Rapport Building Tips for Businesses

By Stephen Rampur

Be Authentic
This is one of the most important factors that you need to consider while dealing with a potential client. In order to impress a client, some businesses present themselves as if they are the only ones who provide the best services. They think that the client will be impressed by their presentation. However, this technique can be very risky. It is strongly recommended that you should show your business the way it is. You should never over-exaggerate about the strong points in your business. Ensure that you do not create a new persona, and do not adopt a tone meant exclusively for the marketing purpose.

Make Quick, but Thoughtful Decisions
Inexperienced marketers do not pay attention to the fact that they need to be thoughtful with their decisions, but at the same time come to prompt conclusions which are beneficial for the company. They should take in mind that a prospective client can only be won if he comes to know that the business is a real beneficial entity. When it comes to not making haste, you should not directly jump on to the business conversation. You need to first create a base on which the customer will weigh his needs and then create a demand for the service you are offering. You should also remember not to take too much time for starting with the business conversation. You need to be quick in responding to customers regarding answering their queries in the correct manner.

Proper Business Attire and Behavior
To build a good rapport among consumers, you need to dress in a professional manner and also act accordingly. For setting a good image of your company in the minds of people, you are required to present yourself in the best possible way. This is also one of the major aspects that contribute to attracting customers to your product or service. Sport a suitable business attire, do not use inappropriate language, do not be very conversational as soon as you meet the client, and do keep professionalism in mind.

Proportion, Protagonism, and Inquiry
One of the most efficacious rapport building exercises is to build a true connection with prospective customers. This can be done by balancing asking questions to consumers with advising them with related matters and doubts. If you talk more than essential, the client will turn your offer down. If you ask too many questions, the clients would have a feeling of being treated like business marketing targets. You need to balance your presentation with keeping their necessities in mind.

Listen to Customers Attentively
One of the major reasons why customers are unable to be convinced is that they are not properly understood by the marketing services. They are expected to alter their needs and essentials according to the services and products which are offered by the company. If potential customers are conscious about you not listening to their requirements and expectations from a product, building a rapport will be nearly impossible. You first need to note customers' anticipations and then present your service accordingly. Read more on business networking.

Due to its effectiveness and known potential in helping to increase a business base, rapport building is being included in marketing mix and marketing plans. The above mentioned rapport building tips should be helpful if you are thinking of building a good rapport for your business. Good Luck!

10 Tips for Building Business Relationships

By: Rieva Lesonsky

No matter what industry you’re in, building business relationships helps you increase sales, develop innovative ideas and discover new ways to grow your company. Here are 10 tips for building business relationships.

1. Join the club. Industry trade associations, niche organizations such as groups for minority or women business owners, groups your key clients belong to and your local chamber of commerce are all great places to make new contacts.
2. Set goals. Know what you are hoping to achieve from a particular organization. Do you want to meet prospective clients, potential partners, job candidates or suppliers? Setting goals will help you assess whether an organization is right for you.
3. Be prepared. In any situation where you’re meeting new people, bring an open mind and a friendly attitude. Also bring business cards and be ready to describe what your business does in simple terms (“We help small businesses save money by preparing their taxes”). Greet everyone with a smile, eye contact and a handshake.
4. Mingle. Never spend all your time at an event talking to one person or group. Think of several ways to politely end a conversation and move on. (But first, get contact information from those you’ve been talking to so you can follow up later).
5. Follow up. When you meet someone you’d like to get to know, follow up. Use social networking tools to link up on LinkedIn, become friends on Facebook or follow each other on Twitter, and you’ll also be exposed to the person’s network of contacts.
6. Take it offline. Connecting on social media is a good start, but to truly foster a business relationship, you need to spend time face-to-face. Suggest getting together for coffee or a meal to share more about your businesses and how you might work together.
7. Keep in touch. Business relationships are like flowers-without nurturing, they wither and die. Make it a point to regularly connect with your key relationships, whether it’s retweeting their tweets, mailing a card or meeting for lunch.
8. Harness technology. Contact management software can help you track information about your contacts so you don’t have to remember birthdays, children’s ages or hobbies. The software does it for you and sets up reminders for actions like emailing or sending birthday cards.
9. Be patient. Business relationships take time to pay off. It may take years of talking and planning with someone before you actually end up working together or seeing any results from one of their ideas, referrals or suggestions.
10. Aim to give, not just get. Of course, you want to benefit from business relationships-but that’s more likely to happen if you have a generous attitude. Focus on how you can help your contacts, and you’ll find that you get more than you give.

Rome Wasn't Built in a Day

a letter from Cheryl Meyer to her TEAM Referral Network Chapter

Having been an entrepreneur since the beginning of my working life, straight out of High School, this is my first experience with a networking group. I was fortunate in my prior business to have a very distinct target market which did not require networking of this sort. That said, my target market taught me many things, perhaps the most important being perseverance.

