Rapport Building Level 1

What is Rapport? It sounds mystical and magical.

It really is simple, and by learning some basic skills we can teach anyone to create it.

More than words!

We are complex beings with a vast capability for language. But like most other creatures so much of how we communicate is non-verbal in nature.  So while we often get anxious about having enough to say, when it comes to building rapport words are only part of a much larger picture.

Human to Human

The Eyes have it! - The foundation of how much we like, trust, or want to continue interacting with someone comes down to eye contact. Not only does it build confidence, but it is how we show engagement and empathy when listening.

Even if you are shy today, we start with the basics needed to improve this skill when building rapport.

Are you with me?

Rapport is all about connection building. In today's phone-centric digital world, we are easily distracted.  But if we want to learn how to develop rapport with others, we need to learn the foundations of showing presence in our conversations and interactions with others.

Are you Curious in nature?

Being wanted, understood, and valued is a basic human need. At a primal level, humans seek connection and belonging. But in conversation, we often struggle for anything more than a transactional exchange. We get anxious about having enough to say to fill the void.

But what if the answer was to change the goal of our conversations what would change it we approached every conversation with a genuine curiosity for others?

Guilty of this one for years!

Nothing will kill interaction and rapport building faster than this common conversation practice.

We all do it, we all have done it and we get better at rapport when we use it much less.

Three Simple Techniques

Here are three simple techniques to help us master conversational rapport better. Not only will they enable longer conversations and support curiosity and rapport building. They also reduce how much we need to talk about ourselves during any interaction.

What is their language?

This is a short introduction to Modalities. Everyone has one and it can be a key to building rapport faster once we unlock it. Many advanced topics build off of this later, but for know we want to introduce the basic.

Intentional Rapport Accelerators

Building rapport in an intentional way means learning to read and respond to body language signals.  This happens all the time, yet most are not aware it is happening. We can use this to help speed up the rapport building process.