HOW TO USE LINKEDIN TO READ MINDS AND MAKE MONEY (TRUE STORY) I probably shouldnt post this. No, I take that back. I DEFINITELY shouldnt post this. The fact is, I cant read minds. But now Ive been in so many meetings where Ive read peoples minds and then they wrote checks to me that its almost embarrassing for me to admit its all been a trick and Im about to tell how I did it. This is no joke. In fact, I hope there are not any big LinkedIn users here because if too many use the trick it might not work any more for me. But since I have this disease to just reveal everything I do Im going to spill my guts here on Facebook. This trick works in lots of situations: speeches, dates, casual encounters on the subway, but Im going to focus on business meetings where you are trying to sell something: either a product or your services. Ive been using this technique for about six years and it works. Lets say you know the name of at least one person youre going to be meeting. You have a new piece of software or you are applying for a job and you will be meeting the head of sales, for instance. You dont know ANYONE else who will be in the meeting. Dont even ask in advance or that might give away the trick. You go on LinkedIn and you look up the head of sales. DONT connect with him. Again, that might give it away. You see two things: who his or her connections are and you see people who looked up X, also looked up Y. Several of the people on that also looked up Y will be in the meeting. Trust me on this. Thats why other people looked them up. Also, do the cursory check on who the head of sales assistant is, who reports to him, etc. All of this is on LinkedIn. NOW: use Google and Facebook to look up EVERYTHING else about these people. Lets say the guy who reports to him has photos of his last vacation in Idaho. Lets say he was born in Virginia. Lets say he went to school at Dartmouth. And, for whatever reason, he likes Zepella, the female cover band for Led Zeppelin. This exact situation happened to me. Ok, you get to the meeting and everyone introduces themselves. You already know who about 2/3 of the people are just because youve memorized their faces and names. But make a big show out of how you cant remember their names. Ooops, I hope Im not tested on any of this later. That gets people to chuckle and they realize theyve already overwhelmed you with too much information. Now youre all set. Theres a lot of things you can do here. Ill tell you some of them. A) READ MINDS. You say at the beginning of the meeting something like, I dont want to scare anyone but I can read minds. They chuckle again and they think youre completely insane and they start looking at their watches. No seriously, you say, and you ask for volunteers. Undoubtedly someone will volunteer whose name two minutes ago you couldnt even remember. Select that person. You look like a Dartmouth guy to me.....and...hmmm...this is really weird but Im getting an image of Led Zeppelin but all dressed like women. Do this one or two more times and people will be FREAKING OUT. Then you can say, ok, we better get this meeting started but Im warning you...I know what youre thinking. Or, even better, can you admit what you did. This shows how deeply you prepare and how much you are willing to work for them. This will get a lot of laughter. See? No deception, a little bit of magic, a little bit of the wonder of childhood, and now everyone is friends. B) BOND: This is a little more obvious but there are several stories that people bond over. A story is just a way two people can relate to each other even if they are complete strangers. Oh, you went to University of Iowa? So did I? sort of thing. People bond over several things: colleges, states they grew up in, teams they like, ages of their children. I have a 15 year old girl. Man, those teenage years are tough. Oh, you have a 15 year old girl also? You know what I mean, then. . Make a list of all the bonding moments you can have with each person in the meeting. Try to touch on all of them. This may sound disingenuous but its not. You really are bonding on these things (it might be inappropriate if you didnt go to the University of Iowa for instance). But I find that most people dont do this basic preparation. C) OTHER: If you really want to take it a step further: find causes theyve donated to. Donate to those causes and figure out how to bring it up in the meeting. If someone donated to a particular charity for an obscure disease it means someone close to them died of that disease. Maybe someone in your family did also. Sign up for a run next weekend. This is a bit more disingenuous and I dont recommend it but, I can tell you, it works. Maybe they like a particularly obscure movie. Watch the movie the night before the meeting. Say, I just saw this incredible movie last night and mention it. You know what they will say? Their eyes will get bigger and they will say, I LOVE that movie. Dont believe me. Just try it. Magic is not about special powers. Magic is not even about a stage and a trick. Magic is about preparation and surprise. One time I was going on a first date. I told the girl I had never been to Pinkberry before. I had never even eaten yogurt. So she said, Oh my god! We have to go to this one pinkberry on 59th street. So we made a plan. An hour before we were supposed to meet I went to the Pinkberry. I got the name of the girl behind the counter. She was 15 years younger than me and from the Bronx. She was black. I told her what I wanted her to do when I showed up for my date. She laughed and agreed. I tipped twenty dollars. I let my date get there first. I texted I was lost and running two minutes late. Then I got there, said hello, and then I saw the girl behind the counter. She said, Oh my god, James! and we hugged each other. My friend said, do you two know each other? The girl behind the counter said, James is my favorite cousin! What the hell are you doing here. Dont you know Pinkberry will rot away your insides? Hows the Chelsea Hotel treating you. I went out with that girl for about a month. She might even be reading this post. If so, I apologize for my deception. But I was a different person then. Maybe.
Posted on: Sat, 26 Jul 2014 16:24:40 +0000
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