How to Build Rapport with Clients: 50+ Simple Ways

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Rapport is considered the foundation of any relationship. Having something in common with someone else can help in building the connection. And in the business industry, it’s important to build a good rapport with clients and customers. 

Empathizing with customers, showing you are genuinely interested in them, and making them feel valued will help in growing the loyal customer base and clients in the future. 

And for that, here are listed simple ways that can help in building rapport with your client and customers. 

Table of Contents

Use Your Client And Customer’s Name 

You need to first get their name instead of a reference number or any other details. 

Using their name in conversation helps in breaking the wall and connecting with customers on a personal level. Also, it’s an easier way to build your rapport. 

However, you need to pay attention when they have a unique name as you don’t want to mispronounce it.  Not just that, don’t overdo it. 

It’s okay to use it 1 or 2 times during your conversation, but don’t keep repeating it over and over again. 

Congratulate On Important Dates And Events 

Well if you have the access to the personal information of clients and customers such as their birthday, anniversary, or any other important dates. It’s a great time that you send them best wishes.

Even if it sounds cheesy, there are high chances that it will work. For example,  if your company hit a milestone, it can also be a great chance that you can get in touch and congratulate them for being with your company for so long. 

However, to make it more effective, you can add personalized letters and gifts too. 

Ask Their Thoughts And Advice

Asking the client and customer for advice and what they are thinking can also be a great way for creating a rapport. 

Not just asking for their input can help you in structuring your business better, but also make them feel valued and important. 

Don’t Shy Away To Admit The Flaws 

Humans are bound to make mistakes and having flaws make you more connected with others. 

However, what you should do is admit if there is anything you did wrong or flaws regarding you or the product. 

You also need to address the flaw and use this for creating a better personal connection. 

Pay Attention To Facial Expressions 

Well, it’s important that you know how to understand facial expressions. 

To avoid the face like a setter clear of expressions that say are bordered, angry or arrogant and any other emotions which are negative. 

The best way to get out of it is to smile, but don’t grin like an idiot.  Make sure you look happy, animated, and actually care. 

Showing that you are interred in what they are saying is important. Also, it goes the same for the phone calls too. Even though they can’t see your face, they can hear it. 

Summarize What They Said To You 

Summarizing what your customer and client say does not just help in building rapport, along with that it shows that you were paying attention and listening. 

You could also clarify what they said by summarizing, so you know both are on the same page and there is no miscommunication or wrong information heard. 

Keep A Healthy Eye Contact Maintain 

One of the most common yet effective ways is to maintain eye contact. Not just eye contact which means you know where to keep your eyes, and for how long so you don’t make them feel uncomfortable. 

Don’t stare at them that makes you look like a creep, you need to find natural places where you can look and avoid stopping much eye contact. 

The best way that you can look away is to look up and to the left, it’s a great technique that makes you think about what they were saying. 

Make Sure To Make Eye Contact With Each Person In Room 

It’s important that when you are delivering your speech, you make eye contact with everyone who is in the room. 

You don’t have to stare at them, keep it a few seconds and then move on. It makes it seem like you’re talking directly to them, making them involved in the conversation and engaging well too. 

Take Calls When You Are Standing Up 

There are many radio personalities who prefer to stand up while they are broadcasting. The reason behind this is that it actually helps in getting the focus. 

It also changes the voice intonation, with this, you also increase the power and energy. 

Experiment with this when you have to talk to a client or customer over the phone call. Make sure to get up, and walk around the room and you will notice how it’s affecting your mood. 

Make Sure To Smartly Use Humor 

When it comes to humor, it can be something that can make it much quicker to bond together or end up damaging the chance,  there is no between.

So you need to be extra careful when you are using jokes to make the situation lighter. While it might work, being careful can help you in avoiding any kind of situation you don’t want to be in. 

Avoid Making Them Wait 

When you are going to meet with your client or the customer is waiting to meet you, it’s important that you are not making them wait too long. 

It gives the wrong impression and also you end up damaging the rapport that you have created. 

Make Sure To Properly Apologize 

When you are dealing with angry customers or disappointed clients, you need to apologize as quickly and be upfront. 

Don’t apologize just for the sake of it, make it genuine and honest so it can help in calming things down. 

Don’t Make Promises You Can’t keep 

When you are in business, it is quite often seen that the company promises customers and clients that they can’t keep it. 

For example, late deliveries are one of the reasons why customers decide to drop the company. However, promising that it won’t happen is a total lie. 

You don’t know what might happen and there are lots of external factors involved, even your customers know it’s a promise you can’t keep. 

