You walk into your prospect’s office and look around at the golf photos, see the trophy fish, the college affiliation, the family photos and other various mementos and want to reference that stuff as a place to build a relationship and establish credibility. STOP! Many sales training programs say this is a potential place to start building a relationship. True. But, this is not always the time to do it. 
In fact, depending upon the mood, the priorities, and the personality of your audience, it could be the worst time to do it. Do not simply dive in to the small talk routine. Some people just do not have time for it. Regardless, talking about the stuff on display in the office is cheesy and cliche. You have no idea how that person is going to receive your small talk!
Take your cues from your client. How they come into that meeting should tell you everything about your agenda and your approach. It is that risky engagement into obvious small talk, i.e. golf, sports, the photos of the kids, etc. that gets most sales people into trouble. You do not want the customer to see you as a typical sales person. I do not like to just jump straight into business mode if I don’t have to; but, I am very cognizant of how my audience is responding to my soft talk.
Be very sensitive to the fact that small talk may be what you want to do, it may not be what your customer wants to do. I pay close attention to the verbal and non-verbal cues from my audience and proceed very cautiously from there into the world of “small talk.” Regardless, I keep all that non-business related talk short and sweet. There is a more appropriate time for that, which is after you have established your professional credibility.
In our business we more often meet prospects and clients in their private homes. We are extra cautious in those situations knowing we are not there to browse around the rooms or make ourselves “at home”. I always try to follow the cues of our prospects/clients/host.
I find that clients who WANT you to take notice of something personal but significant to them, will point it out and initiate the conversation in a heartbeat. Others, just want to get down to the business at hand. With them, the personal conversations come once the business relationship reaches a level of mutual trust and respect.
And either way… always be genuine.
This also applies on the phone. If you ask “how are you” and get a curt answer, you probably want to get to the point, rather than trying to ferret out more information about the how their day is going.
Hi! I was surfing and found your blog post… nice! I love your blog. 🙂 Cheers! Sandra. R.