I was invited to attend the very first TEAM Westlake meeting which was being held in an effort to form our Luncheon Chapter. My memory is a bit fuzzy but I recall a minimum of 20 business professionals gathered around a table at Tuscany's in Westlake and we simply went around the table and introduced ourselves. Little did I know that I was giving my very first unpolished and unrehearsed "one-minute". What I did know, or perhaps what I sensed, is that I needed and wanted to be a part of this TEAM! I submitted my application on the spot, along with several other insurance agents, however I was the fortunate one to have been selected to fill the insurance category.

Throughout the three years, I have kept track of the results of my efforts and my fellow TEAM members efforts on my behalf. I think the data will support my learning of perseverance.

1st Year Referrals
Given: 31
Received: 24

2nd Year Referrals
Given: 37
Received: 45

3rd Year Referrals
Given: 60
Received: 52

New Business Clients by Year and Inside vs. Outside Referrals

1st Year: 12%
Inside: 67%
Outside: 33%

2nd Year: 20%
Inside: 60%
Outside: 40%

3rd Year: 68%
Inside: 60%
Outside: 40%

Perhaps the most important data is that 68% of my new clients came on board in year 3! I also believe that the quality of my referrals has improved over time and will continue to improve as relationships continue to grow.

I consider the 3 years in which I have invested my time and money into our Chapter to be well worthwhile. I believe that it requires patience, consistency and yes, perseverance to succeed at anything one sets their mind to accomplishing. With each and every Tuesday Luncheon and every Coaching Session, we are planting seeds and we all know that it takes time to Harvest.

The Importance of Creating Solid Business Relationships

by Phil Glosserman, Business & Sales Coach

One of the biggest mistakes I see many salespeople and other professionals make is that they take a purely transactional approach to business. They reach out to their clients or customers only when there’s a transaction or an issue to deal with. They seem to think that all that’s important is that they know their stuff and that they do a good job.

The problem with this approach is that on the end of every transaction is a real person. We humans are relational beings. We thrive on relationships, not transactions.

You may do a good job for your clients, but if you don’t build a relationship with them, you’re just another service provider or vendor—in other words, forgettable and replaceable.

People Need to Feel You Care

In my book Sell the Feeling, I talk about the three feelings that people need to have to want to do business with you: 1) trust, 2) confidence, and 3) a feeling of being taken care of.

A number of years ago my wife and I were looking for someone to handle our investments. I interviewed several financial advisers. They were all competent and professional, but one guy really stood out above the rest. He talked about the value of having long-term relationships with his clients. After our meeting, he called me a couple of times to follow up. I could feel that he cared. When it came to picking someone to manage our money, I wanted someone that cared about me, my family, and our future. Of course, I picked him.

Some of the smartest people I’ve met are also the dumbest. My wife and I once met with an estate-planning attorney about creating a will and trust. He was an expert in his field and we had no doubt that he could do a great job for us. But in our meeting, he was technical and aloof. We felt like just another transaction in his busy day. Despite his brilliance, he just didn’t get the relational aspect of business. We felt very blasé about working with him, so we kept looking till we found someone who made us feel cared for.

These days, there are hundreds of professionals who provide the same products or services as you. Providing great products and services is simply not enough anymore.

Relationships Make All the Difference

One of the biggest differentiators you can have in your business is your relationship with your clients. It’s all in how you treat the person in front of you, now and over time. The stronger the relationship, the more likely they’ll stay loyal, give you more business, and refer you to their friends and business associates.

Nurturing your client relationships is in many ways just as important as the work you do for them. I encourage you to reach out periodically to your clients just to check in. Or invite them to lunch for no special reason. It may be challenging to find the time to do it, but I strongly suggest you make the time.

Business runs on relationships and depends on relationships. In every meeting and communication, make your clients feel important and cared for. Remember: The quality of your relationships will determine the quality of your business…and your life.

Phil Glosserman is a business and sales coach and a member of Team Referral’s Culver City chapter. He coaches business owners, salespeople, and other professionals to do what it takes to bring on more clients, grow their business, and multiply their income. He is the author of two books: Sell the Feeling: The 6-Step System that Drives People to Do Business with You and The Referral Code: Unlock a Constant Stream of Business Through the Power of Your Relationships. His Web site is www.CoachPhil.com.

© 2011-2012 Phil Glosserman. All rights reserved.

Old School Friend Request

3 Deadly Sins of Building Business Relationships

by Diane Helbig

As I was working with a client to develop her social media strategy, she mentioned that she has realized that relationship building is really a business practice. This is someone who was under the misconception that networking is about gathering business cards. She didn’t realize that networking is really about building and maintaining relationships with other business people. As we got her more involved with LinkedIn, she started reconnecting with people she had lost contact with over time–and she was really enjoying the rediscovery. She started to understand the real value that relationships play in business.

A few days later, I saw a friend of mine, Jeff Nischwitz of Think Again, who said that “networking” was a misnomer. “It’s about relationships,” he said. He was really talking about how people have the wrong idea about networking and this wrong idea is making business development difficult for them.

That got me thinking about what works and what doesn’t when it comes to networking and building relationships.

