Next Level Rapport: 4 Mirroring Tips for Home Improvement Sales
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Home Remodeling Sales Strategies: The Power of Rapport
You have to be great at getting rapport with your customers if you want to make more money doing home improvement sales. Rapport and connection are huge because more rapport gives you more control. People you have great rapport with like your friends you can get them to give you money while people you have no rapport with won’t give you the time of day.
Why Rapport Matters in Home Remodeling Sales Strategies
Rapport is the difference between people fighting you vs enjoying you. It’s also a big reason why you see salespeople who are not consistent in their sales because if they get lucky and happen to get a bunch of leads that they can connect with they make sales.
On the other hand if they through the luck of the draw happen to get people they can’t connect with then their sales slump. Consistency is the key to greatness in anything including sales… Your ability to rapport with anyone will make you a lot more consistent in your sales and therefore your ability to make money. Rapport skills when doing home improvement sales are crucial because selling in the home is different than any other sales because of the diversity of people and personalities we see. From old and young, blue collar to white collar, and rich and poor the variety we see is as diverse as the human race. More than any other type of sales job.
Home Remodeling Sales Strategies: Mirroring Techniques for Better Connections
One thing that has helped me build rapport with the greatest number of people is to learn to mirror or find commonalities with your customers. Not just the things that everyone tells you like hobbies or weather but the way they talk like speech patterns, the way they communicate, and even their level of interest. In this video we will cover four mirroring techniques that have helped me so please listen to the end to hear all four ways. By the way, if you like these videos please show me by subscribing, and if you want more free home improvement sales training check out my blog listed in the description below.
1. Mirror Speech Patterns and Word Choices
The first way to connect is to mirror their speech patterns and the words that they use... For example, I talk really fast and there are some people who talk slower. People who tend to talk slower generally don't trust people who talk fast and sometimes people who talk fast think people who talk slower are not as smart as them. The first time I learned this I'd grown up on the West Coast and talked fast and then when I moved to the deep south I had a position selling there and at the beginning, I couldn’t sell anything. It was really hard because I'd be at the close and they'd still be in the rapport. They didn’t trust me and the rapport was stiff until I learned to slow myself way down and start telling people that it was gonna be a whole lot of fun and fine as frogs hair. So when you first walk into a home listen and adjust the speed of your conversation.
Sometimes you can tell instantly if they are slower and more deliberate then my speech becomes more slow and deliberate and if they talk fast and boisterous then I can be that way as well. So you not only have the speed of your speech but also the way people talk. Great salespeople know that in the first few minutes when the door opens whether they want to say how are you today ma'am or what up. The whole concept behind this is that everybody thinks they're normal but look how different everybody is so the more you're like them the more they like you because you're more normal just like they are. It’s not that you are being insincere.
We all have different personality sides quiet, loud fast, etc. and I just bring out the side that matches the customer. You can even learn to mimic the words they use such as when they're describing what they want for example if I'm selling a kitchen and they say they want their kitchen to look more cheerful and have a pop or they want it to be sick. Then when selling them in the kitchen I say things like well with this new color it’s going to make your kitchen pop and look a lot more cheerful or How sick do you think this would look if it was all in white? In learning to communicate the way they do by the way they talk and the words they use not only will the connection increase but so will your sales and income.
2. Find Common Interests
The second thing to mirror is to find things in common such as hobbies and likes and dislikes. Such as if they golf and you see golf clubs on the floor you should have something to talk about. If you see they listen to the same type of jazz you do … it could be as simple as if they have a type of wall coverings you have in your home or even the same model and brand of TV….you get the idea. Just make sure you being sincere and don’t make it too generic like…It’s hot outside, isn’t it? If it’s not sincere it will come across as small talk that doesn’t mean anything. If you look on the wall and see that they graduated from the same college as you or the same high school with that level of commonality you should be good as gold. Finding things you have in common is as simple as being aware of your surroundings and seeing what’s there.
3. Adapt to Customers’ Communication Styles
The third thing to mirror is the way that people communicate. Studies on neurolinguistic programming show that people communicate in different ways. People communicate on a visual level, audio level, and a feeling level or kinesthetic Visual people you can recognize because they tend to say things like well it looks good to me or I like what I'm seeing. Audio people tend to say the same thing but they say it sounds good to me I hear what you're saying and then people who are kinesthetic or feeling say things like feels right to me. You can recognize what type of person you're talking to not only by the words they use by their actions.
If they are a visual person like me you can tell because if you're telling me something a lot of times when I’m listening I'm looking almost up to the left because I'm visualizing what you're telling me. In the old days when we used to use presentation books, I knew I was talking to a visual because while I was talking they would be looking at the book more and sometimes even start turning the pages as I was talking because I knew they weren't hearing what I was saying but they were looking at what I was saying.
When you learn on what level people communicate I communicate to them on that level. Such as when getting commitments if they’re a visual person I'll say does this look like the type of company you feel comfortable doing business with? Or … does this look like the type of HVAC system you want to put in your house If they're audio I'll say does this sound like the type of window you want to put in your house or does this sound like the type of kitchen that you'd want to put in your house and then obviously if they're kinesthetic I'll say does this feel like the type of company that you'd like to do business with. This information is also helpful because if you know they tend to be more visual you need to show plenty of pictures like before and after and with kinesthetics you need to have samples that they can touch and feel. When you start to connect on this level your sales skills go to the next level.
4. Match Their Level of Interest
The fourth thing that I like to mirror is the level of interest they initially show me... Sometimes when you first meet somebody they don't show you a high level of interest well I don't know I just got the phone call ….i saw the thing in the mail I mailed it in but don’t know if I really need to do anything yet. Or… I was just clicking and I thought maybe sometime in the future I would replace my roof. I think it helps to mirror that level of interest in other words they are lower key so you do the same as well by saying things like “good because the estimate I'm giving you is good for 90 days. I'm glad that you're not in a hurry that way you won't be pressuring me like everyone else to get the job done tomorrow. We can have some fun I can just show you what we do and hopefully if you ever decide to do anything then you hire us based on the information I have leave you. Ok?” Match or mirror their level of interest don't be like the typical salesperson who when they get that response from the customer they say well what do you mean you're not serious? Well if we could make it affordable then would you have to wait? Then you seem desperate and the customer who is already wary of salespeople starts to feel pressure and you are losing before you even get started.
Mastering Home Remodeling Sales Strategies for Greater Success
The reality in most cases this low level of interest being shown initially is just the customer closing you so you don’t pressure them. It’s like you saying I’m just looking to the salesperson when you really do want to buy a car that day. Their sales resistance is high. So matching their perceived level of interest will help lower that guard. Trying to go higher than their interest with your desire to sell them will raise their sales guard even higher. That’s why matching the level of interest or desire they show me at the beginning helps me get a connection with the person faster ..and the rapport then gives me the control to create and amplify the level of need and desire I need to do my job. Oh by the way that’s called selling 😊 Sorry can’t help myself. If you like this video please watch the video below on Features and Benefits or the playlist I have on closing. Happy Selling!
