Meeting with people- Establish rapport
Meeting with people- Establish rapport
This week, I will discuss establishing rapport. Learn a little about the other person; where they live, where they work, other hobbies or interests outside of business. This will sometime happen at the end if you are meeting for the first time. Unless…
Last week, I met with someone for the first time. As I arrived, I noticed he was proudly wearing a youth football coach sweater. If you know me, you know I coach Schaumburg Youth football and it become a fun passion! When I asked him about it, we had a great conversation about our kids, coaching others’ kids and the differences between Schaumburg and his town’s youth football organization.
Since we had that in common, do you think it was easier to talk about business? Was I able to ask him better, more probing questions then if we did not have that in common? You bet!
However, be careful! My old friend Dan Seidman, author of Sales Autopsy (a very funny book about the sales that die!) tells the story of a man trying to establish rapport:
As the salesperson was walking into the prospects office, he notices a picture of the prospect with his arm around former football coach and announcer, John Madden. What a great in! So the salesperson says “Wow, when did you meet John Madden?” The prospect then said, “That… is… my… wife.”
Make sure you are not blowing rapport, by jumping to conclusions.
Meeting with people Establish rapport - To learn more about this author, visit Tom Gosche's Website.
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Last week I started talking about an important part of your Marketing and Branding Strategy, which is to meet with people, usually one-on-one. I made some suggestions on agenda topics you can use with these meetings.
This week, I will discuss establishing rapport. Learn a little about the other person; where they live, where they work, other hobbies or interests outside of business. This will sometime happen at the end if you are meeting for the first time. Unless…
Last week, I met with someone for the first time. As I arrived, I noticed he was proudly wearing a youth football coach sweater. If you know me, you know I coach Schaumburg Youth football and it become a fun passion! When I asked him about it, we had a great conversation about our kids, coaching others’ kids and the differences between Schaumburg and his town’s youth football organization.
Since we had that in common, do you think it was easier to talk about business? Was I able to ask him better, more probing questions then if we did not have that in common? You bet!
However, be careful! My old friend Dan Seidman, author of Sales Autopsy (a very funny book about the sales that die!) tells the story of a man trying to establish rapport:
As the salesperson was walking into the prospects office, he notices a picture of the prospect with his arm around former football coach and announcer, John Madden. What a great in! So the salesperson says “Wow, when did you meet John Madden?” The prospect then said, “That… is… my… wife.”
Make sure you are not blowing rapport, by jumping to conclusions.
Meeting with people Establish rapport - To learn more about this author, visit Tom Gosche's Website.
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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Jeff FosterWebBizIdeas.com is a Minneapolis website design company founded to help people start an internet business by providing them with website, business, and internet resources that help foster the growth of successful online businesses and develop innovative Internet business ideas. We specialize in internet consulting & internet marketing. - Visit Jeff Foster's Website |
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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
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Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
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