Talk to Strangers: How Everyday, Random Encounters Can Expand Your Business, Career, Income, and Life by David Topus Page A
Authors: David Topus
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You can define your goals, write a business plan, and map a strategy, but at the end of the day you will need people to help make it happen.
It always has been, and always will be, through who we know that we achieve our goals, realize our dreams, and expand our lives. And although the advent of social media provides a fabulous new channel for meeting and communicating with people, if you want connections that turn into productive business relationships, you are likely to find them in your daily travels, every day, all day long.
The world is a friendly place, and you can meet anyone, finding customers, partners, investors, mentors, and friends, simply by talking to strangers. You are just a comment, a question, a remark, or a compliment away from tapping unlimited potential. In the next section you will discover the key principles and techniques for turning your everyday random encounters into meaningful and productive relationships.
Chapter at a Glance
Your attitude and beliefs about what is possible will drive your ability to make great things happen.
If you believe that people are friendly and receptive to meeting you, you will find that they are.
When you believe everyone can enhance your life in some way and you can enhance theirs, you will bring a whole new dimension to the encounters you have every day.
SECTION II
Turning Random Encounters Into Mutually Beneficial Relationships
The ability to have successful random encounters begins with your thought process and attitude. As we discussed in the previous section, if you believe you can meet anyone—that people are fundamentally friendly and that you, and everyone you meet, has something worthwhile to offer—then you will increase your chances of making an endless number of valuable contacts in your daily life.
Yet random connecting is also a skill , one that requires specific strategies and tactics to implement successfully. And although it’s not difficult, it’s like any other skill in that it entails focus and discipline. You probably already have some of the skills required to make productive face-to-face associations, whereas others might be new. In either case, this section will show you how to learn, build, and/or sharpen these proficiencies so that you can turn everyday random encounters into mutually profitable relationships.
Chapter 11
Find Clues to Initiate Conversation
The entire random encounter process begins with your ability to initiate conversation with a complete stranger. For many of us, the biggest challenge is knowing where to begin. What should you talk about? How do you find that point of entry into the conversation? And whom should you talk to, given a room, airplane, lobby, or elevator full of people?
In the 1960s and 1970s, people placed bumper stickers on their cars to make a statement or indicate something about their circumstances, personalities, or values. Sometimes they were funny, sometimes political, sometimes very personal. In all cases, they gave insights into people, their beliefs, their likes and dislikes, and what they considered important. Thirty and forty years ago, bumper stickers said things like “Let’s All Do the Twist,” “Hug a Hippie,” “Peace and Love,” or “Nixon in ’60.” These were literally and figuratively signs of the times that indicated car owners’ personal and political inclinations.
Today’s bumper stickers say things like “Driver Carries No Cash. . .He’s Married,” “Four Out of Three People Have Trouble with Fractions,” or “Guns Don’t Kill People; Drivers With Cell Phones Do.” Like those of the 1960s, these give insights into a person’s sense of humor, interests, priorities, and even values. If you pulled up beside someone with any of these on their bumper, you would have a clue about the person, and maybe even be able to say something about their statement that resonates with
It always has been, and always will be, through who we know that we achieve our goals, realize our dreams, and expand our lives. And although the advent of social media provides a fabulous new channel for meeting and communicating with people, if you want connections that turn into productive business relationships, you are likely to find them in your daily travels, every day, all day long.
The world is a friendly place, and you can meet anyone, finding customers, partners, investors, mentors, and friends, simply by talking to strangers. You are just a comment, a question, a remark, or a compliment away from tapping unlimited potential. In the next section you will discover the key principles and techniques for turning your everyday random encounters into meaningful and productive relationships.
Chapter at a Glance
Your attitude and beliefs about what is possible will drive your ability to make great things happen.
If you believe that people are friendly and receptive to meeting you, you will find that they are.
When you believe everyone can enhance your life in some way and you can enhance theirs, you will bring a whole new dimension to the encounters you have every day.
SECTION II
Turning Random Encounters Into Mutually Beneficial Relationships
The ability to have successful random encounters begins with your thought process and attitude. As we discussed in the previous section, if you believe you can meet anyone—that people are fundamentally friendly and that you, and everyone you meet, has something worthwhile to offer—then you will increase your chances of making an endless number of valuable contacts in your daily life.
Yet random connecting is also a skill , one that requires specific strategies and tactics to implement successfully. And although it’s not difficult, it’s like any other skill in that it entails focus and discipline. You probably already have some of the skills required to make productive face-to-face associations, whereas others might be new. In either case, this section will show you how to learn, build, and/or sharpen these proficiencies so that you can turn everyday random encounters into mutually profitable relationships.
Chapter 11
Find Clues to Initiate Conversation
The entire random encounter process begins with your ability to initiate conversation with a complete stranger. For many of us, the biggest challenge is knowing where to begin. What should you talk about? How do you find that point of entry into the conversation? And whom should you talk to, given a room, airplane, lobby, or elevator full of people?
In the 1960s and 1970s, people placed bumper stickers on their cars to make a statement or indicate something about their circumstances, personalities, or values. Sometimes they were funny, sometimes political, sometimes very personal. In all cases, they gave insights into people, their beliefs, their likes and dislikes, and what they considered important. Thirty and forty years ago, bumper stickers said things like “Let’s All Do the Twist,” “Hug a Hippie,” “Peace and Love,” or “Nixon in ’60.” These were literally and figuratively signs of the times that indicated car owners’ personal and political inclinations.
Today’s bumper stickers say things like “Driver Carries No Cash. . .He’s Married,” “Four Out of Three People Have Trouble with Fractions,” or “Guns Don’t Kill People; Drivers With Cell Phones Do.” Like those of the 1960s, these give insights into a person’s sense of humor, interests, priorities, and even values. If you pulled up beside someone with any of these on their bumper, you would have a clue about the person, and maybe even be able to say something about their statement that resonates with
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