Never Eat Alone

What Hacker News says

1. 1659447091Dec 2025
   Having spent some time in outbound sales (after tech burn-out), the most important aspect (as many comments say) is "relationships". The best training for that is to go out and make them. We had sales training every single day, so it's really not something you can pick up a book or go to a weekend class and walk away being effective. That said, books and classes are a good way to find your footing.

   Never Eat Alone - Keith Ferrazzi (networking & relationship building)

   Never Sit in the Lobby - Glenn Poulos (sales & relationships)

   Getting to Yes - Roger Fisher (negotiation, particularly "principled negotiation")

   The Joy of Selling - Steve Chandler

   The Psychology of Selling - Brian Tracy

   In one of our quarterly division training, our office manager gave us Dale Carnegie How to Win Friends and Influence People and were told if we learned nothing else, to study that book.

   It's been over a decade since my sales time, but the 2 sales techniques I haven't forgotten are: "selling ins't telling" and "feel, felt, found". As you can imagine, they are about relating to people, not giving technical/spec speeches.

   It's something you have to practice everyday, make sales a part of your job title -- not simply something you do on top of running the company. An integrated layer no different than other software maintenance task, except the maintenance is the relationships with people you want to sell to.

   For any other tech types that may someday find they need sales skills, I highly recommend actual job experience in outbound sales (with a company that provides frequent sales training). It was a massive culture shock that gave me the professional people and relationship skills I struggled with.

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2. stephenbezNov 2024
   I found the book “Never Eat Alone” to be what you are looking for. It has a whole section on how to be a conference commando.
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3. dilippkumarFeb 2024
   I can offer a reading list. Hope this helps.

   1. The Mom test - Rob Fitzpatrick

   2. Never eat alone - Keith Ferrazzi

   3. The Tim Ferriss podcast - Episode #717 with Noah Kagan

   4. Crossing the chasm - Geoffrey Moore

   5. Competing Against Luck - Clayton M. Christensen

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4. mittermayrFeb 2024
   I know you're looking for a book recommendation (my recommendation would perhaps be a bit too socializing-weighted with Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi) — but I also wanted to reiterate what others have said here already. It's a two-step process — you need to get in front of a potential client, and then you need to convert them into a sale (project). I personally think that most books focus on the latter, whereas the former is arguably the hardest part: finding leads.

   It's the same problem most indie devs and startups have (without VC-infused Adwords budgets) — getting their product in front of other people.

   I have been consulting in a self-employed capacity for 13 years now, next to doing other things, and 100% of my leads have come through friends, exclusively. This is not to show how great my friends are (debatable), but how I have been completely unable to attract business outside of my network, even in 13 years!

   Marketing yourself to even be considered a point of contact for whatever it is you're offering is - in my opinion — by far, the hardest nut to crack.

   I'd love to hear suggestions by others who've been successful on this front, especially how you attract out-of-network leads. It seems next to impossible at times, except for those rare (serendipitous) moments when someone reaches out after a newspaper article or being featured online somewhere.

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5. bckrMar 2023
   I would try to establish a friendship with them rather than trying to transactionally extract some useful knowledge.

   Consider what you can offer them rather than what they can offer you.

   “Would you let me buy you coffee or lunch some time?”

   Find out what they are interested in outside of their career, or if they share any passions of yours.

   Ask them what they’ve been reading, watching, or listening to lately. Then you could engage with that media yourself and have something interesting to talk to them about.

   I suggest you read the book How to Win Friends and Influence People. Never Eat Alone is another book I’ve heard good things about on this subject.

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6. chegraJan 2023
   Health

     1. Dopamine Nation - https://www.chestergrant.com/summary-dopamine-nation-by-dr-anna-lembke
   
     2. Obesity Code - https://www.chestergrant.com/summary-obesity-code-by-dr-jason-fung
   
     3. Breath - https://www.chestergrant.com/summary-breath-by-james-nestor
   
     4. Willpower Instinct - https://www.chestergrant.com/notes-the-willpower-instinct-by-kelly-mcgonigal
   
     5. Sleep Smarter - https://www.chestergrant.com/highlights-from-sleep-smarter-by-shawn-stevenson
   

   Productivity

     1. Mini-Habit - https://www.chestergrant.com/26-highlights-from-mini-habits-by-stephen-guise
   
     2. Checklist Manifesto - https://www.chestergrant.com/highlights-from-the-checklist-manifesto-by-atul-gawande
   
     3. The rise of superman - https://www.chestergrant.com/summary-the-rise-of-superman-by-steven-kotler
   

   Business

     1. Traction - https://www.chestergrant.com/summary-traction-by-gabriel-weinberg-and-justin-mares
   
     2. Contagious - https://www.chestergrant.com/contagious-by-jonah-berger
   
     3. How to be a power connector - https://www.chestergrant.com/summary-how-to-be-a-power-connector-the-5-plus-50-plus-100-rule-by-judy-robinett
   
     4. The mom test - https://www.chestergrant.com/summary-the-mom-test-by-rob-fitzpatrick
   
     5. Never eat alone - https://www.chestergrant.com/never-eat-alone-by-keith-ferrazzi-with-tahl-raz
   
     6. Hooked - https://www.chestergrant.com/summary-hooked-how-to-build-habit-forming-products-by-nir-eyal

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