Human Being Here!
There’s a show on HBO called Industry. In it there’s a scene where a grizzled sales manager is coaching a younger sales executive on how to…
There’s a show on HBO called Industry. In it there’s a scene where a grizzled sales manager is coaching a younger sales executive on how to build rapport with their clients over the phone.
The manager pulls out one of those sand-through-the-glass egg timers and advises our talented promising newbie to start each call by turning the hourglass over and “not talking business” until the sand has run out.
I remember giving similar advice to a talented promising account executive years ago. I give these same marching orders today to my job-seeking coaching clients.
It is too much to hope that your prospect or interviewer will remember what you say to them. But they will remember how they felt while talking to you. And the next time they think of you, that feeling will be the first thing that comes to mind.
I coach job seekers to try to make a brief personal connection with each interviewer at the very beginning of the call. Salespeople have been doing this since they were invented. I try to bring a little of it to every meeting I attend.
Do you have anything at all in common with the person you’re meeting with? Maybe their profile reflects common experiences or interests or other aspect of your careers in common. Say something about that.
If not, you can break the ice by asking a question about the person. “I see you live in Portland, I’ve never been there but I have always wanted to go. How is the hiking?”
“You profile says you speak 6 languages. I’m obsessed with that! How did you learn them?”
“I saw you got promoted Group Product Manager at you last job in only a year. That’s amazing! What’s your secret?”
If the interviewer is a complete mystery, tell them something interesting about yourself. “I have been using your products for years, they’ve really helped me level up in my work.”
“I’m so pleased to be talking to you today. Your company has an amazing reputation, and it’s always been a goal of mine to be a part of it.”
Not everybody is going to want to get into these kinds of conversations with you. At some companies, interviewers are trained not to engage in personal banter.
And that’s fine! If they steer you back to business, it’s unlikely you’ll be penalized for trying to be charming.
In my own interviewing lately, I will quickly steer the conversation back to the pre-selected interview questions because I am looking to interrupt my own biases that can be amplified in casual conversations.
But I always appreciate a candidate who has made the effort to connect with me. It’s like a conversational CAPTCHA: We both get to find out if the other party is, you know, a robot.
If you can have a 2-minute conversation that establishes that there are two living, breathing human beings on the call, I think you have done something very helpful for both sides.
Let’s hear your ideas about breaking the ice when meeting someone new on a call. What works for you? Any ideas at all, please, just not the weather!