The Jefferson Fisher Podcast - How to Never Struggle with Small Talk

Episode Date: December 17, 2024

Small talk can be so awkward. You’re trying to fill the silence, but the conversation just isn’t clicking. What do you do? In this episode, I’m sharing 3 ways to make small talk feel natural, engaging, and even enjoyable. You’ll learn how to ask better questions, keep the conversation flowing, and avoid the awkward silence trap. These tips will help you turn any small talk moment—whether at a party, in line at the grocery store, or before a meeting—into a real connection. Like what you hear? Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a 5-star review! Pre-order my new book, The Next Conversation, today!  Suggest a topic or ask a question for me to answer on the show!  Want a FREE communication tip each week? Click here to join my newsletter.  Watch my podcast on YouTube  Follow me on Instagram  Follow me on LinkedIn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If there is one thing to unite this world, it is the hatred of small talk. It doesn't matter if it's a corporate company event, or maybe it's just a weekend networking. It can be terrible. It can be downright scary at times. So how do you do it? And how do you get better at it? Well, I got you today.

We're talking all about how to never struggle with small talk. Welcome to the Jefferson Fisher Podcast, where I'm on a mission to make your next conversation the one that changes everything. If you enjoy learning tools to improve your communication, I'm gonna ask you to follow this podcast, and if you would, please leave a review. If you have any suggestions for a topic,

just throw them in the comments. Also, my new book, The Next Conversation, is officially out on pre-order, and you can find links for it down in the show notes. Small talk, it's gross. So how are we gonna fix that? Let me give you some hints. Number one, instead of just asking how's work, how's home, those kind of questions just fall flat. They do nothing for you. They don't move the conversation at all. Instead we're going to switch it to ask questions that are

action oriented. That means questions about the doing. So instead of how's work? How's home? How are you? You're going to be asking questions like what did y'all do this weekend? What do you have coming up? Getting things that they're excited about. What are you excited about today or tomorrow or this week? When you say what are you doing or going those are action-oriented things and they're gonna help push the conversation forward. Number two now what matters is how you do it. If you notice I didn't say do you have anything going on this weekend because how are you gonna respond to that? You're gonna respond to that as either a yes or a no. That's it. When you ask questions

typically that are did or did you have fun today? Did you have a good day? When you ask your kid, when you pick them up from school, do you have a good day? You're really only giving them a few options to say yes or no. When you ask questions that are closed, that's what they're called, closed-ended questions, they only leave you hardly anywhere to go. It's what they're called closed ended questions. They only leave you hardly anywhere to go. It's just a yes or no question. Do you go to the store? Yes or no. Instead you're gonna be opening it up with asking and beginning the phrase or question with what. What you see how we say what did y'all do this weekend or did instead of did you have fun this weekend? You hear the difference between what did you do for fun this weekend versus? Did you have fun this weekend?

One invites you to open up the other Closes it down and ends the discussion so anytime that you can I want you to ask an open-ended Question you do that by beginning with what or how or when? Because it gets them to continue to talk That's what you're after and also number three If you find that you just don't have that much to talk about or it starts to go downhill And you finding that each of your responses are getting shorter and shorter. That's okay. There's nothing wrong with that People feel like there has to be a certain amount of time for to count a small talk. No, if you just say hello to the person and you engage maybe in one little back and forth,

that's small talk. You've done it. Congratulations. There's no medal. There's no reward. There's nobody counting and timing you to see how long you've been talking. Just if the conversation comes to a natural end, then just say, hey, great to talk to you and politely end the conversation. Don't feel like you have to keep pushing and pushing to have some green check flag to say I have accomplished mild talk. It's a lot less than you think to make that happen. Alright now on top of making sure your questions are action oriented, asking about the going, the doing, what what they're excited about what's up ahead what's going on in the future, on top of making sure that you're asking open

into questions that are leaving lots of space and begin with with what how and when and not did that's going to close things off. On top of that, there is a formula that I'm going to teach you real quick. And it has always worked for me me and I know it can work for you, too This is how it goes number one you just pick a topic any topic to talk to this person about So let's say it's as boring as the weather you could say and this weather was crazy. This weather can't make up its mind today They're gonna come up with something. They're gonna say, yeah, oh, I know, yeah, right? It's crazy.

