So, I’m at an event, and someone came up to introduce themselves to me.
Random guy: “Hi, my name is…”
And then he shoved his business card in my mouth.
Yes. IN MY MOUTH.
He pulled his hand out of his pocket, and thrust it towards my face… business card in hand.
I was annoyed.
“Is this guy serious?”
“Wow. Rude!”
But I really can’t blame him.
When you want to meet someone at an event… or in a coffee shop… “opening a conversation” can be awkward.
What do you say?
What do you do?
How do you introduce yourself without being “weird?”
And how do you continue the conversation?
Keep reading…
Conversation Skills: How to Introduce Yourself To Anyone With 3 “Magic Words”
So, if you want to meet new people, you need to “open the conversation.” I filmed a video to help.
But of course, there’s more to meeting new people than just opening the conversation.
You also need to be likable.
How?
Conversation Skills: How to Make People Like You
So, I’m at the coffee shop, and this lady says, “Wow Derek! I’m impressed.”
It came out of no where.
We talk a fair amount. She’s maybe 10 or 15 years older than me. And she tells me about her work.
She talks about fun stuff she’s tried recently. It’s all pretty light-hearted.
“Why,” I asked?
“You never talk about what you do. I googled you. You’re kind of a big deal.”
I close my laptop. I pull out my phone and hold it in her direction.
“Hold on. Can you say more nice things about me for the microphone?”
She laughed.
“But seriously! You’re so humble,” she says.
“I know it looks like that, but I’m about to write about this on Facebook just because you gave me a bunch of compliments and I want the whole world to know how great I am.”
She thought I was kidding.
I was.
Sort of.
I said it to make her laugh.
But this is how it goes.
When I meet new people, I rarely talk about myself.
Instead…
I make it all about the person I’m talking to.
What’s THEIR story?
How can I help them?
What excites them?
It’s simple…
You should always make your conversation about the person you’re talking to.
And that leads me to…
Don’t make it an interrogation. That’s weird, too.
And that leads me to the NUMBER ONE Most important tip for meeting new people…
Conversation Skills: STOP TALKING ABOUT YOURSELF
I met a guy who launched a new company that’s about to start marketing this company to the world.
He spent about 10 minutes telling me about his company.
It was fine. I liked the company.
But he never actually asked me what I did.
It’s his loss.
He’s about to embark on an adventure where he tries to persuade people to buy his new product (and accompanying app).
I’m sure he’ll do fine. I’m sure he has a plan in place. But imagine if he just said, “Hey man, what do you do?”
I mean…
Word on the street is I may know a thing or two about how to market and sell things.
And this guy lost an opportunity to have a real conversation because he talked about himself the entire time.
Now I Pass It To You…
How do you introduce yourself to people?
How do you maintain a conversation?
Or better yet…
If you’re struggling with this, what can I help with? Let me know.