Building rapport is fundamental to attracting clients, developing a profitable business, and closing more sales. When people feel in rapport, their sales resistance drops down and their comfort level goes up. How to build rapport is different whether you meet face to face or over the phone. Let’s focus on building rapport for people who are “dialing for dollars.”
The first tip to building rapport is to listen – really listen. Active listening takes a lot of energy and few people practice it routinely. The intensity can rouse a sweat! It requires tuning into the message, the vocal qualities, and the underlying emotions or feelings being conveyed by the speaker.
One of the easiest ways to practice active listening is by noticing the pace in which the speaker talks. Is it fast or slow; steady or sporadic? Do you hear a solid period at the end of a sentence? Or does the individual run on and on and on and on adding idea after idea after idea without pause?
Once you’ve tuned your ears to catch their pace, try matching it. It’s like walking a mile in their moccasins. This technique gives you a leg up on building rapport and developing an authentic bond with prospects that lead to closing more sales.
I’ll be curious to know how you easy or challenging it is to do this exercise. Please post your results.
