Human beings brain has two processing centers: rational and emotional. The Decision-making Process of individuals depends upon both rational and emotional sides. There is a constant battle between these two centers, and most of the time emotional side is victorious.
Your sales start with building rapport. The idea of whether someone likes you or dislikes you is a significant factor that ensures the results of your selling process and customer’s buying decisions. What you need to start thinking about is what you can do to be more in tune with customer’s emotions and ultimately build rapport?
How to Build Rapport with Customers?
Building rapport is essential for all businesses as people talk to people they like, and they feel more loyal to them, which increases sales. Trust is a significant component in any sales strategy, and when people know you, it leads to building trust. Building rapport is primary to selling in the market.
Following are top expert-recommended ways to build rapport with the customer:
Cultivate Empathy by Seeing Things from the Customer’s Perspective
What gives you more pleasure than your favorite food or shopping? Yes, it is talking about yourself and your problems with other people. Diana Tamir, a Harvard neuroscientist, revealed through a study that talking about yourself feels rewarding that sometimes people cannot help themselves but share details about their lives.
If you can empathize with people and get them to talk about themselves, then you have succeeded in building rapport. Empathy is the ability to understand the feelings of another person. If you show your customers that you are actually listening, they will be more inclined to like you. So get your employees professionally trained by corporate training companies in Dubai to increase sales and build rapport with your customers. This way, your employees will able to put themselves in customer’s shoes.
Find Similarity with Your Customers
People like other people who are similar to them. Would you not want to talk to someone who is going through the same problems or shares the same vision as you? This brings us to the second rule, i.e., Find Similarity. If you can find common ground or hobby, it will increase your chances of developing genuine rapport with the customer.
How can you apply this rule? Simply find interests and backgrounds that are in common with the customer and make a connection using those areas. It can be anything, favorite sports, a book, TV shows, hobbies, etc. Another way is to mirror their basic behavior; for example, if they speak in lower tones, they are likely to prefer people who speak slowly too. But make sure not to mimic the person as it is disrespectful.
Connect with Customers and Make Their Problem Your Problem
If you are selling, then create a shared experience with your customers by connecting with them and including them in the whole process. Work in collaboration with the customer to devise solutions to them; this will not only ensure that they like you, but they would be more likely to take action.
Understand Customer’s Emotional Drivers and allow them to get their Frustration Out.
Emotions influence the behavior and actions of customers. So customer-agent interaction has a significant impact on buying decisions. There are two emotional drivers: moving away from pain and moving towards pleasure. If a customer is worried or agitated, he will move away from pain, so it is best to use empathetic statements. If a customer is happy, then use it to your advantage.
Following are some of the ways to help you build an emotional connection with the customer:
- Determine customer personalities: There are 4 major customer personality types, i.e., thinker, comptroller, feeler, and entertainer. Match your sales members and customer’s personality types to build rapport.
- Reflective listening: Understand customer’s ideas and repeat them back to them to ensure that it is fully understood.
- Use positive words: Don’t use negative language that can cause the customer to worry, instead use positive words. For example, instead of saying, “I don’t know,” use “Let me find out what I can do for.”
- Let Angry customers vent: If your customer is angry, give them time to vent out their frustration without interruptions.
Get their Name First
When you are negotiating with customers, make sure to get their names first before the address, or reference number. When you get their names, speaking to them becomes a lot easier as they feel like an individual. Most salespeople make silly comments when hearing an unusual name such as, “Oh, that’s a weird name” or “What a strange name!” Some people just laugh right off.
When you accidentally call people with the wrong name, you lose rapport, as it shows that you might not be paying attention to them or don’t care at all. To avoid that, make sure to write down the names of customers if they are unusual names. Write them down phonetically when the customer is telling you their name, so you don’t get it wrong the next time.
Speak with interest and a Smile
When you speak to a customer with a smile, it not only shows on your face but also reflects in your voice. If you talk to a customer with a smile, it creates warmth in your voice, which makes the customer feel more welcomed, and it is less likely that they will be rude to you.
Just imagine, can you be rude to a person or refuse to talk to them if they sound warm and are smiling? Smiling not only helps you build rapport with customers, but it also improves your mood by increasing endorphins level in your brain.
Be Authentic and Real with your Customers
As discussed above, customers like a salesperson who connects with them and share their ideas, but they don’t like a faker or a pretender. If you are faking your interests in your customer’s opinions, then they will find it insulting, and you will lose rapport.
Be authentic and genuine. Research shows that a long-onset smile develops a sense of authenticity as compared to a fake or flirtatious smile. Get your sales teams professionally trained in customer service to ensure that your customers are always happy with your services.
Increase Sales by Building Rapport with Customers
Rapport is all about building relationships. Sellers who have great, successful relationships with customers tend to succeed in the long run. Interacting with customers in a positive and welcoming way is essential for your business as they would want to experience that again, and this ultimately leads to generating sales revenue.
Do you want to increase customer loyalty and rapport? Get your sales team trained and equipped with strategies to handle different kinds of customers.
