The human brain is not that difficult to understand; it is made up from the emotional and rational. The emotional side focusses on many reactions to how a person feels, while the rational side looks at the consequences of these emotions and how a person responds to them.
You can use both as a secret weapon to building a report with your customers.
The Necessity of Building Rapport
Selling your products or services are part of the building blocks to business growth, but it all starts with building business rapport.
In order to successfully close deals, your customers have to like you and not just whatever it is that you are selling.
Building a successful rapport will have fantastic consequences such as the following:
- Customers will be more likely to talk to and about your business if they like it
- They would be inclined to tell you about what products and services they want
- It leads to building loyalty and trust
- If they like you, they will tell others about you
Now you can look at just a few nifty ways to get your customers to like you even more and spread the word about their business.
What Interests Them
You should get customers talking about themselves, it’s not all about you and your business.
Try to pick up on their interest, whether it is cooking, music or sport. People like to talk about themselves and this makes them feel valued.
It helps them feel comfortable and makes you more pleasant when you show an honest interest in something they take into account.
Ask About What Their Projects
If you find yourself in an industry where your prospective clients and customers are making something, it would be ideal to ask them about their projects.
Perhaps you are a customer service representative at a company that sells construction equipment.
Being curious about their projects opens the door to getting customers to talk about themselves.
Asking what they are making always strikes up an engaging conversation.
It gives the customer the feeling that you are truly interested in them. This also helps when it comes to learning all the fascinating things about the people you supply to.
This approach is similar to what interests them in a way.
However, in this case, you are asking a work-related question that has two possibly good results. The first is it helps you build rapport seeing that people like to talk about themselves or what it is that they are doing. It also helps you to better understand the needs of your customers.
Break the Ice
A fantastic way to impactfully get the ball rolling is by sharing a little about yourself to encourage customers to open up about themselves.
You could be inclined to ask a client, “Are you experiencing the same week I am?” during the peak season of your business.
You can say something along the lines of, “School is starting again this week so it’s been quite hectic getting everyone out the door, so that I am not late for work.”
You can ask if they have children, a hobby or if they think the weather is great for gardening or any topic that might not seem too invasive. Do your best to infuse this in future conversations with customers.
From time to time you can break the ice by doing something first, like sharing a tiny bit about yourself. What we like about this approach is that it is simple without oversharing. Saying something small and seemingly insignificant like, “It’s been hectic getting everyone out the door on time so that I’m not late for work,” opens a window of opportunity for your customer to share something about themselves.
Happy Birthday to You
A lot of employees who work in technical support or customer care, have to ask customers for their date of birth from time to time.
If a customer’s birthday is within a fortnight of the current date you could wish them a happy late or early birthday.
Customers are usually flabbergasted and thankful when you acknowledge their birthday- it is that special day that focuses them after all. Using the two-week idea, gives you the ability to use this method quite often without the approach becoming stale.
Ask for Suggestions
If you are in the tourism or hospitality industry, for example, you can ask customers for recommendations of their favourite places to visit in their city.
You could talk about their favourite restaurants, tourist attractions or any place that’s new and fun.
If you know about these places, or have been there yourself, this can be an easy way to strike up conversation again.
People like to be an expert and it is nice to be needed. By reversing the role just a little bit by asking customers for information can make them feel at ease, valued, important and certainly persuaded to want to help you.
Professional Flattery
Building rapport with clients by paying them a genuine and sincere compliment is another way to go.
You can complement their sense of style and fashion sometimes. Giving a compliment to a customer’s fashion sense grows a basis for an easy rapport with them. It can be something as obvious as a jacket, wristwatch, or even the way they styled their hair.
A few people might be worried about crossing the line from paying someone a compliment to being unprofessional and flirtatious. You definitely don’t want to be walking the knife’s edge here.
The best advice we can think of for avoiding this trap, is to stick with something you know and make your admiration sincere. As an example, you could comment on a customer’s watch if you are familiar with the brand or truly admire the style. This opens up another chance for conversation and makes the customer at ease with you.
Conclusion
Making people feel special is a impactful way to form outstanding customer relationships.
You can value a customer in many ways. Actions speaks louder than words and the ability to show that you care makes for respectable customer relationships.
Feeling a sense of appreciation towards your customer is nice and all; but you have to show it in word and deed.