They're gonna acknowledge you in some way. Perfect. You have now set the stage for you to give options. I like to think of it as a poll and a P-O-L-L, meaning you're going to say, for example, in this example, you can say, so are you a fall person or are you a winter person? You like it hot or you like it cold? Or maybe it can be summer or winter. Are you a fan of summer or do you like it cold?

Would you rather be too hot or too cold? You're giving them options. That's the key, options. Because options give us something to talk about rather than just forcing it down one chute and hoping that it works. So if I were to say, you know, are you like the beach in summer or are you more like you like the mountains and the snow? They're gonna give you one. They're gonna give you one option. They're not gonna just leave you hanging or they might just say You know what? I really like spring. Spring's kind of my thing. It reminds me of blah blah blah.

Or they might just say, you know what, I really like spring. Spring's kind of my thing. It reminds me of blah, blah, blah. Well, then you get to interact and say, well, I totally hear you. Well, I happen to be a fall person because it makes me think of football and Thanksgiving and here in America, we have Thanksgiving in November. And so that's what I really like. And then you get to kind of interact with them and say, well, what about you? And now you're getting to get to know them on just a little bit deeper level because here's here's the trick on This formula is why it works for me at least is that when you share something that is more personal about you

99% of the time it then opens it up for the other person to share something a little bit more personal about them because they feel like, oh well you've shared something and now I'm going to share something. It's very, it creates kind of this mutual contract that's hidden in a way that if I share a little bit about me and what's personal to me and what I like, you're then going to feel a little bit more comfortable sharing more personal things about you. And that's what you're curating in that experience. You can take it wherever you want to go. But that's that's the formula. It's that simple. Pick a topic, create options for them. Maybe you create two

options, at least two, maybe three or four, and then you share something as to which one is your favorite and then ask someone about you Even the question what about you continues to open things up in the dialogue in it and never can really go wrong that way I mean they call this small talk not big talk It's just something short compact that you left it Oh, okay I learned a little bit more about this person and it's something that you can knock out really in just an elevator ride It's very quick. Very easy. Let's say you're coming off into the

elevator straight from some rain or whatever. You can easily just open it up talking about really the weather, the news, whatever you want. Try that. And because this episode is about small talk, I'm going to keep this episode small. So let's go ahead and get into my favorite part of the podcast. And that's where I get to read a question from a follower. Those that are part of my newsletter are able to ask me questions by email and I'm able to answer them. So if you're not part of the newsletter, you can sign up the show notes are,

are the link for it is down there in the show notes. All right. This one I have picked out. This is, let me pull it up. This is Linda and she lives in Lubbock, Texas. Linda from Lubbock. I think there's a country song in there somewhere. I went to law school in Lubbock so I'm very familiar with it. Linda says, Jefferson I need some advice.

Thank you so much for your clips. You're very welcome, Linda. I am, I work at a, well, I'm not gonna say where she works, but I have networking events and I tend to absolutely clam up where I stand in the corner and I'm not sure how to approach anyone or to get to a point where I feel comfortable

talking to anyone. Do you have any advice? Linda, I'm sorry you're having trouble with that. And that's that's absolutely OK. Absolutely OK, because what makes you special is what makes you you. So just because you're not going around talking to every single person that is in the room, Linda does not make you any less special or important or of less value.

You find that people can talk a lot and say nothing at all. All right, so a lot of the times these networking events are really just more of a social dance in a way of just finding who's comfortable with who and who's friends and who's not. So I don't want you to overthink it, but I know that's not all that helpful to Linda. I'm going to say some things that I'm. I'm gonna say some things that I'm gonna try to see some things that are So when somebody is talking with you one thing that you can do that I like to do is I will It's it becomes subconscious, but if you want to find that you're more engaged with people and get kind of curious with people Physically one thing that you can work on is I like to slowly cut

you just kind of cock your head a little bit to the side that makes it look like you're much more interested in what they have to say rather than just like I just want to talk to you so it's you don't want to have crazy eyes you don't want to have it to where you feel like you're in front of their face you're just kind of at a distance where your shoulders are relaxed you feel feel relaxed. It helps me if you're holding something Especially these networking events everybody kind of expects you to have something in your hand It does not have to be a drink It can be a snack it could be any kind of refreshment that they have but it keeps your hands

