Small Talk Like a Pro {Or a Sales Rep...}

I've heard this many times before. "I don't know how to small talk!" "I hate small talk!". Well when you basically base your entire career off of it it gets a little easier.  I am a sales rep which means that when I'm in markets I am essentially small talking from 9 - 6 and sometimes even after that.  When you meet me I usually give off more of a shy vibe, once you get to know me I am anything but that.

Here are some of my tips for successful small talk. These don't work in every situation but for me they have worked in most.

1. First of all, if you're in the right setting go immediately to the bar. Don't get sloppy but chances are you need a drink or maybe 2 to loosen up to talk to strangers.

2. When walking up to a group of people you don't know that seem to not be talking I would walk up and immediately have something to say. I don't even care if it's about the weather. "Damn it's hot out there!" or "Do you think the vortex is ever going to go away?".  The more clever and less "It's nice outside" you can be the more likely you are to get a laugh and loosen the whole group up. Don't dwell on the weather, let's be real, no one wants to really talk about it. Just break the ice with it then move on.

3. Look for things to talk about.  This specific example is probably just speaking to parents or aunts or uncles but when those Rainbow Loom bracelets were all the rage {or are they still?} I would look to see if the account I was working with was wearing one. Honestly 65% of them were. I used to wear the ones that my nieces and nephew made me so that I could immediately say "Oh you have kids huh! I see they are obsessed with the Rainbow Loom... my nieces and nephew love them!" {insert show my bracelet here}. Every once in a while if you get a parent who's super in to them you can talk about the various ways to make them for a solid hour. I know this one doesn't work for many situations but the point is, be extra aware of your surroundings, what the people are wearing, doing, eating etc. It may give you the best small talk insert ever.

4. If it's a sports season I'm 9 times out of 10 going to ask where you went to school. I pray that you don't say some obscure school with no football or basketball team so I can immediately insert {"oh you guys are great at basketball this year!" or even a little smack talk "Sorry about that lose to the Wildcats last week... actually I'm not"}. Even if it's a work situation if my Wildcats are playing I'm somehow keeping up with the game. If there's a guy in sight I need to small talk then I'm telling him how I'm trying to sneak the score knowing this will break the ice and keep the sports convo going.

Don't be this guy... small talk means swallowing your true feelings sometimes.

5. Keep your feelings to the side.  I think we all know that there are some really ignorant, self-centered, and flat out annoying people out there. If you're in a small talk situation and you really want to tell them they're an idiot, do your best to hold back. This works for most life situations actually but just be the bigger person and change the subject, or just excuse yourself and go get another drink.

6. Be yourself. All of the above are perfectly tailored to me. I genuinely enjoy sports and won't sound like a phoney chatting someone up from really any state across the country about it.  You probably have a few things you are really interested in that you will sound genuine about as well. The worst possible thing in my opinion is to try to be someone/something you're not. Loosen yourself up and you'll be just fine.

Happy mingling!
xoxo,
Molly