Lorraine Ball

By Lorraine Ball
Roundpeg
Sometimes our best lessons come from children.

I was about three years old when my dad and I walked into a bakery. As he placed his order, I stared into the glass display case with all the pastries. As he was finishing his order, he glanced down, and asked, “Lanie, do you want one?”

“Yes, daddy,” I replied enthusiastically.

The woman behind the counter handed me a round pastry, with whipped cream, and a cherry on the very top. I immediately ate the cherry. As we turned to leave, the pastry fell to the floor. Before I could say anything, the woman offered me another one which I was happy to accept.

This time, as we turned to leave, it was obvious I deliberately dropped the pastry as soon as I ate the cherry.

“Lanie, why did you do that,” my father inquired.

“I only wanted the cherry,” I replied!

My father made a common mistake. He assumed we were talking about the same thing. Actually, he was talking about pastries, but all I saw was the cherries. Anyone who has spent time with young children has probably had a similar experience. Children enter conversations with a much narrower base of experience. From this limited perspective they often miss the subtleties or even the main part of the conversation.

Surprisingly, this doesn’t change as we grow up. We each enter conversation with certain limitations and gaps in our knowledge base. No one knows everything. And yet, every time I attend a networking event, I see people making the same mistake my father made. They assume the other person with whom they are engaged in conversation understands what they are talking about when they use technical or jargon-laden language.

The listener smiles politely, but has no real understanding of what is being said. The result – Instead of focusing on the message, and how they can help you, they are thinking about their next client, next conversation or possibly a lovely pastry with a cherry on top.

So how do you engage someone who is completely unfamiliar with what you do? The same way you engage a child. Simplify the concept, making connections to things in their realm of experience.

Just for practice, before you head out to your next networking event, imagine you are about to enter a 2nd grade classroom, and the teacher has asked you to tell the children what you do! How would you describe your company, position or process?

If you can simplify the message for that audience, you can find something somewhere in between for a room full of adults. Try using these simpler, shorter sound bites at the next networking event you attend. You may be surprised as the shorter answers and simple explanations are more likely to generate a response or question from the listener.

And because your listener has a frame of reference for your comments, you may end up with more referrals, sales, and the occasional cherry!

A twenty year veteran of corporate America, today Lorraine Ball helps small business owners use planning and creative thinking as a starting point for growth and change.

Active in the local business community, Lorraine is the recipient of 2005 Rainmaker of the Year Award and the 2007 Business woman ofthe Year award from the Network of Women in Business.

Lorraine Ball
President of Roundpeg
317-569-1396