Business Without the Bullsh*t: 49 Secrets and Shortcuts You Need to Know (26 page)
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Authors: Geoffrey James
33
How to Work a Room
Even if you’re naturally gregarious, it’s easy to be daunted by a roomful of people you don’t know, especially if those people are executives, leaders, and decision-makers you’d like to cultivate as contacts or customers.
The following process helps you circulate around a room and quickly build as many useful connections as possible:
Whether you introduce yourself or get an introduction from somebody else, your priority is to feel and express genuine interest in the person you’ve just met. Ask them about themselves, why they’re attending, or what they’re learning.
This will almost always lead to a discussion of the other person’s job or career, as well as who the other person knows. This is important information because it gives you the first indication of whether the person you’ve met is potentially a valuable contact.
If not, enjoy the conversation, but don’t get “captured.” Find an excuse to break away or talk to somebody else. The idea is to circulate so you meet more people.
If you decide to remain in the conversation, the next subject that normally comes up will be what you do for a living. This is your opportunity to position what you’re offering and to begin assessing whether the other person is a potential employer.
Rather than give your job title or history, provide a description of the benefits your customers, investors, or employers get as the result of buying from, investing in, or hiring you. Ideally these benefits should include an intriguing fact.
“I sell state-of-the-art training software.”
“We renegotiate IT contracts that save money.”
“I’m looking for a job in computer-game programming.”
“Retail firms used the software I programmed to train employees, which increased their sales by about ten percent.”
“I helped a company lower its IT procurement costs by negotiating directly with major IT vendors.”
“I’ve got an idea for a computer game that combines social networking with cooperative puzzle solving.”
Don’t go into vast detail about yourself, the jobs you’ve held, or the job you want. Offer a single intriguing sentence that fits into the context of a normal conversation. You have about five to ten seconds to impress. Use them wisely.
By positioning yourself casually yet precisely, you’ve given the other person the opportunity to express interest in what you just said.
If the other person stares at you blankly or changes the subject, you know that this is not a great connection for you to make, at least not now. This is a very good thing to know, because then you won’t waste time trying to develop it further.
If the other person
is
interested, he or she will move the conversation to the next level by saying something like, “Wow! How do you do that?” or “Funny you should say that, we’ve been having problems with [something related to what you just said].”
Between these extremes is what might be called a “sliding scale” of interest. Your challenge is to figure out if the other person’s interest level is high enough for you to continue the conversation.
To do this, don’t just listen to what the other person says, but also observe the other person’s facial expression and body language. If you sense that there’s real interest (as opposed to polite interest), move to the next step.
If not, let the matter drop. Trade a few words of chitchat (e.g., “Great conference, eh?”) and then extract yourself from the conversation (e.g., “Excuse me, there’s somebody over there I’ve been meaning to catch up with.”).
If, based on your one-sentence positioning, the person you’ve met has shown some interest in you and what you do, you now demonstrate why you’re a uniquely valuable resource.
Casually reveal one or two facts about yourself that show how you’re different from the competition (other people) in a way that might be interesting or essential to that person’s company.
As with your initial statement, what you want is a single sentence that expresses your uniqueness using easily understood words and phrases. Examples:
“At MIT I created a study that revealed how retail sales clerks can use past purchases to help customers take advantage of what’s available in the store.”
“I’ve worked with so many IT vendors in the past that I know how to negotiate with them to get the best price.”
“I’ve used existing multiplayer game environments to test how well people can work together to solve complex problems.”
This is the same as Step 3. If the other person continues to show interest, move to the next step. If the other person seems disinterested or only politely interested, let the matter drop. Trade a few words of chitchat and then extract yourself from the conversation.
If there are still signs of interest, ask an open-ended question that assesses the depth and quality of the other person’s interest. Examples:
“Just out of curiosity, how does your current point-of-sale system help your people sell more?”
“I’m curious about something. How does your firm currently negotiate with your IT vendors?”
“You seem intrigued by my idea. What kind of games is your company looking to publish in the near future?”