How to Network When Talking to a Wall?

Hey guys,

Had a networking call today, it was literally me asking all questions. When they were done telling me about x I’d ask 1-2 additional questions to dig deeper. When I explained my background, some questions but overall very stale and it was hard to talk to them. I’ve had this one or twice before where they agree to a call and are short in their answers/don’t ask many if any follow ups. These calls are usually done in 10-15 mins if not less. 
 

Is it me? Anyway to deal with this, I try t be engaging and ask about them since everyone likes to talk about what they’re doing. How do you deal with this if they’re people you really want to connect with and nothing works?

3 Comments
 
Funniest

Make sure you have a reason to call them. It's painful when I get a networking call and it's a kid just asking me generic questions before he can finally drop "so uh you guys have any internships or anything this summer?".

The best networking calls I've had were when I was having an issue at work or making a big career decision and needed guidance from an experienced professional. These are better calls because you have an actual topic to discuss (other than just "so what's your day to day like?"). It doesn't necessarily have to be an issue, it could be something like "Hey, I work at X brokerage and previously only covered office sales but I'm starting to cover hospitality as well - mind if we hop on the phone given your background in hospitality acquisitions?" Or could even be something like "hey I'm doing a research project in about XYZ market and noticed your firm has done some deals there, can we talk?". You get the point. Have a goal. A real reason to talk other than "I need an internship or want to lateral".

After you've accomplished your "goal" of the call and learned what you needed to learn. It's okay to move to personal stuff briefly before ending the call. You can ask "Hey, how thick is your cock? Have you ever measured? Mine is x inches thick if you were wondering". Just casual stuff like that

 

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