6 Ways to Build Rapport with a Potential Customer
In the modern working world, and especially in the realm of customer sales and service, there is no skill more effective for making the sale than the ability to quickly and effectively build rapport (an open dialogue based on trust) with your customer.
Many steps ahead of product/service belief, enthusiasm, and confidence, rapport-building is the essential first you must take before going any further with a customer.
1: Open up to them and empathize.
2:Observe their attitude. Every rude, unhappy, deadpan customer is your friend. Do not put up a defense wall.
3:Be clean, well-postured, dressed appropriately, self-confident, informed about your product, and able to put aside any negative thought patterns for the duration of your time spent with your customer.
4:Complain about something, make a joke, say something unexpected and engaging. They will mirror you.
5:Greet the person relaxed, laid-back, in a manner that suggests you are treating them just as you would treat a close friend. “Oh, hey! What’s up, Mrs. Jones? How was your day?”
6:Resist the urge to promote your product. This sets up the pretense that you are only trying to sell something.