“Hey, you’re back.  How was your vacation?”   A friend inquiring.

“Great, thanks, we really enjoyed it.”

“Where’d you go?”

“Paris and northwest France – several spots in Normandy.”

“How long were you there?”

“Two weeks.”

“Great!  What did you see?… Did you do a tour?… How was that?… Did you go to Omaha Beach (isn’t that amazing)?… How many days were you there?  How was the food?  Which museums did you go to?… Did you stay in hotels? … How was the weather?… How’d you do speaking French?”

I was happy for his interest and I’d be happy at any time to answer friends asking these questions and… answering a string of them is numbing.

A day later, another friend called.  “How was your trip?”, he asked.  The conversation seemed to start the same way.

“Great, thanks, we really enjoyed it.”

“Where’d you go?”

“Paris and northwest France – several spots in Normandy.”

“How long were you there?”

“Two weeks.”

‘Well,” he said,  “that’s a good amount of time to be there.  What were the most important moments for you during the trip?”

I had to think about that one for a while. There were many; I shared a few including my reaction to visiting Napoleon’s tomb and thoughts about his impact on France and French law.

“That’s interesting,” he said, and we talked about some of those for a while.

And, then he said,  “I’m wondering how your perspective of Paris or France has changed through your visit?  What did you learn?”

I had to think about that one for a while, too, and we exchanged thoughts for a bit.  And he asked, “How do you think these experiences will influence how or where you travel next?”

Yikes, I didn’t know, I had to think about it… and this was a much more engaging conversation!

Nick Miller and Clarity train banks and bankers to attract and develop deeper relationships with small businesses. Many more Sales Thoughts like this and a host of other articles and resources at https://clarityadvantage.com/knowledge-center/ .