Mr. Ronald D. W.'s Blog

As marketers we all meet a lot of people.  The challenge is to build rapport with each of them so that there is a mutual respect and sense of trust that is established.  This is just as important in the social settings we find ourselves in as well as the professional business meetings.  Development of this core skill can have tremendous positive effects with your network and ongoing career development.  A book I quote from regularly and is a great resource; “Yes, You Can!” by Sam Deep & Lyle Sussman, addresses this issue well.  Hope you can use some of these ideas:

1. “Greet people with a smile and warm hello.

2. When you say hello and good-bye to people, use their names.  Learn how to pronounce correctly the name they want to be called—ask to find out—and spell it correctly when you put it in writing.

3. Make a genuine inquiry about their family or about another topic important to them.  Show interest in their interests.

4. Dress as they do.

5. Spend more time listening than talking.  Continue to probe to get them to talk about what’s on their mind.

6. Search for common passions.  Examples:  golf, fishing, child rearing, reading, antique collecting. When you find one, explore it thoroughly.

7. Ask people for advice on matters in which they consider themselves to be expert.  Use it.

8. Listen to the person’s tone of voice.  Is it happy/sad, excited/lethargic, monotonic/varied, agitated/calm, loud/soft, high-pitched/low-pitched?  Duplicate it to send a powerful, subconscious acknowledgement of empathy.

9. Observe the person’s body language—especially eye contact, posture, and gestures.  Match it as closely as you can, without being obvious, to again send an  acknowledgement of empathy.”

Have a Great Tuesday!

 “Friends have all things in common.”
--Plato

“The most effective way to achieve right relationships with any living thing is to look for the best in it, and then help that best into the fullest expression.”
--Allen J. Boone

“Rapport?  You mean like, ‘You run as fast as you can, and I’ll throw it as far as I can’?”
--Jeff Kemp [when asked about his rapport with wide receiver Jerry Rice]