Building rapport with customers is all about creating a common bond of trust, particularly over the phone.
So, you must learn to empathize with your customers, have a genuine interest in their situation and make them feel valued.
This is so important to providing good service and increasing sales.
So, here are some of our tips on how to build customer rapport, along with pieces of advice from our readers.
1. Get Their Name First
Debbie, one of our readers, suggests asking “for the customer’s name first, rather than reference number, address, etc.”
“It is easy to get the details we need after we have their name. This makes the customer feel like an individual and advisors feel as if they are speaking with a person, not a caller.”
Also, it is equally important to get the customer’s name right, as Carolyn Blunt, from Ember Real Results, says that “many people accidentally call me Caroline and when they do that they completely lose rapport with me.”
“This is because as it seems as though they haven’t paid enough attention or haven’t cared enough to get that right.”
So, Carolyn instead suggests another rule, that “if the customer has an unusual name, write it down phonetically when the customer is saying it, instead of reading it off the CRM system.”
2. Speak With a Smile
In Tony’s contact centre, advisors are asked to “always start the call with a smile – the customer will notice this in your voice.”
Jeanette Coulthard agrees, saying that “it creates a warmth in your voice which a customer or prospective customer can hear. It makes it far less likely that the customer will be rude to you.”
“Think how hard it is to refuse to take a call when someone rings up sounding sunny and warm.”
always start the call with a smile – the customer will notice this in your voice.
“Even if you want to refuse the call you are more likely to listen to someone who sounds like they are smiling than someone who sounds like they are just going through the motions.”
It is also good for the advisor as well, as smiling has been proven to release endorphins in the brain and consequently lift the smiler’s mood.
And if an advisor’s mood improves, they will be more likely to be invested in the rapport-building process.
3. See It From the Customer’s Perspective
Showing empathy is often a crucial part of building rapport, as it helps to create trust and mutual understanding, while it enables advisors to show the customer that they are the priority.
But some advisors will find this more difficult to do than others.
So, Gareth, one of our readers, suggests encouraging “advisors to imagine themselves in the customer’s shoes. Or, if they are really struggling to display empathy, ask them to imagine the customer as a close friend or family member.”
4. Share Their Priorities
Michael, another one of our readers, says that “every customer, particularly in an emergency situation, will have a list of priorities.”
“Making them also your priorities and addressing them in the right order (mirroring them) will reassure them that you know what they want and are taking care of them.”
This follows a key principle in any customer service field: people like other people who are similar to themselves.
This is why Carolyn Blunt says advisors “need to be really focused on what the customer is saying to us and what clues and signals there might be about how we can say similar things to demonstrate commonality.”
every customer, particularly in an emergency situation, will have a list of priorities.
A trick that many contact centres use to find a shortcut to this common ground, is to ask advisors to make a note of any interests that they discover the customer has in the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system.
Then, if the same customer were to ever call back, the next advisor will have this information, which they can subtly use in their next conversation with the customer, to build rapport.
5. Allow Them to ‘Get It All Out’
Angry customers are the most difficult callers to build rapport with, but it’s not impossible, as long as the advisor lets them “get it all out” first.
Jennifer, a frequent visitor to our site, recommends this, saying: “when the customer is angry, allow them to vent without interruption. Use this time to figure out what you can do to fix their issue.”
If they interrupt, the advisor will only be making the customer more irate.
So, it is perhaps best to wait, and when the angry customer finally takes a breath, an empathy statement could be used to highlight that the situation has been recognised and understood.
Also, if the advisor uses this time to figure out what needs to be done to fix the issue, it is easier for them to present solutions to the customer instead of problems.
For more on this topic, read our article: Dealing with Angry Customers
6. Repeat Back
In many contact centres, advisors are encouraged to use reflective listening.
This – according to Sarah-Jane, whose contact centre does so – is where the advisor “repeats sentences or important details back to the customer, saying ‘Okay, just to recap…’”
“This reassures them that you are paying attention.”
While mirroring these words, it is also important to mirror the customer’s tone, as Carolyn Blunt says, “sometimes it’s about stopping and just moving on, thinking about how to match and mirror the customer’s mood and use similar words, phrases and tone.”
listen out for the words and phrases that are being used, and if the customer has the same accent as the advisor, they should play to that.
“The only time that you don’t do that is when the customer is aggressive. But if the customer is really bubbly and enthusiastic about a holiday that they are going on or a wedding that they are going to, then that enthusiasm should be mirrored.”
“So, listen out for the words and phrases that are being used, and if the customer has the same accent as the advisor, they should play to that.
“Equally, if the accent is not the same, make sure colloquial language is not used.”
7. Make Their Problem Your Problem
According to Veronica, who is one of our readers, advisors must take “ownership of the enquiry, especially if it is a complaint.”
“It’s important to have a one-to-one relationship with your customer so that they have a point of contact that they can come back to.”
So, when a customer voices their issue, it is important acknowledge it and signal that their concern has been understood, so the customer feels as though the problem has been “lifted from them”.
Advisors can use statements such as: “I realise that this situation is difficult, but let’s try and find a solution,” to do this.
Such a statement begins with personal recognition using “I”, while also finishes with “we” to create a notion of teamwork, which can boost rapport.
It is also good in terms of turning a negative to positive, is more authentic than saying “I understand” and creates a sense of action, to show that the matter is important to the advisor and company.
For more examples, read our article: The Top 12 Acknowledgement Statements for Customer Service
8. Understand the Customer’s Emotional Drivers
When we discussed how to improve your emotional connection with customers, we concluded that customers will have two very different emotional drivers behind calling the contact centre.
These drivers are: movement away from pain or discomfort and movement towards pleasure. Normally one will be the dominant force.
When a customer seems worried, negative or agitated, their dominant driver will be to move away from pain, and, if the advisor recognises this, it is best to use empathy statements. While if a customer is more upbeat, having called for a feeling of contentment, relief or peace of mind, their dominant driver will be movement towards pleasure. So, if the advisor recognises this, it is best to stay enthusiastic.
If the advisor can tell which is the dominant driver behind the call and alter their style accordingly, they will increase their emotional connection with the customer and consequently build rapport.
For more advice on this topic, you can read some of the following articles: