5 Tips for Building Trust and RapportWritten by John Boe
Have you ever had a sale that didn’t close and you weren’t sure why? Chances are you lost sale because you didn’t establish sufficient trust and rapport with your prospect. Once you have developed trust and rapport you’ve actually got hard part behind you and you’re probably going to make a sale! For you see, it really doesn’t matter how knowledgeable you are about your product or how skilled you might be at closing, unless you have earned your prospects confidence, you are not going to make sale – period. The bottom line here is that people want to do business with salespeople that they relate to and that they feel understand their needs. Obviously, challenge and importance of developing trust and rapport will escalate in direct relationship to price of your product or service. 1.Be mindful of your body language gestures and remember to keep them positive! Unfold your arms, uncross your legs, show your palms and remember to smile. Develop awareness and sensitivity to your prospect’s body language. An effective listener notices all aspects of communication and is aware of voice tone, facial expression, repetitive movements, and muscle tension. Watch for inconsistencies between your prospect’s spoken word and their nonverbal communication. Rely on nonverbal as a much more accurate indicator of intent. By understanding your prospect’s body language you will minimize perceived sales pressure and know when it is appropriate to close sale. 2.Create harmony! “Matching and Mirroring” your prospect’s body language gestures will psychologically cause them to identify with you. The power behind this principle is firmly grounded in precept that people trust people that they believe are similar to them. Matching and mirroring is an unconscious mimicry by which one person tells another that he is in agreement with their ideas and attitudes. Likewise, studies have shown that when people disagree they subconsciously mismatch their body language gestures. You want to be careful not to be too obvious when you are consciously matching someone because it will be perceived as manipulative if you don’t do it naturally. An effective way to begin matching is to subtly nod your head in agreement when your prospect nods their head.
| | Prospecting - Building an Advocate ArmyWritten by John Boe
The single greatest concern facing all salespeople is prospecting for new business. As a commission salesperson, your livelihood is directly dependent on your ability to prospect effectively. Do you consistently ask for referrals? To be successful in sales profession you need assistance from your clients in form of referrals. Average salespeople do not invest their time nor spend their money developing clients into advocates. An advocate is a person that will go out of their way to recommend you to their friends and associates. Obviously more people that are saying good things about you and your company in marketplace, more sales you will make! I have never seen a salesperson leave profession because they had too many qualified prospects to work at one time. Building an advocate army doesn’t happen over night, but time, money and effort required to develop advocates is certainly worth it. Most clients are initially reluctant to provide referrals and need to be encouraged and trained. Cows don’t give milk; you’ve got to work for every drop. To become effective, advocates need to be trained and motivated. Advocates aren't born they're developed!How do I go about finding my advocates? · Begin by creating a list of your existing advocates. Clients that have already referred prospects to you, automatically become part of your advocate army. · Review your client list for potential advocates. Identify those clients that have purchased multiple orders or large single orders but have not yet referred a prospect to you. After I've identified my list of advocates and potential advocates, what do I do next?
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