Nothing happens until somebody sells something. To make sales happen, IMMS.com Key Sales Consultant Randy Schwantz has created a comprehensive series of 43 Producer Success Lessons. Used singly or in combination, these powerful tools can help your producers build their skills and grow their sales.
SILLY BOOKS AND MEETING WOMEN
Do you have any 'silly books' - you know, the ones written by obscure 'experts' on subjects such as 'Building an Atomic Bomb with Things You Probably Have Around the Home.' I make it a habit to commit the sillier concepts in these books to memory before I give them to my two-year-old, who promptly destroys them. One of my favorite silly books is one that tells men how to meet and get to know 'any woman, anytime, anywhere.' The alleged secret is to find out what she's drinking, then smoothly move into her 'personal space' and offer her another round. You then proceed to 'read' her body language, and - well, you get the picture.
For some reason, that's exactly the image that comes to my mind get when a book on selling skills suggests scanning the executive's office, finding some personal item (say, spouse's picture), and then striking up a conversation based on your shared love of ... (oops).
Some books may call this process 'building rapport,' but it's really a poor substitute for the real thing. I find talking about golf with a golf addict very unsettling. Sure, I can talk a good line, but what if they ask me to play? If you're going to succeed in interacting with the upper crust of the business world, your only chance is to be yourself.
So how do you establish rapport without slipping into some fake character? And what the heck is rapport, anyway?
THE REAL THING
Think back. Do you remember meeting someone that you instantly really liked a lot, someone who immediately felt like an old and dear friend even though you'd only known them a few minutes? You might not have even known their last name or much about them, but you heartily approved of them already. And how did they react to you? Didn't they seem to feel the same way? You reacted to each other more on instinct than on anything you could logically explain. This is an example of rapport.
Now think of someone you don't like, someone with whom your relationship always feels flat or empty at best. No matter how hard you try, no matter what you say or do, the camaraderie between the two of you is always shallow and fragile. You have little if any true understanding of them or where they're coming from - and you're pretty sure they don't understand you, either, and they probably feel about you the way you feel about them. This is an example of being out of rapport .
In this section about rapport, you'll learn some skills that will turn those tough relationships around and make your good relationships even better. Master these skills, and, if you're like most people, you'll be startled by the changes in the way people react to you. These rapport-building skills will help you turn strained relationships into real friendships. They might not be the single solution that will turn everyone into your best friend, but they'll enhance almost all of your relationships.
So how do you establish rapport?
LIKE SEEKS LIKE
The key ingredient in creating rapport and trust is matching. The more you sound like someone else, look and move like them, and think the way they do, the deeper the rapport between the two of you. It's easy to notice that people can have an inherent distrust of someone who is different from, or mismatches, them - someone with a different skin color, educational or financial level, or even a different accent. These are examples of mismatching. It's simple - the more you can match someone, the better your relationship with them will be. There are many levels on which people can match: in culture, appearance, worldview, and even in thinking and mood.
One of the easiest places for a salesperson to use these ideas is in an interview. You may have heard that communication between two people is composed of their words, tone of voice, and body language. You also might know that words make up about 7% of the message, tone about 38%, and body language 55%. It's obvious that working on matching body language would be a good place to start.
Contrary to what some silly books say, it's not a science to be able to 'read' such things as people's posture. That's okay, because being able to read people isn't the object of matching. The beauty of matching is that you only have to imitate the other person. If the person you're speaking with crosses their arms, you cross yours. If they lean back in their chair, you do likewise. Copying the movements of the person you're speaking with is called mirroring. Mirroring is a very good way to establish rapport, first on a conscious level and later on a subconscious level.
You'll have lots of opportunities to try these ideas out while working the 10-Step Plan, which was described in Lesson 3. You build trust and rapport at each step of the plan, so think about the things you have in common with each person involved in the 10-Step Plan. You have a lot in common with the MVP and Commercial producer. You're all in the insurance business and are interested in helping clients succeed. You all know what it's like to work in sales.
The Risk Managers you'll meet are also insurance professionals. Many of them are probably from the same area of the country as you. They also want the executives in their firm to be taken care of. You all share common goals.
The executives you meet will share these goals as well - they want their problems to be solved. The more time you spend with these people, the more in common you'll come to have. Say so in your conversations with senior executives. Tell them about other executives just like them who you helped.
Remember, the essence of rapport is commonality. Like seeks like. Search for the common ground between you and the person you're communicating with, and watch your success level soar.
EXERCISE
Get out three sheets of paper and label them MVP and Commercial producers, Risk Managers, and Senior Executives. Now, write down everything you can reasonably expect to have in common with these people.