5 Easy Tips to Build Rapport with Customers

A study by TrackVia reveals that CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is known to improve customer retention by 27%.

Yes, maintaining cordial rapport with customers is that important.

It helps in building customer loyalty. Further, like a bonus, a loyal customer will always give you genuine feedback about your product quality or prices.

Take an example:
ABC is an established business supplying bread to major restaurants in the town. XYZ is a new entrant business selling the same bread at a lesser price. Since, ABC has built customer rapport over the years, it won’t be easy for its clients (major restaurants) to shift to XYZ solely based on price. In worst-case scenario, it may happen that the clients would call up ABC & say ‘Hey, your price seems to a bit on the higher side as compared to XYZ’s’

So, how can a small business owner build rapport with her/his customers without investing in a team or hiring an agency?

Some unconventional, easy & practical ways of building rapport with customers are listed below:

1. Start a Meeting with a Cup of Coffee
In face-to-face customer meetings, a simple ritual of starting with a cup of coffee or tea can work like magic. Customers (or humans for that matter) crave for attention & offering a cup of coffee signals them that they are worthy of seller’s attention. Biologically as well, coffee can stimulate brain & increase the alertness level.

2. Don’t Jump to Business Right Away
Whenever you talk to a customer in person or over phone, start with asking informal questions like “How are you?” “How is your family?” “How is your little one?” “Isn’t the road traffic horrible today?” “Saw yesterday’s match?” etc.

The aforesaid questions will be enough to trigger an informal discussion & set the tone for the business meeting. Further such informal discussion will make the customer believe that you are not a regular ‘money-oriented’ guy & she/he can trust you with business. In simple terms, meet a customer just like you meet a friend.

3. Choose Voice Over Text to Communicate Over Phone
Even for trivial exchange of information, choose to voice call rather than pinging on messenger apps. Because, voice calling will signal to customers that you value them & therefore made the effort to voice call. Also, voice call avoids mis-interpretation & promotes frank discussion.

4. Meet in Person Once in a While
You may be busy but trust me when I say that meeting in person will pay you rich dividends in long term. Meeting in person breaks the ice & fosters strong business relationship. Trust is a powerful term in business & face-to-face meetings can help build this trust faster than anything else.

5. Talk Like a Subject Expert
You must talk like a subject expert. But, you can talk like a subject expert only when you know the technical aspects of your products. If you are into selling bread, then you ought to know about the variety, textures, nutrition etc. of bread. Talking like expert will make you more trust worthy & improve rapport from business point of view. And, if time permits, then you may try sending weekly emails updates concerning your industry.

6. Surprise Customers
Customers (just like humans in general) are fond of surprises. So, you may try stuffs like mailing them physical greeting cards on birthdays & festivals (no emails please!), sending free product samples, conducting customer get-to-gather etc.

7. Spend More Time on Field
Delegate operational responsibilities & spend more time on field. Talk to end users(consumers), gather feedback, network & market. In short, be more accessible to your customers.

Thanks for reading!