5 Happy Hour Hacks: How to Drink and Schmooze in the Corporate World
Whether you’re at a pivotal professional dinner or just out for a beer after a big presentation with a client, the proverbial “cocktail hour” is often your only chance to cement those social ties that can make or break a deal. What should you order? Does it really matter? Can your drink be a tool, a hack into the professional relationship you need? Absolutely, and here are five happy hour hacks to get your drink-infused rainmaking kick started.
1. Know your beverage. Beer guzzling is just as bad as guzzling a martini from a fancy glass. Your drink doesn’t have to be just a form of tasty refreshment or a social elixir, it is a topic for discussion and an ice breaker. Learn a story behind your favorite drink(the tale of the India Pale Ale is one of my favorites), take pride in your beer, don’t whine about your wine, and know whats with your whisky.
2. Drink Local. People appreciate someone who knows about them and their town. Even if you all you know is what you picked up off the Beer Advocate directory or something similar. At the very least you can say “Hey, I heard the <insert beer or wine name> here is good” and start a good conversation about the local flavor (rather than religion or politics).
3. Watch your WPM and BAC. People may like having “that guy” around for entertainment but, it won’t help your case in business if you’re the guy with sky high blood alcohol content or you are speaking too many words per minute for anyone else to get one in edgewise (learn to listen!).
4. Don’t get too comfortable. You may feel that your new business associate is really your long lost brother after the glow of a few tall ones but, things may change the next day in a more formal venue. Be as endearing as you can without being buddy-buddy, at least not on the first date.
5. Keep an eye on the clock. It may have been a serious bonding experience when you and your new classmates stayed out all night at college and then suffered through class together the next day but, it is much less so when you are with clients and superiors. Your clients and your boss, with a few exceptions, want to know you are at home checking email and preparing for the next day at a reasonable time. They will probably be better at detecting a hangover than your college professor too.
Yes, it’s a different game than college, not necessarily boring or less interesting, just different. The stakes are higher, the drinks are different, and the conversation is far more diverse than the rarely-deviated-from college coed standard. Like college though, we all adjust, and soon you’ll be integrating pieces of your personal marketing strategy, the latest business concepts you read about, or new web 2.0 tools right in with icebreaking beer tales.
Picture Credit: acnatta
Welcome! If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed or subscribe via email. Thanks for visiting!
Tags: Bars, Beer, Career Development, Generation Y, Productivity, Style, Young Professional
Subscriber in a reader
Add Pic
December 4th, 2007 at 5:20 pm
Beer and wine both taste horrible, and a few sips of a slightly strong cocktail make me nauseous and hungover, though not drunk, so schmoozing with alcohol, whether at a business function or a frat party, doesn’t work at all for me, unfortunately. I can only tolerate really weak cocktails with just a hint of alcohol. That said, I hardly ever do work preparation outside of work. I’d rather go out partying, soberly.
Add Pic
December 5th, 2007 at 11:24 am
Nice! My personal favorite is getting sparkling water and a lime when I know I’ve had enough but want to avoid the ever present, “Where’s your drink?”
Add Pic
December 7th, 2007 at 4:01 pm
Eileen - At least you still say you go out. Alot of people completely avoid going to happy hours, bowling events, etc.. at our office because they feel they are frat parties. We are all professional and most people I know respect a persons choice not to drink or to drink little!
Jamie Y - Great tip, sometimes explaining why you don’t want to drink is a pain!
January 2nd, 2008 at 12:21 pm
[...] 5 Happy Hour Hacks: How to Drink and Schmooze in the Corporate World Who doesn’t like happy hour? Here are a few tips on how to harness happy hour to improve your [...]
January 7th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
[...] It is a great, millennial-friendly, way to develop a network (outside of happy hour) with business people who are self starters and interested in self-improvement. They share their [...]
January 18th, 2008 at 10:43 am
[...] Don’t get drunk on business trips. It’s tempting. The wine will be following. Customers may encourage you to keep drinking (When I was on a trip to Mexico, our customers kept trying to get me to try about 8 different types of tequila. You may politely say no or you can accept one drink and sip on it the whole evening). You do not want to risk looking bad in front of your customers or co-workers. [...]
January 28th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
[...] it were so. Was the mistake due to not having enough time or was it because I left work early to have a few beers with a friend? Once you realize the reasons for the mistake you can begin to learn. Remember what [...]
February 14th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
[...] a young professional you have done your best to network. You hacked corporate happy hours, volunteered, joined Meetup.com groups and even networked with other bloggers but, how would you [...]
March 17th, 2008 at 10:53 pm
[...] to improve: Network, stand out and succeed in your first management [...]