speeddadiva

If you’re to sell someone on you, you’ve got to sell what you’ve got- the oldest sales adage. What’s compelling about you or your life that could be a conversation opener with someone new?

Start by taking a personal inventory. What is there about you, your life or the lives of others at the event that is – funny, frustrating, strange, exotic, mysterious, etc.?  Everyone knows that humor breaks down barriers. Is there something funny that has happened lately either to you or someone you know? Is there something obvious about your current state that you could leverage into a conversation opener?

For example, if you have an obvious injury, while it is not funny in itself, it might be funny or compelling in the retelling about how it happened. Let’s face it, everyone’s probably curious anyway. And, the ability to laugh at oneself is a special gift.

I once attended a cook-out at which the only person whom I knew was the date who brought me. I couldn’t help but notice a woman there who was in casts from just below both her knees down. Knowing that there just had to be quite a story behind those casts, I asked her how she got that way.

“I got hit by a train” was her explanation. Talk about a conversation starter! As soon as she said that, the jaws of everyone within earshot dropped when we realized that she wasn’t kidding. Believe me, she had our attention.