Dan Clancy

Escape the 'fine, good' trap with a specific opener

Instead of 'how's it going?' (which dead-ends at 'fine'), Shaan hits people with a specific observation-based question like 'You look happy, what were you doing right before this?' to get them genuinely talking.

“So I might say, you got a little pep in your step today. You know, what'd you have for breakfast? Or you look happy. What were you doing right before this? Right? So somebody could just pop on a Zoom and I'll hit them with that. You look happy. What were you doing before this? Oh, actually, I was on a call with blah, blah, blah. Or I was actually just cooking food. Doesn't matter what it is. I got him talking.”

Steal thisOpen conversations with a specific observation plus question instead of 'how are you?' to break the cookie-cutter reply.