Creating Rapport, Step 1: CALIBRATION!

This was the first newsletter released by David le Roux Coaching, during May 2016, in a series of meaningful content to help you create rapport.

Rapport allows the eliciting of the highest level of potential out of your team:

By creating or getting into rapport with the person you are communicating with, be this a team member, employee, boss, or a client – you will have the best results of cooperation and potential collaboration.
 
The first step in the series towards creating rapport is…
 
Calibration!
 
Calibrating someone in this context is becoming aware of changes in a person’s communication. Communication that is verbal, and communication that is non-verbal.
Verbal communication is relatively easier to understand, because it’s pretty express! However, the most effective form of communication is non-verbal, because according to research by Professor Albert Mehrabin, PhD:
 

• 7% of message is in the spoken word.
• 38% of message is in the way that the words are said
• 55% of message is in facial expression

 
When it comes to non-verbal communication, not to be confused with “Body Language” - Body Language is only a small part of how we communicate non-verbally.
 
The good news is: We all already do this to some extent. Some of us are better at it than others.
 
Think of a time when you were with a client and or employee or team member. You were talking and you can tell that what you were saying was either really capturing their interest, or really boring them.
 
What was actually telling you this? If she hadn’t expressly told you, “you’re boring me to an absolute standstill!” which most people won’t do because they are too polite. You picked this up from their non-verbal cues. Using something called your Sensory Acuity.
 
We notice a person’s breathing: whether it is deep and relaxed or shallow and agitated. We look at their eye movement: Are they focused on you and your subject, or are they looking out the window, toward the roof or the ground? We notice a person’s posture, skin shininess and a whole host of other non-verbal cues that give us an idea of “where this person is at.”
 
The best way to make sure you are picking up the right cues and interpreting them the right way is to work on improving your sensory acuity, which I have found a nifty online tool for you to do that here.
 
Once you master calibration of the person in front of you, the next step in attaining rapport is PACING - look out for the next post by David le Roux Coaching, #DLRCoaching.

Sign up for the #BizCoachingSA Sales Workshop by #DLRCoaching !