Are you able to get the most out of your conversations? Especially when you only have a few minutes of the other person's attention?

Well, to do this, you must be focused.

Here's what I mean:

Several years ago, I attended a networking event at which there was a speaker who quite impressed me.

I went up to speak with him afterwards. There were many others who also wanted to speak with him, so my time with him was limited.

I did manage to have a brief conversation with him, but I walked away feeling disappointed.

As I drove back home, I wondered why I felt this way.

I realized that it was because I didn't get the information I wanted from him.

"What did we talk about?" I wondered.

That's when I realized that I had wasted my precious minutes with him.

Although I had a specific question I wanted to ask him, I didn't actually ask it!

Instead I meandered around, hoping he would understand what I wanted to ask him. Well, he didn't.

So our conversation ended and I lost my opportunity.

Ever since that incident, I am very particular about formulating my question or simply making sure I'm clear about why I want to talk with a person, before I start any conversation.

It helps me focus.

And it helps me get what I want from the conversation.

When I work with private clients, we can spend months on such topics.

However, this is one very simple thing you can do to get started right away, towards getting the most out of any conversation, no matter how brief.

Try it out. See what happens.