4 Ways to improve rapport with your prospects
In sales it is said that, “people buy from people they trust.” The implication, therefore, for salespeople is to build long-term mutually beneficial relationship with their prospects and customers.
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Building a long-term mutually beneficial relationship with prospects and customers begins with your ability to build rapport and communicate effectively with them.
To be successful at rapport building, you need to demonstrate the following skills: reading and matching the body language of your prospects and customers; their voice qualities (speed, rhythm, tone etc.); their communication style; as well as their interests and experiences.
This article seeks to highlight the important role communication style plays in building relationship with prospects and customers.
What is communication style?
“A communication style is the way we share information with others. Although we all like to think that we’re saying exactly what we mean, that’s not always the case because we may be speaking with someone who uses a totally different communication than our own.”
Communication style and personality
Communication style defines you and me our personality. Two people with the same communication style may find it easier to develop rapport with each other, whereas two people with different communication styles may find it difficult to do so.
In the same way, salespeople who share the communication style with prospects and customers stand a better chance at developing rapport with them. On the contrary, communication style bias can develop when a salesperson initiates contact with a prospect/customer whose communication style is different than those who don’t have the same communication style.
Communication style bias can develop when we have contact with another person whose communication style is unlike theirs. For example, as buyers, how often haven’t we said, “I can’t place a finger on why, but I don’t seem to like that salesperson.”
There are even instances where as a salesperson; you just don’t seem to get on well with a customer and/or always misunderstanding communication between yourselves.
The difference between successful and average salespeople is the dearth of their knowledge and skills in using communication style in relating to prospects and customers. Really effective salespeople:
• Are aware of their own communication style;
• Can easily identify their customers’ preferences;
• Instinctively tailor their own communication style to suit the customer they are communicating with by matching body language, voice qualities and words; and
• Achieve high levels of rapport and understanding as a result.
The four communication styles
Successful salespeople build rapport by carefully listening and identifying the key phrases, as well as the types of words their prospects and customers use based on their communication style. Here are the four (4) communication styles every salesperson must know: visual, auditory, feeling and logical.
1. Visual. Prospects and customers with visual communication style tend to talk fast and use lots of hand gestures. They would use phrases such as “I see”; “it looks like”, “I see your viewpoint”, “I get the picture” when dealing with you. To illustrate how these individual behave, I’ll use the communication style of my wife, contrasting it against mine.
Fact of the matter is that, we’ve been married for 20 years this year, and it took me 19 years to understand that she was visual in her communication style, whereas I’m auditory. Suddenly I realised why she would insist that I “look” at items she’d gone shopping for. As far as I was concerned, once I “heard” her inform me about the items she had bought, I was done. No need to either “see” or “look” at them. She would then misinterpret my refusal to ‘look’ as a lack of interest.
2. Auditory. Prospects and customers with this style tend to talk at a medium pace and use little body language. They would use phrases such as “I’ve heard you”, “that sounds reasonable”, “let’s talk about it”, “tell me more about your product”. Personally, my communication style is auditory. Imagine that I go and pay utility bills. I return home and say, “Sweetheart, I’ve paid the bills.” My wife’s response would typically be, “Let me see” and she would insist. I used to feel frustrated by her insistence, misinterpreting it as “she doesn’t trust me?”
3. Feeling. Prospects and customers with this communication style tend to talk and move slowly. They would use phrases like “feel your quote is unreasonable”, “let’s stay in touch”, “I don’t feel comfortable with your payment terms”, “I’m sold on your proposal” etc.
4. Logical. These prospects and customers tend to talk in monotone and typically cross their arms. They would use word and phrases such as “The proposition doesn’t make sense to me”, “I think we are making progress”, “The quotation is under consideration”, “statistically your offer doesn’t measure up”, “let’s take this conversation to its logical conclusion”.
