Selling yourself

As I was traipsing around jewelry stores in New Mexico I noticed an interesting phenomena. Sitting on a bench resting my old back and watching I saw the game being played. Before the sales clerk tried to sell you anything they start with small talk. Where are you folks from, what brings you hear etc? They then listen and pick up on what you have to say and respond accordingly. They tell stories about themselves, their store or the jewelry. It goes back and forth. As I observed this it made me think about us in this transitional time in our lives. We should take note of how the game is played. We need to listen also, pay attention to our talking partner and relate. Stories work well, information we know well can go along way. Yet don’t over elaborate and bore them. Try it out in your next networking event.