How a snake introduced Jim Dolan to business partner Irving Azoff

This is how you succeed in business: send a live snake.

Madison Square Garden boss and Knicks owner Jim Dolan was recently asked how he first got to know music impresario and business partner Irving Azoff.

Dolan, who appeared as part of an Advertising Week panel, revealed he heard that Azoff once left a snake in a rival’s mailbox.

“That’s a guy I want to get to know,” Dolan told the roomful of media and ad-industry execs.

Azoff recounted for On the Money a slightly different version of the tale, which merited a mention in Fredric Dannen’s 2011 book, “Hit Men: Power Brokers and Fast Money Inside the Music Business.”

Azoff said his wife, Shelli, was involved in a feud with the wife of music manager Michael Lippman.

Lippman, who reps the likes of Matchbox Twenty and George Michael, sent Azoff an invite to a party but asked that he didn’t bring Shelli because of the tiff.

When the latter found out, she shipped a live snake to Lippman’s front door step with the words, “Now you’ve got two snakes.”