One of the best ways to improve your communication skills is to engage in conversation with complete strangers. Everything starts from scratch and it's easy to practice being curious, which is one of the best communication skills to master.
As an entrepreneur you should always be looking for opportunities to build your network and reach out to potential clients. And when you're clear on all of the aspects of your business, you can have an effortless conversation with anyone about what you do, who you work best with and the results clients get from working with you. If you have your 60-second commercial practiced and ready to use at all times, it's becomes natural. And you never know who might discover that your business is the answer to their need.
Consider this story. While sitting on the airplane on my way home from NYC I started a casual conversation with the person sitting next to me. I considered reading my book for a while and then working on my laptop, but I decided to engage in some friendly conversation with my seat mate to help pass the time. We talked about how great it is to have a direct flight, how long we have each lived in Hawaii, the people that we know, and he ended up asking me what I did for work. I described who my clients are, how I help them and the results that they get; he immediately identified himself as a potential client of mine. My intention was not to have a "sales" conversation at all. I just wanted to break up the time with some friendly casual conversation for a little while.
I'm innately a friendly and personable person, I don't shy away from talking to people and I'm genuinely interested in people's story. So when I have the opportunity to get to know someone, whether I will ever see them again or not, I take it.
Being open, courageous, and curious is something that I highly recommend that every entrepreneur be in the habit of. Talking with someone for the first time is a great way to practice all three! Even if the conversation doesn't offer an opening for you to share about your business, it's still a great opportunity to practice being curious and being interested.
Many people don't strike up conversations with strangers because they are shy and it's out of their comfort zone, or they are preoccupied doing something else at that moment. But we really do become best at the things we make a point to practice and if you try to engage in a conversation with a stranger, you'll be surprised at how easy it becomes.
Not just as an entrepreneur, but as a person conversing with another person, you want to focus on really listening first to what they are saying before you respond in any way. Your goal should be focused on making them feel important by asking questions that allow them to share something they are passionate about and, if appropriate, create a call to action such as meeting again sometime for coffee, a phone conversation or email follow up.
As you practice being more bold and courageous by taking the initiative to start a conversation, this will also boost your confidence. And you never know, you could discover a new business contact or potential client out of a casual friendly conversation.
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