Rapport in a globalized business world: Let's build that bridge!!

Rapport in a globalized business world: Let's build that bridge!!

Posted by Pia Sharma on 13 February 2012 | 0 Comments

From a desk at the newly re-branded out of home media agency 'Rapport ' with its strategic direction of 'Rewarding Connections' I followed the hectic and buzzing activities related to their re-branding that launched this Monday 16.04.12. With courtesy of CEO Roy Jeans, I work from here time to time and feed off the friendly and buzzing energy! The brand 'Rapport' cleverly reflects the reality of the globalized and multi-cultural business world where the ability to forge lasting and successful business relations across any culture is essential. Rapport is that moment in time when two or more people connect and both sides feel that they are on the same page and understand each other’s interests, perspectives and needs What is actually required to build rapport with a client? Well, I can’t give you a detailed recipe for that, but I can give you some pointers for what to consider. When you build rapport you successfully establish a connection based on trust. At times we meet people where we instantly feel that we are on the same wavelength and ‘have a connection’. It’s difficult to explain why that is but one thing is for sure and that is we can’t rely on luck when it comes to meeting clients where we have to establish a relation in order to have them invest invest in our service or product. Mirroring is an example of a skill you can use when building rapport. Some of you may have noticed times when you are deep in conversation with someone where the two of you ended up adopting the same physical posture as well as tone of voice, intonation and pace. This is natural mirroring and can happen when we sense sub-consciously that we are connecting. It is of course a different matter when we attempt to do this consciously. I have experienced attempts at mirroring where the person in question simply was not skilled enough, which meant that the attempt was too obvious and it felt almost intrusive. If you want to use mirroring when building rapport, the following points come from a hostage negotiator, Richard Mullender, with whom I did some work for some time. Overall, the most basic skill to employ when building rapport is to listen and to give the other party your undivided attention, paying attention to the following: Language use: notice the person’s language use. Does he/she have a factual approach for instance, or do they refer to beliefs, values and/or feelings? Also, pay attention to their chosen verb tense, which will say something about their focus and mindset. Pay attention to posture, body language, energy, tone of voice, intonation, breathing (if possible). Rather than imitating the other person completely choose a few such as language, tone of voice and energy (pace) and see if you, after having given the other person your undivided attention, can get them to adopt your posture. When this happens you are on your way to establishing good rapport. In that way we can say that building rapport is less about interpretation and more about paying attention. In a multi-cultural context noticing details with regard to the potential client you are in dialogue with is the first step to really gain an understanding of who this person is and the culture he/she represents. For it to work both sides have to make an effort and be interested in establishing rapport, much like the action of building a bridge simultaneously from both sides and eventually meet in the middle where a connection is made. Of course, it has to be said that establishing good rapport starts before the meeting and continues post-meeting as well. Before the meeting it is important to gather as much information as you can about the company/organization in question, the person you are meeting with, their authority within the company, how you have communicated & style of communication before the meeting etc. Developing and maintaining good rapport after the meeting means that the next steps should be identified during the meeting and possibly a follow-up courtesy message to thank whoever you were meeting with. So – next time you have a first-time meeting with a potential, new or indeed an existing client, think about what it takes to build a good-old fashioned bridge and try it out!! If you require any training, coaching or advice in such matters contact PSharma Consulting!!!