4 Ways to Build Rapport with Your Prospects

How do you build rapport with your prospect? This is a question that I address at every Selling Energy Boot Camp, and it’s one that warrants a lengthy discussion. For the sake of brevity, here are a few key concepts that, when put into practice, will help build rapport with your prospect:  

1. Mirror your prospect: Notice their general body language, gestures, and facial expressions, and (without being too obvious) modify your own physical demeanor to match theirs.
2. Match their pace: Match your prospect’s speaking pace – a person who speaks slowly might be put off if you speak too quickly.
3. Listen to your prospect for clues: Make a mental note of anything they say that gives you a clue about their demeanor or preferences. They say that people have dominant modalities. Some people are visual, some people are auditory, some people are kinesthetic. If your prospect says something like, “I heard all these case studies, but I need to see something in writing. Can you give it to me in writing?” that’s a clue that they’re probably visual. Listen to their choice of words, determine their dominant modality, and tailor your own words to fit their preferences. 
4. Watch for eye movement: Familiarize yourself with the cognitive processes associated with the various types of eye movements and watch for them as an indicator of your prospect’s true reactions.  It has been observed, for example, that right-handed people tend to look up to their upper-left visual field when accessing visual memory.  So, if you asked a question that would require your right-handed prospect to recall a prior energy upgrade that they had approved and installed, you would expect them to look to their upper-left visual field.  If they looked up to their upper-right visual field – the domain of visual imagination for right-handed folks – you might wonder, “Are they telling me what really happened or what they think I want to hear?”  If you see your prospect’s eyes move first to the upper-left and then to upper-right, it could just mean they retrieved the visual memory and are now thinking about how to describe it correctly as they answer your question.