Are you building rapport with your customers?

Rapport is the first and most important part of the sales process. I know many don't like to think of themselves as sales people but when you run your own business you are the salesperson.

Even though you are running a small business, people are still hesitant when they walk into your doors. Are they going to be jumped by 25 people trying to sell them something in a very pushy manner?

But building Rapport (also called Icebreaking) gives you time to lower their barriers and become more comfortable around you. Some people will not want to talk to you so just let them look around and be there for them if they change their minds.

So how do you build rapport? You welcome them to your store then ask them some question like how they are doing, enjoying the weather, what about those... or something similar to get a conversation going. After a few minutes of chit chat, then you move on and find out why they have come in and find them what they need.

When I was a sales manager I had some salespeople get so tied up in chit chatting with the customer that they never even bothered to find out what the customer came in for and although they had a new friend, the new friend did not buy anything. On the other hand I had salespeople immediately start asking qualifying questions of the customer and just turned the customer off.

As a small business person it is even more important that you build rapport because word of mouth advertising is so important to you and the more you get to know the customers, the better they will feel about you and recommending you to friends.

For more information on building report check out this entry from the Sales and Marketing Blog.