There still seem to be some misunderstandings about networking. Based on some of the behavior I’ve seen, it appears that many people are still missing the whole idea of relationship building. It doesn’t matter whether it is social networking or in-person networking. In the business practice of building relationships, there are three deadly sins to avoid:

1. Pitching early:

This is when you meet someone at a networking event, exchange cards, and decide that the card exchange gives you permission to give them a sales pitch. This happens all the time. It’s one of the reasons that some people avoid networking events. They either think they are supposed to behave this way and aren’t comfortable in that role, or they dislike the people who do it and don’t want to be around them.

People who pitch early don’t understand the relationship building aspect of networking. They believe that simply participating in the activity is a license to sell. Well, it isn’t. Networking is the opportunity to begin the relationship building process. Networking gives you the chance to meet people whom you might not otherwise meet.

I submit that the same is true for “social networking.” Linking in or friending someone online does not mean you have an open invitation to sell to them. Here’s an example of a double whammy – I met a young man at a chamber event. Within a couple of days he sent me a LinkedIn request to connect. I accepted. Now I receive solicitations from him via LinkedIn.

The problem? I don’t know him, so I can’t trust him. He doesn’t know what my situation is or what my needs are. He isn’t matching a solution to a problem. He is solely focused on what he wants. If, on the other hand, he had continued the process of relationship building, he would have learned more about me and my situation. He would have waited to sell until he knew there was a need and until he had established trust. As it stands, I’m not even interested in seeing him at the next chamber function. He accomplished the exact opposite of what he wanted–all because he pitched too early.

2. Signing someone up without permission: As far as I’m concerned, this is one of the deadliest networking sins. It is presumptuous and rude. I believe that when you do this you are telegraphing that you are more interested in building your list than in building relationships. How do you know the person needs what you have to offer? How do you know they want to read what you have to say? Where did you get permission to enter their e-mail inbox on a consistent basis? Remember, the simple exchange of business cards is not a license to behave in any way you choose.

The solution is so very simple. When you meet someone and engage in a conversation, you will learn things about them. If you discover that they have an interest in or need for the information you provide, ask them if they’d like to be added to your e-mail list and tell them why you think it would be a good idea for them. If they say “yes,” jot a note to yourself on their card. If they say “no,” don’t do it!

Did you notice the steps? They go in order. To take them out of order is to ask for trouble.

3. Assuming closeness: The story I told above about the young man I met at the chamber event also falls under this category. He assumed that we were closer than we were. He assumed that we had a relationship because of our chamber and online connections.

Think about the relationships you have with your friends, significant other, co-workers. Did they happen instantly? At “hello”? They didn’t, did they? They had to be built and nurtured; they had to grow over time.

This is not to say they you didn’t feel some sort of connection with some of these people. That sense of connection is what propels you to want to get to know them better. However, until you know someone better, you really don’t know enough to explore the possibility of conducting business with each other.

Nothing sends people running from you quicker than assuming closeness that doesn’t exist. Not only does it send people running, but they will tell others what you did. If you want to destroy your reputation quickly, then by all means, assume closeness. If, on the other hand, you want to grow your business, don’t make assumptions. Rather, grow those relationships first.

Ask yourself: Are you in business for the long haul or for a quick hit? If you answered “for the long haul,” then relationship building is a necessity. Do yourself and your business a favor and take the time to build relationships with the people you meet. Most of these people will become great referral partners for you – not customers. The more referral partners you have, the easier it will be to grow your business. Those people you’ve built relationships with will be the best promoters of you and your business.

7 Key Relationship Marketing Goals for 2012

by Kelli Holmes

1. Make your One Minute Business Commercial ROCK!

• Vow to spend 5 minutes on your one minute each week!
• Get very specific. Think “a great referral for me this week is…”.

2. Commit to be at every TEAM meeting (or have a representative when you cannot be there).

• Out of sight is out of mind!
• Being casual about your TEAM attendance commitment implies you are casual in

all of your business commitments. Your networking partners might question your “referability”.

3. Attend all TEAM events (and TEAM Sponsored Events).

• Local, regional and organizational wide events are offered all the time!
• Take advantage of these knowledge expanding networking opportunities.
• Commit to your Personal and Professional Growth by educating yourself this year!

4. Do an AWESOME TEAM presentation when it’s your turn to speak!

• Prepare a “knock your socks off” presentation to show your stuff.
• Answer the question… “Why you should refer me”.

5. Do Coaching Sessions!

• Make a plan to meet “one on one” with every member of your TEAM.
• Organize your notes from these meetings to be more effective in referring your

networking partners.

6. Expand your “Power Partners” opportunity in TEAM!

• See who is missing from your “Center of Influence”.
• Ask your fellow TEAM members to help you invite these key professionals to your chapter.

7. Put all of your Relationship Marketing Goals in Writing!

• Set specific, measurable goals.
• Base your goals on personal performance or skills and knowledge to be acquired.
• Reward yourself in the achievement of your goals!

THINKING THROUGH YOUR GOALS

When you are thinking about how to achieve your goals, ask yourself the following questions…

• What skills do I need?
• What information/knowledge do I need?
• What help do I need?
• What resources do I need?
• Is there a better way of doing things?