Trust is something one earns and is certainly required in order to make a sale. Without trust, there is no rapport or connectivity and your sales cycle takes longer than it should, and usually without results. To regain velocity in your selling cycle, you need to first gain trust. Gaining trust is the first objective in the Velocity Selling Cycle.

How do you secure trust in your sales approach today?

Do you talk about yourself; your products and services; and your company?
Do you look around for something of interest to the prospect, such as a golf trophy on the office shelf? Do you offer a firm handshake?

If you use any of these traditional sales techniques, you should stop immediately. In today’s new economy of buyers, you will not secure trust or respect in the field of professional sales by using out dated techniques.

Trust comes from building rapport which is the first step in the “Buyer Focused” Velocity Selling System.

Rapport is derived from the French word meaning “to bring back”. Nero Linguistic Programming (NLP) states that our body speaks louder than our words, especially when referring to building a rapport with a customer. Body language attributes to 70% of rapport building while tonality falls in second place at 23% and words are a mere 7%.

What must you do when building a rapport, if your body speaks louder than words?

The technique is known as mirror and matching. It is a sales technique that comes naturally to some sales professionals, but not easily to most.

You automatically build rapport with people who remind you of yourself. This is called commonality. You want the customer to think you remind him or her of himself or herself. Mirror and matching the manner in which people shake hands, walk, stand, sit or gesture is complimentary and shows the customer that you are in sync. This works with tonality and by using the same words.

However, be careful with mirror and matching. Don’t ever mimic! If you mirror or match a prospect, do so gradually. Take your time and allow the change in your body language to evolve naturally.

An additional sales tip on building rapport and trust to increase your Velocity Selling Cycle is to ask open ended questions on topics of interest to the prospects. Involve them in a discussion about themselves, their family, their job, their hobbies, etc. Your objective is to get them to relax and enjoy simple conversation. . The more they talk, the more you listen and learn. You will inevitably gain their trust and amity while adding velocity to your selling cycle.

Hence, sales is no longer about you or what you have to offer. It is about the buyer and meeting their needs. You must view the sales approach as a new and interesting relationship. It is a significant communication for today and in the future as we move into a new economy of buyers.

Execute the disciplines of attracting, engaging and empowering the Velocity Selling Cycle to Up Your Bottom Line.