Effective judgment to build rapport with your prospects

It is very important for you to develop the skill of using effective judgment to build rapport with your prospects. In this context, judgment is defined as knowing when you should listen, talk, and respond to what’s being said to you. This means that you must become skilled at giving a strong monologue, and you must also know when to be silent and transition back into dialogue again. While this may sound somewhat difficult, it actually isn’t.

The first question that you must ask yourself is what it takes for you to listen to what someone’s telling you? Do you require the person to be speaking about something that interests you? Or does it have to be from a source, which you deem as being credible? If you’re like most people, you would say yes to most of the questions that are been listed.

However, within the business setting, you may need to place these conditions on hold when you’re communicating with either a colleague or a superior. One thing that you should keep in mind is that even CEOs must function by these rules all the time. 

When CEOs were asked what it took for them to continue listening to a person, there were a number of things they listed.

1. Ability to prove that what they were saying is interesting to the CEO,
2. Proving the credibility of their statements,
3. Posing a question or idea, which is challenging?
4. Altering the imagination
5. Looking for a response that gives the CEO time to provide either a reaction or an opinion.

When you’re conducting business with prospects, one thing that you have to always keep in mind is that more than likely, they’re short on time. You only have a limited amount of time to get your point across, and if you’re unable to do so, you will lose the prospect. The next important part of building rapport with your prospects is to have a lot of credibility.

The Role of Credibility in Building Rapport

It is hard to build rapport with prospects when you aren’t credible. In the business world, credibility is everything, and you will find it hard to sell products and services if you can’t build rapport with your prospects. The best way to build credibility is to have an advanced knowledge of the area you’re working in. You should have a large collection of facts and statistics, and you should take the time to memorize this information.

The reason for this is while attempting to build rapport with prospects, if you can cite sources, facts, and figures, which are reliable, and this can allow you to build credibility, which will also translate into you building rapport.

Being seen as an expert is a great tool when it comes to building rapport. The reason for this is when you’re an expert in a particular subject, or appear to be an expert; people are much more likely to listen to what you have to say. Another way that you can build rapport with prospects is by posing questions or ideas, which challenge them. Many people are open to a challenge, and by challenging them with a question or concept; you give them time to think and ponder about it, which allows you to build rapport. Having good judgment gives you the ability to stir the imagination of your prospects.

For example, when speaking to a prospect, you could use the phrase "imagine what would be possible if you………." and work your way from there. Again, when you stir the imagination of your prospects effectively, you have a good shot at becoming enormously successful. Another useful method of building rapport with your prospects is to elicit a response, which gives them time to quickly show their opinion.

People want to feel as though they are exercising power and control, so allow them to do so. There are times in which you will find it helpful to ask the opinion of your prospects in order to involve them in the conversation. The last thing you want is for the exchange to be one sided. To build rapport, communication must work in two ways.

How Being Self Centered Damages Rapport

When you’re trying to build rapport with prospects, being self-centered is a bad idea. To succeed, you must focus on the needs and desires of the other person. You must honestly have a method, idea, service, or product, which can help them. Many people are unsuccessful with building rapport because they aren’t aware of this fact. They focus too much on selling products, or making money, and during this process, they lose track of what they can do to help their prospects because they are so busy trying to help themselves.

To be successful, you must switch this dynamic around. You must emphasize what you can do for the client. You must be willing to give them something in return for their time, which may be very precious.