So you have to avoid making such promises. It damages your credibility and you don’t stay reliable too. 

Avoid Overselling And Setting Unrealistic 

The basic rule of thumb that you should remember is to never oversell, not you, not the product or the company. 

Also with that, you need to avoid setting unrealistic expectations. 

Instead of this, you need to under-promise and over-deliver. This way you can impress your existing clients and potential ones too. 

It’s not just helping you in building rapport but increasing the chances of continuing work with you. 

Start With Asking Yes Set Questions 

The idea says that when a person starts to say yes a few times, they will eventually keep doing that. 

So instead of asking the question you want, start with the yes sets. 

Well, the yes sets are those questions whose obvious answers are yes. Then you drop what you actually want to ask. 

Let Them Vent Their Frustration 

Sometimes the customer is just looking to vent their frustrations.  It can happen because they might be angry at some other vendor or frustrated with their issue. 

So give them time to vent and simply sit back. Don’t interfere or find a solution as soon as they speak. You need to listen well too. 

Once they vent their frustrations and get things off their chest, they also feel positive emotions towards you as you listen to their problems. 

Consider Using Onboarding Process 

The onboarding process is for new clients or customers who started their business with you. 

You get great opportunities for building rapport. You can start by sending a questionnaire to the client 

This helps in ensuring that you have everything for starting. You could do so by scheduling the meeting, sending them the welcome package, or giving them access to a knowledge base. 

Don’t Do Anything That Embraces Them 

You should not criticize your clients or point out something that they did wrong or the mistakes. Don’t hurt their pride as they will get amebas.e 

You don’t finish the client or react poorly to the bad news which is bad. If they make a mistake, do what can help in saving their face. 

Ask Questions Which Are Open Ended 

When you are meeting new people for the first time. asking more than one or two ice-breaking questions which should not be related to the business, it can be related to the location, career or job, etc. 

This will help in finding the common ground which is a great way of building your rapport. 

Once you are done with the small talk, you can move to the important things. 

Make Sure To Pay Attention On Your Attire 

It’s important that you are mindful of what you are wearing and how you look. 

Don’t look like a slob when you meet your clients and customers. Make sure you have a good haircut, proper grooming, and trim the nails. 

Use the deodorant, and make sure you look presentable. 

Also, you can dress slightly better than your clients, but make sure you are not overdressing. 

Talk And Share The Experiences 

Well when you are finding out the commonalities between the customer and yourself, you need to share your experiences and stories. 

You can talk about things that relate to them and help in understanding more about you. 

Make Sure You Have Done Research 

In order to make rapport, you need to understand them. 

And for that, you need to find the right question, and common things and discover what shared experiences you have. 

And for this, you need to do the research which can help in inserting more about your client and customer. 

You can google, use LinkedIn, consider social media and talk to people who might know them 

Doing the proper research also makes you ready to deal with situations that you might be unaware of. 

Be Available For Your Client And Customers 

One way to make sure your rapport is maintained is to keep the channels of communication open. 

Make sure they can talk to you when they need your help or want to ask a question. 

Sometimes it can be inconvenient as you might have to spend extra hours on weekends, but it’s important to bite the bullet. 

Also make sure that you are communicating immediately, especially when it’s in messages or emails. 

Consider The Matching And Mirroring Practice 

Well, it’s a psychological technique that you can consider practicing. 

Here you mimic the body language, intonation, posture, etc of your client. 

To do this, you require to pay close attention to how your clients as well as customers move, talk, and sit. 

Then start copying it but make it subtle and it’s important to remember. It will help you not get caught in what you are doing. 

Do Check Time To Time 

Building your rapport doesn’t mean one thing at a time, you need to do it time and time again. 

Don’t ignore your customers and clients once they are doing business. 

Call them at least once a month, or you can even meet them in person. 

Ask them what you can do for them and make sure you handle their problems. 

Never Disrespect The Time They Are Investing 

In order to get your time treated with respect, you need to do the same. 

So don’t do anything that disrespects their time or wastes it. 

If you are going to do a meeting, or it’s a project or deliverables, make sure you are setting clear time frames. 

If there is anything to change, you need to let them know about it as it will make sure you have a harmonious relationship. 

Do Ask For The Feedback 

This should be the basics when you are offering the service process to the client or the customer. 

An effective way of doing this is to send emails to the customer, asking them if there is any feedback they want to give. It can be related to the person, services, and goods. 

Also, ask if there is anything they want to change or have better. 

