
*** BONUS ***
a party invite for you:
http://economist.eventbrite.com/
What a Supermodel Can Teach a Harvard MBA
If you liked this…
Larry’s mentor Mark McCormack wrote this in 1983. His own book came out 09-09-09. It is called ‘What They Don’t Teach You At Stanford Business School‘
This post was drafted in an hour and needs your edits… email me if you see a spelling or grammatical error(s)… larry@larrychiang com
Larry Chiang started his first company UCMS in college. He mimicked his mentor, Mark McCormack, founder of IMG who wrote the book, “What They Don’t Teach You at Harvard Business School”. Chiang is a keynote speaker and bestselling author and spoke at Congress and World Bank.
Text or call him during office hours 11:11am or 11:11pm PST +/-11 minutes at 650-283-8008. Due to the volume of calls, he may place you on hold like a Scottsdale Arizona customer service rep. If you email him, be sure to include your cell number in the subject line. If you want him to email you his new articles…, ask him in an email
You can read more equally funny, but non-founder-focused-lessons on Larry’s Amazon blog .
Larry speaks on stuff they don't teach in B-school to help you get street smart in doing business. In college, he started a business that helps college students with their FICO score. He loves entrepreneurs, Ben and Jerry's ice cream and after parties. You can reach him at:
