Business: Small Talk
This report is about a meeting I had just two weeks ago with the principal of a small business called TelSat about a satellite / Internet TV system I was maybe interested in. I had seen their advertisement in a magazine and realized their address was in a suburban strip mall a few miles from home and close by a restaurant where I had made a lunch reservation, with a friend and neighbor Derek James. I had earlier telephoned ahead to confirm they could arrange a demonstration for me and my friend who had also expressed interest.
After parking by the restaurant, we strolled along to locate the TelSat office. We found ourselves outside a storefront that appeared to be a cell phones and accessories outlet, but no indication of TelSat. As we hovered there uncertainly, a young man inside opened the door and in a heavy perhaps Eastern European accent, asked “Can I help you?”
I explained that we were looking for TelSat and had come for a demonstration of the system. He stood aside while beckoning us in, saying: “Yes, this is the TelSat office.” He gestured to a TV at the back of the room, as he sat down in front of a computer, and said: “I will set up a demonstration for you.” We stood there while he tapped away on the keyboard, exchanging glances with each other, probably both thinking the same thing – not very impressed so far! Then, without speaking to us or looking in our direction, he picked up a cell phone, dialed a number, then spoke into it, saying something like “Could you get me a line?”
In what seemed like just a minute or so later, a trim woman who looked to be in her thirties came hurrying in through the door, sat at the computer for a minute or two, speaking to us over her shoulder and apologizing for not being there when we arrived. Then she jumped up, grabbed a remote from nearby the TV, and began to demonstrate the system for us, describing its features in what seemed to be a very confident and knowledgeable manner. As she did so she kept glancing at me and my friend Derek.
After a few minutes, she asked – looking repeatedly from me to Derek and back: “Do I know you two from somewhere? I’m sure I recognize you!” That seemed to trigger a similar recollection for the both of us. After a few guesses, we all three suddenly remembered that she had been a cable TV installer a few years back and had clambered over my roof without any safety harness, etc! “So you’re Lisa,” I said smiling, as I recalled her first name. “That’s right” she replied, “Lisa Callaghan, originally from Ireland.”
That really was an ice-breaking moment. In contrast to the earlier atmosphere in the room, which was very cool after the bad start to our demo, we were all smiling and talking about other satellite TV firms we all knew but which had gone out of business, as well as other topics of common interest such as the area we live in. We still asked some of the formal questions we’d planned, like the costs of the system, how long TelSat have been in business, their fault rectification and warranty policy, etc, but there was a real cordial feel about it all – we were more like old friends than a business person dealing with potential clients.
I think using the techniques of smiling a lot and chatting about common topics and experiences really worked. When we left to go to the restaurant after about thirty minutes, promising to call her up for a home demo, there was definitely a warm feeling all round. It turned out to be a very successful meeting after a less than promising start. Had I thought to ask her name when we originally spoke on the phone, maybe I would have remembered her then – especially with her Irish accent – and got that meeting off to a much better start!
