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The Best Ways to Make Business Small Talk

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Small talk might appear to be inconsequential and unimportant, but it’s actually vital across all types of industries, businesses and networks. It helps to form a social cohesion that makes interaction possible and builds trust.

If you dismiss small talk, you risk appearing stilted, socially inept, unconfident and even untrustworthy. The good news is that these types of communication skills can be learned, as we’ll show in this article, and will become much easier with practice.

What Is Small Talk?

Small talk is the common term for a conversation about light and unimportant matters.

  • It’s a friendly dialogue about a common topic, such as the weather.
  • It’s a way of conversing with someone you’ve only just met, are meeting for a short amount of time – at a conference, for example – or don’t know very well.
  • Small talk is vital for situations where silence would be awkward and uncomfortable, but where in-depth and personal conversations would be inappropriate.

How Does Business Small Talk Differ?

The ability to engage in small talk with clients is a key business skill.

Business small talk refers to small talk that is conducted in a business setting – such as in the empty moments before a meeting. It differs from small talk as there is often an agenda behind the chit-chat – this could be networking or finding out more about your clients.

It’s also different as you’ll frequently have the opportunity to prepare before attending a social event. For example, you can research key attendees using social networks such as LinkedIn. This will allow you to identify conversation topics based on interests or hobbies mentioned on their profile.

Remember to be subtle and appear interested without appearing creepy – don’t make it too obvious that you know information about clients you may have only just met.

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