20 Questions That Will Build Instant Rapport With Your Prospect

Long gone are the days of the cheesy salesman - the one that would comment on how bad the weather is or how bad their sports team had performed last weekend.

Rapport is built through keeping things light but business like. 

Many salespeople believe that building rapport is just a single stage of the sales process - this is false: rapport should be built at all times throughout the sales process.

Rapport can be built at each stage of the sales interaction, not only through the tonality of your voice but through your body language and active listening skills.

This can be when you first meet your prospect in the reception area, as you walk into the meeting room or on the telephone.

Here are 20 questions you can use that will build professional rapport with your prospect:

I noticed on your LinkedIn profile that you've only been here for 3 months - how are you settling in?

I noticed on your LinkedIn profile that you used to work for ABC Company. I used to work for them/we've done work for them/what did you do there?

Looking on your website I noticed that you've just done this/achieved that/ won this contract/ moved to bigger offices/ (anything newsworthy to talk of) how's that going?

How's business?

How long have you been with the company? (If you don't know via LinkedIn)

So you've been with ABC for 5 years? (If you do know via LinkedIn)

So you're the (title/position) - what exactly does this entail?

So as the title/position - do you also oversee...?

How many people in your department do you manage/do you employ?

How long have you been in that/this field all together?

How long have you been in the business?

How did you get your start in the business/field?

How did your company/business that you own get started?

How many people do you manage?

Does your company have other locations?

Does your role involve a lot of travelling?

How do you keep up to date on important information in the industry?

What periodicals do you read?

What are you up to this weekend? (On the way out of office/meeting/end of call)

What have you got planned for the rest of the day? (On the way out of office/meeting/end of call)

Some of these questions will be perfect for you, others will need tweaking for your industry, and others won't help you at all!

This is an excerpt of "450 Sales Questions - What To Ask In Any Situation" - click here to download your copy

Thanks again

Sean

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