Kevin Boyle

The customer always buys into the salesperson first!

People like to do business with people that they know that they like and that they trust. This is the cornerstone of relationship sales and marketing.

Today: The Second Element in Selling Yourself Effectively:

Building Rapport.

Personally I have been tons of different sales and communication seminars, they talk about different personality styles, 4 different colors with sub colors, I’ve even seen some speakers use playing cards to explain differences in buyers personality styles –  honestly for me it’s way too confusing, I like things simple, effective and usable day and day out.…  

I have found one easy to remember, easy to use, very effective way of building rapport that works with most everyone:

Show genuine interest in others.

When you are genuinely interested in someone, you will naturally make eye contact; you will mirror them, without thought. You will smile because your present and enjoying the conversation, you will listen intently, and because you are interested, you will ask questions, you will straighten up and have better posture and you will lean towards the person. Last of all and most importantly, you will remember their name because you find them interesting!

In fact I’m going to ask you to go one step further. I am going to ask you to actually plant a seed in your mind before you even speak to your next prospect or walk into their office. I am going to ask you to actually like the person before you even meet them! That’s right, before meeting your prospects, convince yourself that you will be absolutely fascinated by them. During the sales presentation continually remind yourself of how much you like that person and how interesting he/she is.

Why is this technique so effective?

It changes the way the way you approach the sales presentation, it changes the person you will project to your prospect. Try it. You will be amazed at how positively other people respond to you, when you actually decide to “like them” first.

After I get my initial greeting out of the way, My opening question is always something along the lines of….

So, tell me John, how long have you been the VP at The Foster Group?

He’s going to respond and tell you, 10, 15 years…

I’m going to reply with an open ended rapport building question…

Really! How did you get involved with the printing business? (Or, How did you get started in the printing business?)

His response might be… I worked on the school paper.

To which I would reply… I did some photography for my school paper. Where did you go to school?

As you can see I am listening carefully, I’m fully present and I am building on the responses given to me by my prospect.

I do know of some sales reps and trainers who do not recommend building rapport at all. They just like to get right to the point of why they are there.

Their wrong and I’m going to tell you why.

One of the biggest issues that I come across when working with sales people and business owners is, besides trying to sell something, what reason do I use to make follow up calls?

When you take the time to build rapport and find out your prospects interests, their causes, their hobbies, their marital status, how many children they have, what ages they are, what organizations or associations they belong too –

You always have a reason for a follow up call!

For example, if Bob tells you he’s a big sports nut and his favorite team makes it into the first round and then they turtle –

You have a reason for a follow up call!

If Bob tells you he’s involved with a big charity, perhaps in a couple of months their sponsoring a 5k run –

You have a reason for a follow up call!

Never underestimate the power of building relationships with people, and you can’t do that if you don’t care enough about who people are and what they care about!

 

Kevin Boyle

Author / Public Speaker / Sales Trainer and Coach

“The Secrets to Sales Mastery”

 

ps – Did you enjoy this post? Do you have any tricks or tips on how you build rapport? Please feel free to add your comments!

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