How To Play The ‘Power Lunch’ Game

When you have completed this article, you will know:
* How to use the personal touch to create a memorable meeting.
* How the power of good food and conversation can be more persuasive than even the most colorful PowerPoint presentation.
* How going the extra mile can impress potential customers or vendor partners.

Sometimes it takes a little bit of creativity to impress your customers or vendors. In this Internet age, too often it is not the product you're selling or its features or even the services you bring to the sale that stand out. The Power often is not in the PowerPoint presentation you bring you bring to the sale but in the lunch that accompanies your pitch.

After all, clients have seen hundreds of presentations and they all look similar. But the experience you deliver with it can be key. Very often, it's the personal presentation you make during the lunch and the quality of the food and the experience that they remember most. That is why these events are called "power lunches.".

Let me give you a real world version of "Power Lunch" from my own experience.

Last year I attended a Microsoft conference in New Orleans with one of my top trainers and we successfully convinced the two Microsoft senior executives who were in charge of worldwide training to have lunch with us. My trainer promised to take the top Microsoft executives to the best restaurant in town to talk about some business. It was the only five-star restaurant in the entire state of Louisiana. But when Walter, my top trainer, tried to make a reservation for lunch, it was all fully booked. During the time of the Microsoft annual conference, there was no way we could get in. Or was there?

I picked up the phone, called the same number. I asked for the maitre d' and said the following:

"My name is Savio Chan and I am in town for the Microsoft conference. I am entertaining some top Microsoft executives, and everyone told me that you are the best restaurant in town. I understand that you are fully booked for lunch today. However we are leaving town tomorrow and I would really appreciate your help in getting us a table for four if possible."

I then gave him my credit card number and told him to add 30 percent to the bill for the waiter, and make sure not to present the bill at the table. And I also told him that I would stop by an hour in advance to sign the bill.

He put me on hold for one minute. When he came back, he said, " Mr. Chan, I've got a nice, quiet table for you!"

Naturally we had a wonderful meal with the top managers from a key client and during the dessert time, the waiter brought six dishes of different kinds of dessert and told me, " Mr. Chan, this is on the house."

At the end of the meal, I stood up with my trainers and said the magic words

"Let's go" and the Microsoft managers looked at me and asked, " What about the check?" I simply told them that Bill Gates took care of it and left.

When we walked out the door, both the maitre d' and the head waiter were waiting for us at the door and slipped me their business cards and said, " Mr. Chan, next time when you're in town, we surely have a table waiting for you!"

Our Microsoft top managers probably forgot my PowerPoint presentation during the "Power Lunch" and all they remembered was how great the food and how amazingly delicious was the dessert!

Remember, the Power is often not in the PowerPoint; it is in the "lunch".

By Savio S. Chan, president and CEO, Technology Training Solutions