Remember, being liked is all about making people feel good, and your accepting a drink allows the other person to feel good. This very simple act will make the person you’re interviewing with feel like a good host, put her at ease, and prime you to be able to read her well and interview accordingly. If you’re offered coffee and you don’t drink coffee, politely ask for water instead. When the tables are turned and you’re offered a drink at the start of a meeting or interview, take it. “Am I a terrible host? What’s the deal?” Your mind may wander, and suddenly you’re distracted and maybe even annoyed at your guest for putting you in that situation. When they don’t, it throws you off: “Why won’t this person take my drink or snack?” you think. I’m sure you offer them water or a drink or a snack, and typically they take it. Think about when you have people over to your home. Second, and more importantly, it puts the other person at ease. First, it puts you at ease and allows you to relax, cool off, or warm up and get ready for the meeting. In doing this experiment I learned that there are two reasons taking the drink sets you up for success. I know, small sample size and totally unscientific study-but it makes sense, doesn’t it? The meetings at which I took the offer of coffee, soda or water went significantly better than the ones at which I didn’t. Then I compared the results of each meeting.Īs it turns out, it’s best to be a bother. At my next 20 meetings, I alternated between taking the water (or whatever the other party offered) and politely saying no. You may have thought the same thing I did that day: Don’t be a bother.Īfter that disaster of a meeting with Sue, though, I decided to conduct an unscientific study. You surely have had the experience of going somewhere for an interview or meeting and being offered water, coffee, tea, or soda. As you can imagine, Sue’s meeting with sweaty Dave didn’t go very well, and it all started with my saying no to water. Now I was so worried that Sue would notice I was sweating profusely that I lost focus on what I was there to do. Nervousness plus the warmth of the room led to some sweat, and I wanted that glass of water more than ever.Īs anyone who’s ever been in sales or has had a serious job interview knows, once you start sweating, it’s simply a bad, bad situation. I was nervous about the meeting, too, as it was a big pitch. And that got me to thinking that maybe I should have taken the water. So I passed on the cold drink of water that I actually craved.īut I was really thirsty. Plus, I was running a couple of minutes late, and I wanted to make the most of our time. “Oh, no thanks,” I said to Sue, the marketing director for a major bank in Boston that I was visiting on a sales call, in response to her offer of coffee or water.
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