Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Great Networking Opening Lines

A big HELLO to all of my faithful readers! I apologize for not getting these newsletters out on a weekly basis for the past few months. A lot of travel and the fact that EVERYONE seems to be getting their resume redone has caused my business to BOOM! I will try to get these out on a more timely basis.

I’m writing this in the Los Angeles airport where I ran a program for the American Management Association’s summer program at UCLA. When it came to the networking presentation, the student’s #1 concern? How do you start a conversation with someone you don’t know?

As a veteran of many networking events, I feel everyone’s pain on this one. I’m actually more of a “sit back and see what happens” kind of gal, and I really find it hard to talk to people I don’t know either. But in order to grow my business, I had to learn how to get out there, and in order for you to get a job, you’re going to need to master this skill too.

The best opening line? A compliment! Who doesn’t love receiving a compliment, and who doesn’t instantly love the person giving the compliment? It is a never fail conversation starter. Here’s how it typically goes. As a woman, I’ll usually compliment a guy on his tie (psst….I don’t always LIKE the tie, but I can say something like “I’ve never seen a tie quite like that one, there’s got to be a story behind it.” and it works just as well). I have absolutely no idea why, but about 70% of the time they have some sort of story behind their tie. Then because I just gave them a compliment, and listened to their tie story, are much more open to talking to me.

For a man trying to network with a woman without coming across as a cheesy pickup line? Compliment a woman on her cellphone/Blackberry if it looks pretty high tech (“Those ‘crackberry’s’ are too addicting aren’t they?”, “Are you going to upgrade to the new iPhone?”) or a distinctive/unique piece of jewelry (ring, watch or pin), she may be wearing. Those are pretty safe articles of clothing you can comment on without crossing any uncomfortable lines. A simple “I’ve never seen a pin/watch/scarf/ring quite like that, where did you get it?” will do the trick.

The goal is to get the other person in a favorable state of mind to talk to you, not spend the rest of the evening sharing fashion tips. Once you’ve broken the ice, you can move onto introducing yourself and what you do, and then finding out about them.

One other tip that always works, look for the other person at the event who isn’t talking to anyone else, but looks just as dazed/confused/lost as you probably do. They will welcome your compliment and conversation.

However, networking just takes practice. The more attempts you make to make friends at these events, the better you’ll get at it. Promise.

Now get off your couch and get goin’!

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