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Sales Meetings - Let's Get On! by Mike Noel-Smith

How powerful would it be for sales meetings to be conducted where everyone believes in a ‘win win' outcome? Where everyone ‘gets on' and enjoys the experience rather than having the butterflies fluttering wildly inside the stomach? Would it not be far better to have those butterflies, to coin a phrase, ‘flying in formation' and the meeting congenial, friendly and successful? Much of this ‘atmosphere' and associated feelings about meetings can be radically improved if we were all to understand and use the power of rapport.

Research has shown that 83% of all sales are based on the customer liking the salesperson and that a feeling of security and honesty prevails during those initial few minutes of the meeting starting. This trusting environment then prevails beyond that starting point, and business can be done. Conversely, should the start go badly, there will be very little that the salesperson can do in order to change the situation and come away with a positive result.

The art of rapport is a fundamental element of effective communication. If you do not have rapport, you simply will not be effective in getting your message across. So how do we achieve positive rapport? A great starting point is to be able to match what the other person is doing. And that is everything – all the tiny behaviours that the opposite person is conducting. So we are looking at posture, rate of breathing, facial expressions, voice tone and pitch, hand gestures etc; the more you can ‘match' the other person, the more likely you are of entering ‘their world'. Remember, we are all attracted to people who are like ourselves, so if you can put yourself into the body of the other person, the more likely it is that they will like you and a relationship can begin. This is not a clever ‘gimmick' to control others; it will simply allow you to understand where they are coming from and to adjust your behaviours accordingly. A word of caution – do not attempt to mimic everything they do or say – this could be quite easily picked up by the other person and make them feel uncomfortable.

Try this out perhaps on someone you know first. See how they react to you, and then ask them afterwards how they felt during your chat with them. 9 times out of 10 they will say they felt very relaxed during your conversation together, perhaps even peaceful. Then, dive in with both feet and try it out at your next sales meeting. There are, of course other aspects to gaining rapport and these will figure in future articles. For the time being, see how matching another person builds rapport. You will not be disappointed!

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