This is a Guest Post from Mike Brooks, AKA Mr. Inside Sales.
We all know the importance of building rapport over the phone. Let’s face it, people tend to do business with people they like, know or trust. What you may not know, though, is that talking about the latest sports scores or schmoozing about vacation spots is not an effective way to build rapport and often just lengthens the call, dilutes your message, and gets you no closer to the deal than you were before you wasted all that time.
If you want to truly connect to your prospect and build the kind of rapport that will actually influence and lead to a closed deal, then you need to learn how build what I call, “Relevant Rapport.” Relevant rapport means taking the time to talk about the issues your prospect is going through or what they’re trying to solve, and then expanding on these relevant issues and letting them know you understand exactly what they’re trying to accomplish and explaining how you are uniquely qualified to help them.
