Start a Conversation With a New Business Associate

When you have a new business associate and you may find it difficult to know what to start talking about. Here are a few ways to find common topics to get acquainted.
This is the steps
1. Greet the new person. Extend a compliment and/or an ice breaker into the conversation
2. Try to find a commonality between the two of you, even if it is through business backgrounds.
3. Go into general topics that most people can discuss. Some suggestions include: current news stories, weather, interests and friendly topics such as food, music, movies, books, and sports.
4. Be observant to any visual or verbal clues to draw a topic out. For example, a certain wristband, watch, gadget, pictures of family members, interesting clothing, etc.
Tips for All
* Remember to be polite. Since this is a business associate, you cannot pick your co-workers and making a bad first impression can come back to haunt you.
* Try to respond with both verbal cues and physical ones such as head nods and getures of understanding.
* Use their name after they say it once, to confirm the pronunciation and for storing it in your brain.
Remember!!!
* General topics to avoid: religion, politics, sex, philosophy, world problems, death, divorce, or anything else that might become a personally offensive subject or human resource issue.