Network for Growth

Conversation Starters

Is this you?

“I don’t know what to say. I want to meet people, but am often at a loss to get the conversation started or keep it going.”

“How do I bring a conversation in a social situation around to a discussion of the service I offer?”

So how do you start a conversation that’s useful to you and the other person? Or re-direct a meandering one?

You really only need 2 things:

Know what would be useful for you. In other words, what would make a conversation worthwhile? What’s of interest to you?

Listen for opportunities and “openings” in your conversation, to take it in the direction you want.

Of course, the topic can vary from day to day, from context to context, and from person to person. But if you have a sense of what you want to get out any given conversation, or what would make one interesting, you can direct or re-direct its flow.

For example, if you’re talking someone who mentions that she suffers from hay fever, and you sell an air purification system, that’s an opportunity.

A conversation about the product you sell, with someone who may benefit from it, could certainly be a worthwhile conversation for both of you.

When you ask this person whether she has looked into air purification systems, and she says “No, what’s that?” or “Yes, but I’m not interested” or “I tried one and it didn’t work” — these are all “openings” for you.

You can use any of these responses to take the conversation in the direction of your product offering — although the path to it would be different.

In other words, in one case you might mention your product right away, in another case you might find out more about her experience with such systems and why she’s averse to using them, and so on.

Are you surprised at the simplicity? Sorry if you expected to be “dazzled”, but sometimes “simple” is most effective!

Try it out yourself.

Book now for the next Network for Growth meeting - we are small and friendly you will meet between 12 & 24 other people who really want to network with you. Each one of them will know many, many people who can help you to grow your business.