Good morning everyone,
I hope you are all well and enjoying the cooler temperatures and are save if you are in the area where the hurricane came through the other day. I have never had to experience a hurricane and can only imagine what it would take to deal with the aftermath.
Prayers for your safety down in the Carolinas.
I was reflecting the other day on building rapport with others. This topic is something that is a must in order to gain influence with anyone. Whether you are a coach of a team, meeting with a client, or in an interview you need to be able to build rapport. You also need to be able to build it quickly in times like interviews. You are trying to connect with the person looking to hire you and typically they tend to hire people they like. Sometimes they like the person so much that they do not care about how suited the candidate is for the position. Take that last statement with a grain of salt, but unfortunately it is true.
So how do you build rapport?
I use the following four ways to do so:
Be Helpful
Be willing to help them with whatever they need help with. Go the extra mile to help them when you think you have done enough, go one step further. It could be helping a child with an assignment on the football field going through the play with them one on one and then helping them step through the steps in that process. It could be jumping in to help unload something that the person you are meeting with is trying to unload from a truck. It could also be helping sweep up a mess that has happened and sending follow up to the person that the task was complete
Be Intentional
By being intentional I mean really look to find common ground with those people you will be interacting with and needing to build rapport with. This can be researching them on social media like linked in, facebook, local associations they are affiliated with, google etc.
Be Respectful
People want to feel valued and that they are important. Why not make them feel that way. Let them know that you have their back and are willing to do the work with them. Call them sir or ma’am when they are older than you, use their name (sweetest sound to any person is their own name), use your manners.
Be Enthusiastic
Show some enthusiasm with the person you are talking to. Use humor, make them feel comfortable, and lower the tension. People that smile and make people laugh are far more able to build rapport than someone that walks around like the Winnie the Pooh character Eeyore that moped around and never showed excitement. People like to be around light hearted and fun people. Show some enthusiasm and energy. People will gravitate towards you.
There you have it, think of HIRE when you are looking to build rapport. Focus on others and help them get to where they way to go and you will build all the rapport. Use Hire when you are getting ready to meet someone new and needing to build rapport. You want the person to like you so much that they would hire you.
Have a great weekend.
Sincerely,
Kevin Sidebottom
Sales and Leadership Enterprises