The Lead

Sound familiar? This seems to be the way that most people on planes carry on conversations – forgetting that there’s a very good possibility that the person next to you could be a future client, partner, employer, employee or connection for really great concert tickets (yes, it’s happened.). Some of our very best clients came as a result of “airplane conversations” that went something like this…

Me: Do you travel to Dallas often?
Seatmate: Yes, my job takes me there a lot. How about you?
Me: Actually, not often, but I’m headed there now to meet with a prospective client. I’m a public relations consultant at a really great PR agency in Minneapolis called Padilla Speer Beardsley. What do you do?
Seatmate: I’m a manufacturing engineer for a company in Green Bay called (name withheld – it’s my blog posting, not his).
Me: That’s interesting – one of our best clients, Rockwell Automation, supplies automation technology to them. Are you familiar with them?
Seatmate: As a matter of act, I used to work for them in Mequon. Do you know (insert name?)…

… and we went on to chat for the next 15 minutes about the people we knew, the challenges facing his business, and the ways in which companies like my client could help make life easier. Now compare the first conversation to the second. By giving a slightly longer answer – one that gave my seatmate a little bit of insight into my job and my company, he also had a cue to open up a bit. We had a conversation that was meaningful, helpful to both of us, and ultimately was a lot less painful than the verbal pingpong I used to do.

Lesson – have your personal, professional and company elevator story at the ready, and be prepared to link them together. Networking will be a lot less intimidating and a lot more productive.