my accountant told me last month he has a client who writes off $8K/month in "coffee meetings"
i asked how thats even possible
"he buys coffee for strangers at the airport"
this guy lives in nashville
flies to a different city 3-4 times a month for "business development"
sits in the airport lounge for 6 hours
walks around and spots people who look like they run businesses
"hey man heading to dallas too? can i buy you a coffee?"
15 minute conversation at the gate
exchanges linkedin
if theyre a good fit he follows up 2 days later:
"good talking to you at the airport - saw on your profile youre in [industry]. we help companies like yours with [problem]. would it make sense to explore this?"
conversion rate from coffee → booked call: 41%
last year he closed $380K in revenue from airport conversations
total cost:
- flights: $46K (only books refundable tickets, cancels half of them)
- coffees: $8,400
- lounge memberships: $1,200
total: $55,600 in expenses
return: $379,000
6.7x ROI
"why not just cold email or go to networking events"
"networking events are full of people trying to sell. airports are full of people trying to get home. their guard is down. they have time to kill. a $6 coffee feels like hospitality not a pitch."
he tracks every conversation in a notion database
airport, persons name, company, flight number, what they ordered, topics discussed
217 coffees bought last year
89 turned into calls
14 turned into clients
average deal size: $27K
the IRS audited him in 2024
he showed them:
- boarding passes
- receipts with timestamps
- linkedin messages matching the dates
- closed deals traced back to specific airports
they approved everything
his biggest month was september
sat in LaGuardia for 11 hours on a delayed flight
bought coffee for 6 people
4 of them booked calls
2 closed for a combined $61K
"that delayed flight made me more than most peoples salary"
no ads
no cold calls
no website traffic
no followers
just a guy who realized business class lounges are full of his exact ICP
and theyre all sitting there bored as hell with nothing to do
most people avoid conversations at airports
this guy built a $380K pipeline from them
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