WTF is the goal of a coffee chat?

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⁉️ WTF is the goal of a coffee chat?

1. The purpose of a coffee chat

2. How to make coffee chats “fun”

3. What to do after the 1st coffee chat

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WTF is the goal of a coffee chat?

🔵 “What should I say in a coffee chat?”

This is the most asked question I get.

Coffee chats are essential for unlocking career opportunities. Take me for instance, I got my past 4 internships from having coffee chats.

On top of that, I recently landed a full-time offer in product management because of coffee chats.

Coffee chats have done more for me than any resume could ever.

So in this article, I’m breaking down how I approach every coffee chat in 3 simple principles so that you can replicate my success.

Let’s dive in.

The purpose of a coffee chat

First off is the mindset, remember this well.

The only goal of your 1st coffee chat is to make sure the other person enjoys it.

That’s it.

Referrals, resume help, etc., put those thoughts away.

Do not ask for favors when you first meet someone. You haven’t built a strong enough relationship with them yet.

Let me put it this way. You’d do a favor for your parents yes? The same goes for your closest friends.

Now how about for a stranger? Would you go out of your way? I wouldn’t, if anything I’d probably ghost them.

So again, your goal for the 1st coffee chat is to make the conversation fun and engaging for the other person.

Let’s talk about how to do that.

How to make a coffee chat “fun”

We talked about the mindset, now let’s talk about the method.

To make a coffee chat fun and engaging, simply put the other person in the spotlight.

Do a quick look at their LinkedIn profile, and ask them interesting questions about their life. Anything from their education to work journey or even hobbies.

In fact, for those 30 minutes, talk about yourself as little as possible.

The reason why this works is because people love to talk about themselves. People love the feeling of being important.

And if you give them that feeling of importance, they’re much more likely to remember you.

They’ll think back to your conversation and think “Wow I had fun talking with this person, I enjoyed our chat.”

And guess what? If they remember you, they’ll get curious about you:

1. Which leads to a 2nd coffee chat.

2. Which leads to them asking questions about you.

3. Which leads to them liking you more.

4. Which leads you to them offering to help you.

This is a very over-simplified process, but it’s basically how I developed strong bonds with new contacts and got opportunities.

What to do after the 1st coffee chat

I’ve never benefited from just 1 coffee chat.

The opportunities always came at the 3rd, 4th, or 5th chat.

So how do you make sure the connection doesn’t fizzle out after the 1st?

Here’s the line I always use:

This line perfectly closes the 1st discussion and lets me follow up with them later. Another great line I use is:

What I love about this line is that it makes sure you never run out of coffee chats to have.

And that’s it. If I want to keep a connection going, all I do is make sure I ask these 2 ending questions.

Closing Thoughts:

Coffee chats don’t have to be confusing:

1. Don’t ask for favors, be curious

2. Make the conversation fun

3. Ask for a follow-up chat after

See you next Tuesday 🤝

-Michael Ly

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
Help Me Help You

If you resonated with my advice above and experience any of the following:

1. Trouble finding a job

2. Not knowing how to network

3. Getting ghosted by recruiters

4. Struggling in interviews

5. Or anything else related

Then fill out this survey! It only takes 1-2 minutes.

(If you already filled this out, I’ll contact you shortly, thanks!)

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