Avoid Doing The Interruptions 

When your client and customer are talking, you need to sit back and practice your listening skills. 

only start talking when they are done. It’s important that you need to let them talk. 

Don’t interrupt them, this makes it disrespectful and also not a good manner to carry. 

Don’t Rush What You Say And Do 

One of the important things that you need to remember is building a rapport takes time, so you need to learn how to stay patient. 

Don’t be in a rush as it can make others feel intimate, and you end up repelling them. 

Also, there are chances that you might not hit off everyone you meet regardless of how much you try it. 

Communicate More Frequently 

The best and fastest way that you can communicate is through emails. 

So make sure your clients and customers are in touch with you.  To the customers, you can send an email newsletter and email weekly or daily.

You can use this to communicate with people and connect on personal leave, sell products and share other important information. 

Phrase You Sentences In Positive Way 

Refrain from being negative or using sentences that are negative in language. 

Be the person who sees half-full,  not half-empty glass. 

Talk About What They Are Interested In 

When you are building rapport, you need to find things that your client and customers are interested in. It can only happen when they talk, so avoid talking too much about the product and yourself. 

No matter what you are offering, if they are not interested in it, they won’t pay attention or purchase it. 

Inspire And Motivate Them 

This is one of the great ways by which you can persuade the clients, and talk about the results that people have achieved by using the products. 

You need to praise the clients for the good work and success 

Motivational speeches, blog posts, videos, and emails can also be great, you just focus on inspiring the clients which are making the decisions. 

Tailor What You Are Offering 

Different customers and clients have different needs. One shoe fits all is not going to benefit you, so you need to offer the solution or product that fits according to their way. 

When you tailor according to the customer and client, this helps in increasing satisfaction. 

Give Them Free Offers And Gifts 

One way by which you can make the rapport stronger is by offering gifts and offers. Not just any offer, something that actually can be useful and suitable for them. 

So you need to avoid sending something which has no meaning, sit down and think about clients that are actually helpful. 

Make Sure To Ask for Referrals And Feedback 

You often feel goodwill towards those who ask for help. So this tends to help in building the personal relationship with those you helped. 

For implementing these ideas, you have two ways. Either you can ask directly for your feedback and referral. Or you can ask the satisfied costumes to refer you to another person too. 

Consider Using Representational System 

Well according to psychologists,  people tend to have something like a representational system. 

This basically affects the words you are using. For example, some people have a visual system and use phrases such as “ it looks nice”. 

Different people tend to have an auditory system, so using the words like “ sounds good”.

To find which pattern they follow, you need to listen well and then start using it. 

Follow Up Much Faster 

Train the sales team to do the follow-up with those potential leads as soon as they can. 

Don’t make them wait for a longer time, the less chance of developing a good relationship with the potential client. 

Consider Using The Demonstrations 

If you are in a role that is customer-facing, you need to show how your product actually works. 

When you are doing this, you need to allow the customer to hold and use the product. 

So they can do the test drive when you are selling it. This will help in engaging with the customer and asking better questions. 

Giving away the samples can help you in building connections. It’s also great when you are demonstrating, you need to offer free services 

You Need To Be Polite 

Manners are important, and you need to understand that it’s important for good communication. 

You need to use the words such as please and thank you. Also, make sure that you are properly thanking the customer.

Do More Practice 

It’s going to take time, more effort, and understanding. It will help you in building people skills. 

This is why your sales representative should practice building rapport. 

You should attempt to meet new people and practice your skills. 

Put Yourself In Their Position 

This goes hand in hand with your need to have empathy for the clients and customers. 

When you are building customer rapport, you need to legitimately put yourself in their position. 

You need to close your eyes and imagine what it would be like if it was you who are dealing with the issue. 

Have Your Voice 

Voice tonality is the first step when it comes to effective communication. 

You need to avoid the flat, dull and boring voice which is boring. 

It’s important that you need to warm up your voice when you are meeting and calling someone. 

Also, put your energy and emotions into what they are saying. 

Your Clients And Customer Are Important 

People love to feel superior, and let the client know about recognizing their superiority. 

You can mention some personal achievements including their education 

You can mention something you did in the business and professionally. 

Also, you have to be careful, when you are doing this generally and this can help in impressing them. 

Be Make Yourself Present 

You need to be in the moment, this can help you to better focus on the client and customer. 

Give concentration to the person sitting in front of you, you need to pay attention. Close the door and keep the phone off. 

Speak With Smile 

You need to keep a smile on your face when you are talking to customers and clients. 

When you are smiling, you create warmth in your voice and you are paying attention to them. 

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