Busy and that's that's why I'm saying it because it keeps your hands from having to like fiddle with themselves So maybe you don't know what to do with them So you kind of cross them when you hold something it keeps your stance open And what I'm gonna encourage you to do on top of that is to just barely Slide your head to the side either side it doesn't matter to the left or the right But it gives this posture of wanting to kind of be curious And when you smile and you're asking questions and they start to respond, if you can just move your head just a little bit to the side, it's going to open

them up as if, Hey, you're being a little bit more curious about them. They have more conversation. Another thing that's going to help Linda is understanding that don't go into these events thinking you have to talk to every single person, like there's a win and a loss kind of thing. There's something to win and lose. That's not it. If you can just go in with the idea

of just talking to one person. Yeah, it's that basic. Just one person and having a good conversation with them. I would rather trade 20 little small talks that mean nothing at all versus one awesome conversation with somebody that I want to talk to every time I'll trade that every single time. So when you're going into these types of scenarios, Linda,

just it's going to help you if you already know who's going to be there and you make sure that you go talk to that person. If it's a friend, awesome. That's great. The biggest thing is that people just see you around. They see that you're having a good time, But if you're closed off in a corner, even if you're talking to somebody and you just have, you have a closed off posture, your arms are closed, your shoulders are hunched, and you're kind of turned off to the group, they're going to find that a little bit more, it's going to signal at least that you're not wanting to talk to anybody. Maybe you don't, but you asked the question, how can we,

how can you get better at that? Keep a much more open stance and go in trying to think of just one or two people that you want to make eye contact with and conversation with. It doesn't mean you have to plan out these conversations ahead of time. You certainly can. And what I would encourage you to do is take some of the things that I said at the beginning of this episode of asking go up to somebody say hi I assume it doesn't matter if you know them or not and you can ask them the question of what was something

exciting happen to your week? What's exciting in your life right now? See it's just one question right there. What's exciting in your life right now? See, it's just one question right there. What's exciting in your life right now? Easy. And you let them talk. And then once they share it, you share something that's going on

and exciting in your life. You can't just ask a question and then expect not to have any kind of answer of your own. So it's that kind of that back and forth, that mutual contract that I talked about, Linda, that's gonna make sure that you are keeping the ball rolling in the air. And it is much easier for you to end the conversation. This would be point three for you.

If you feel that the conversation is starting to run low, get out fast. Say, hey, it's been great to talk to you. I'm gonna go grab something to eat or drink. Whatever it is, I'm gonna run to go see whatever. It doesn't matter. The biggest thing is if you can end the conversation on a high note rather than forcing each other to talk when you really are kind of done talking to each other

and then leave the conversation, well now you kind of drained each other. So if you can, try to leave the conversation on a high note. So if they responded to your,'s you know most exciting in your world today, and they give you an awesome Answer you say oh, that's fabulous ask maybe another question about it go. Oh, that's fantastic And if they don't ask anything of you typically they should I mean that's they should but if they don't that's cool We just say well, that's awesome. Well, I'm super proud of you. That sounds really exciting. It was great to talk with you.

And then you leave and now you've left on a high note. Now Linda, you've made a good impression because all you do is talk about them and they're really gonna like that. So Linda, those are just some quick takeaways, but at the end of the day, you just do what makes you special. All right, you do what makes you new.

And if it makes you uncomfortable, don't do it. You stick with what feels good in your lane and what resonates and feels right to you. Thanks for the question. Thank you for listening to the Jefferson Fisher podcast. If you enjoyed today's small episode on small talk, then I'm going to ask you to please follow this podcast. And if you would leave a review or a star or a comment, anything really does help. Today we learned all

about small talk that you can improve it by asking questions that are about the doing asking what they're excited about you're asking questions that are focused on the future. Number two we talked about open-ended questions versus closed-ended questions where closed-ended forces the person to answer with just a yes or a no but an open-ended question invites them to talk and you can do That by beginning your question with what how or when? Questions like that and then number three we learned that if you feel like the conversation is going to a natural end No problem at all

Or if you want you can use my super secret formula that I talked about in the episode that can get people to talk about Just about anything at all. So that's the podcast for today. You can always try that and as always, follow me.