19
Feb

Break the ice or melt it with charm?

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Business Networking Sunshine Coast

Unless you are in the ice sculpture business, you should really get good at breaking the ice. Sure, when you are meeting someone at a business networking event, you could ask them, for the thousandth time that evening, “So, what do you do?”.

Event Socializing – Business Networking Sunshine Coast

The problem with asking the same question as everyone else is that you tend to melt into the blob of memory faces along with the others that asked that question. Do you want to be remembered as “You know, what’s their name, with the face?” or do you want to make such a good impression that the not only remember your name but know where they put our amazing business card? If you said the first one, you might want a professional to go over your business plan.

While you spend most of your life working, there is obviously more to you than that. You don’t want people to only remember you for what you do. This is the issue with opening with the “what do you do” question. It breaks a fully developed person into a category without adding their own personality into it.

There is no doubt knowing what the person does is important, especially at a Sunshine Coast business networking event, but perhaps there is a way to do it and be special. Spoiler alert there totally is. You could go way over the top and ask them something like “So, how do you make this a better world to live in?”. This might embarrass the person, especially if they don’t have an answer. If they don’t have an answer, you might have also given them an existential crisis that will keep them up at night wondering what the heck they are doing with their life.

Personally, I like to use “How do you change the world?” Because it’s asking the important question of “what do you do” but allows them to focus on their super heroics that maybe they don’t get to express often. People change the world for another person every day, allow their personality to come through. You’ll get the information you seek and make them feel better at the same time. Talk about a win-win.

One more important piece of advice. Have your own response to the same question. Seriously. It’s all good to know how to break the ice with others, but what if they break it with you first. Write down your answers, yes seriously, and read it to yourself a few times. Does it seem interesting? Is it engaging? Is it how you want to be represented? Once you are happy with your response, try it on some other people, a co-worker or your spouse.