Not Sure How To Break The Ice? | Michael Finch Online

In the world of social media, you would think talking with someone about business would be easier. Depending on the platform, friending people can be simple, or extremely difficult. After that obstacle is overcome, now you have to engage with them. So how do you go from adding a friend on social media to talking with them about business?

Let’s take Twitter and Facebook as examples.

On Twitter, you can follow an unlimited number of people, but on Facebook, you are limited to only 5k friends. It is also common for people to quickly follow you back on Twitter. Facebook, however, people are less likely to add you as a friend unless you have mutual friends, or share a common interest. (Why? I have no idea, but that seems to be the trend.)

Once you become friends with these people, now what? How do you break the ice and start a conversation?

Well… One of the easiest things to say is “Hey ____, thanks for adding me back! How are you doing today?”

Another conversation starter that works great is, “Hey ___, I saw you and I both are interested in sports. Who is your favorite team?” (For this one, you can use whatever common interest you both have.)

Noticed what I did with both of those ice-breakers? I asked a leading question. Asking questions that require a response are more likely to get the person to actually respond. And leading questions aren’t just good tips for starting the conversation, they are also essential to keep the conversation going!

In the book How To Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie explains that listening to people will get them to like you and respect you more than if you did all the talking. Well, asking questions gets the other person talking!

I’m sure now you’re asking, “Okay, but now how do I bring up business?”

Well, this one can be a little trickier.

Ask your new friend what they do for a living. When people talk about their job you can usually get a sense of whether they enjoy it or not. If you can’t tell, ask them! Literally, just ask, “Do you enjoy working as a ____?”

At some point in the conversation, they are likely to ask you what it is that you do. This is NOT where you just word-vomit all over them. In fact, it’s just the opposite.

As someone much smarter than me put it, “Give them the trailer, not the whole movie.”

Say something to the effect of, “I help people create an income online” or “I teach people how they can generate a residual income using just their computer”.

Whatever you decide to say, keep it short.

Now, this is where some marketers will tell you to wait until they ask for more information. And you can definitely do that. But what if they never ask?

So what should you do?

Ask a leading question! Ask a more specific question about what they do and link it to what you can provide, if possible.

Something to the effect of, “Are you able to choose what hours you work as a ____?” or “Does working as a ____ give you the kind of time/income you are looking for?”

From there it is just about conversing and possible offering a solution to their problem through your business. If you have a product or service that you provide and your new friend doesn’t seem interested in the business side of things, they could possibly be a customer.

And if the conversation doesn’t change over to where you can offer your opportunity or product, don’t force it. You can always send a message later on saying something like, “Hey ____, when we talked earlier you mentioned you (worked too hard, didn’t earn enough, whatever). I thought this (video/article/whatever) might be something you would be interested in.”

Be friendly and don’t try to force your business. Learn to be social!

These tips will work in a one-on-one setting also. Feel free to try them out and let me know how it goes!

You don’t have to keep struggling to find people to talk to about your business.

PS: If you enjoyed today’s post and know someone who is in business struggling with generating leads, tell them about this FREE Twitter training! Get it here

Michael Finch