Have you ever been on a long flight sitting next to a person who talks too much? I mean a real Chatty Cathy or a Talky Terry. (This always happens when you’ve brought some work to do that’s due ten minutes after your flight is scheduled to land.) At first it’s nice talking to the person, after some time your neck starts to hurt from turning toward them. Later, your mind starts to wander and you start to wonder if there are any air marshals on the flight...
People who talk too much can lose opportunities to make networking contacts. Networking always begins with a hello and a smile. And often in a first meeting there is an exchange of names and business cards or contact information. Hopefully there is a connection that is made and a seed of a relationship is planted. It’s important to realize that this is a lot to accomplish in a first meeting. Sadly folks often try to push too much into these first meetings and then they wonder why the other person doesn’t follow up afterwords.
This happens a lot in interviews, too. A candidate has an interview and talks too much, but doesn’t realize it. As a result they don’t land a job that “they are perfect for!” In my practice, I’ll conduct a mock interview with a client and they’ll talk my leg off with answers that stretch on for 5 or more minutes. Sometimes they answer the question succinctly, then as the interviewer starts to jot a note they start talking again; interrupting the interviewer‘s train of thought. In the end their wonderful response is lost in the minutia of their droning on and on.
Be mindful of people’s body language and facial cues when you are talking to them. Are they getting your point... are they falling asleep, with drool dripping down their cheek? If we consider the average length of a television commercial we have some idea of the average person’s attention span. I teach my clients that they should shoot for responses of 30 seconds or so. This allows dialogue and not only your monologue!
This means that you should know what you’re going to say and practice it over and over in order to know how the response will sound when it really counts, in the interview.
If you’re on a long flight, chat pleasantly for a few minutes noting your neighbors body language. After that, take out your book or IPad or watch the in-flight movie. As your flight is preparing to land, tell the person you enjoyed talking to them and would really like to connect again; then offer to exchange business cards.
Next time we’ll talk about following up and moving along in the networking process.
People who talk too much can lose opportunities to make networking contacts. Networking always begins with a hello and a smile. And often in a first meeting there is an exchange of names and business cards or contact information. Hopefully there is a connection that is made and a seed of a relationship is planted. It’s important to realize that this is a lot to accomplish in a first meeting. Sadly folks often try to push too much into these first meetings and then they wonder why the other person doesn’t follow up afterwords.
This happens a lot in interviews, too. A candidate has an interview and talks too much, but doesn’t realize it. As a result they don’t land a job that “they are perfect for!” In my practice, I’ll conduct a mock interview with a client and they’ll talk my leg off with answers that stretch on for 5 or more minutes. Sometimes they answer the question succinctly, then as the interviewer starts to jot a note they start talking again; interrupting the interviewer‘s train of thought. In the end their wonderful response is lost in the minutia of their droning on and on.
Be mindful of people’s body language and facial cues when you are talking to them. Are they getting your point... are they falling asleep, with drool dripping down their cheek? If we consider the average length of a television commercial we have some idea of the average person’s attention span. I teach my clients that they should shoot for responses of 30 seconds or so. This allows dialogue and not only your monologue!This means that you should know what you’re going to say and practice it over and over in order to know how the response will sound when it really counts, in the interview.
If you’re on a long flight, chat pleasantly for a few minutes noting your neighbors body language. After that, take out your book or IPad or watch the in-flight movie. As your flight is preparing to land, tell the person you enjoyed talking to them and would really like to connect again; then offer to exchange business cards.
Next time we’ll talk about following up and moving along in the networking process.
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