When you are sitting in an important meeting and you are called upon to participate with information relevant (or irrelevant really) to the topic and you don't know the answer right then, just know that;
Appearing confident is better than sounding smart and that is better than actually knowing the answer.
Who knew, right?
The truth is that as a human, most of us are not blessed with photographic memories. Although as smart business people, we are coming to meetings with what we think will prepare us (sometimes), we know in our guts that inevitably that meeting you are in is going to go off topic. When this happens, we need a moment to look over the billion emails and excel files we have to give the specific, qualified answers. Albert Einstein is quoted as saying, "Why should I remember anything if I can just look it up?" The chances are, that tidbit they are asking for isn't always going to be on call in your brain and you aren't always going to have the file you need on hand to answer adequately.
A few things to remember when you are put on the spot. First, BE CONFIDENT. For those of you who aren't sure how to accomplish that when you don't know the answer, here's how:
1. Breathe normally, try to be nonchalant.
2. Sit up straight and be engaged- use your body language. Lean forward to the table or speaker and remain open- don't cross your arms.
3. Be concise. Nothing shows you don't know what you are talking about more than rambling on without answering the question, and the smart guy in the room is going to notice that.
4. Try not to insert weird buzz words into your answer. Speaking directly and clearly demonstrates that you are confident in yourself and your knowledge on the subject.
5. Choose one of two routes to respond: The polite I-don't-know-but-will-find-out-ASAP or the I-know-enough-to-BS-a-little. I've done both, but I think the former is the most honest answer that is accepted with a higher degree of respect. But sometimes the people in the room want something, so if you feel confident enough you can try the latter.
Here's a sample of the I-don't-know response:
I'm not 100% sure on those figures (or whatever they are asking you about), but I know I have some solid numbers to share at my desk. I can send those through to the team with my analysis as a follow up directly after this meeting or I can run and get them now if that would be helpful.
Here's a sample of the I-know-enough-to-BS response:
Recently we've seen solid performance on Brand X in Q1. The numbers have been up overall, with some dips in categories y and z, but the more specific analytics I'd need to forward to you are on my desk. I'll be sure to pass those along as soon as possible.
When said confidently, either of these responses will buy you the time you need to give a solid, specific answer (now, if you aren't doing your job and you actually don't know, this isn't going to help you all that much. It will buy you an hour or so, but it won't fix the fact that you didn't do your work).
The worst thing you can do is scramble and fidget and attempt to fudge your way to an impromptu answer. And don't use buzzwords. Although it seems like the trendy thing to do, it's not going to earn you a reputation for communicating clearly. Does it make sense or sound smart when you use acronyms instead of words or try to achieve the possimpible?
The smartest thing you can do is be honest when you don't know, but speak up and show them that you are confident that you'll have the answers they need quickly.
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