3 Tips for Building Rapport and Improving Sales Results
Sales Tip No. 1: Speak their learning and languaging preference
We use all 5 senses in learning and speaking, ie sight, sound, touch, smell and taste. And yet, we are genetically hard-coded with one which is our dominant languaging preference. You can tell by listening to the words or phases people use.
For example:
Visual: see, looks like, picture this, view, show me
Auditory: hear, tell me, music to my ears, rings bells
Kinesthetic: feel, sense, in touch, feels solid, grasp.
Effective salespeople are able to track for the persons dominant languaging preference and then match it by talking the same way. This builds incredible rapport at a sub-conscious level.
If a person has a visual preference, (s)he will tell you in the conversation with the words that are used… example, “I see what you mean, but I don’t have a clear picture of how it applies to me!”
BUT if you are an auditory person, you might reply “ok, well let me tell you about it again in respect to your needs, and let you hear how it applies”. You have sub-consciously snapped rapport!
Talk their language (visual preference), not yours (auditory preference). A better response would have been ‘Ok, well let me show you the big picture, and you will see where you fit in the overall picture”.
My overall advice: Track for the languaging preference and match it!
Sales Tip No. 2: Match their speed of voice!
Particularly over the phone, this is one way to create strong rapport and sameness. If you are a slow and deliberate talker, and are speaking to a fast-talker, you will snap rapport at a sub-conscious level. Speed up a touch to increase the LIKENESS. Conversely, slow down if they are a slow thinker and talker. Nothing snaps rapport faster than someone finishing your sentences for you does.
Sales Tip No. 3: Master the art of subtle body language – matching and mirroring
This one needs to be subtle, or it can come across as mimicking. And yet, if done well, builds very strong rapport.
Ever notice yourself adopting the same tilt of the head, or stance, or seated position as the person you are talking to? It is very nature process that occurs over time when parties are comfortable with one another.
We can fast-track rapport through the use of body language. I prefer to avoid direct copying, and apply what’s called cross-matching or mirroring. In other words, if they cross their arms, I cross my legs. If they lean on one elbow with hand in face, I just put my hand near my face. Subtle, and yet there is a LIKENESS. Again. People like people who are like them!
A final word… Something I pre-suppose to be true is this… There is no such thing as resistance, just insufficient rapport building! What if it is true? If a potential client is resisting, stop selling, and go back to rapport building. You have more work to do yet!
Yours in sales success
Australia’s No. 1 peak performance coach
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Ian Stephens
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