Three Steps to Connect With Any Prospect

The old-school sales trainers have told us that we need to build a strong rapport with our prospects. However, that rapport actually does not go deep enough. What we really need to do is build a connection with our prospects. And there are three key steps to connecting with any prospect.

Three Steps for Connecting with Any Prospect

#1. Focus 100 percent on them and their world. Prospects care about one person and one person only. And that’s themselves. They don’t care about us. They don’t care about our products. They don’t care about our services. What they care about are their issues, their challenges, their goals and their objectives. So focus your sales approach on catering to whatever challenges or needs they have. This will connect you deeply with your prospect in a way that simple rapport never could.

#2. Match with them vocally, visually and in vibe. Prospects like no one more than those whom they perceive as similar to themselves. So think about how you can match them to build a deeper connection.

This means you can match prospects visually by dressing somewhat similar to them. You can do this with body language, too. If they lean forward, you lean forward. If they lean back, you lean back. If they cross their legs, you cross your legs. You can match vocally by matching the tone of their voice—and also the pace, cadence and tempo of their speech.

Finally, you can match in vibe by getting a feel for the type of person whom he or she is and assume an approach similar to that which he or she presents to the world.

#3. Cater the conversation to create value for them. Prospects will feel a much stronger connection with you when they feel like you have their best interest at heart. So focus the conversation on how you can create value in their world.

What are the most important issues that they’re looking to address, and how can you help solve those challenges? By doing that, you’re going to create a much, much deeper connection with your prospects.

Connecting with prospects is a prerequisite for gaining trust and making the sale. If you apply these strategies, the prospect will never detect that you’re applying proven techniques.

Which of these three steps do you think you could implement today? Please share below in the comments.

Get 25 tips to crush your sales goal. Written by Marc Wayshak, sales strategist & author of the book, "Game Plan Selling."

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About the Author Marc Wayshak

Marc is is the best-selling author of three books on sales and leadership, including the highly acclaimed titles Game Plan Selling, The High-Velocity Sales Organization and his forthcoming book, Sales Conversations, Mastered.

Marc is a contributor to Inc, HubSpot, Fast Company, Entrepreneur Magazine, and Huffington Post Business. He also hosts a popular YouTube channel on sales strategy with over 103,000 subscribers.

Marc helps thousands of people his data-driven, science-based approach to selling that utilizes all the best tools available to sales organizations today.

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