15 Ways to Build Rapport With Customers

Building rapport with customers is about creating a common bond of trust over the phone.

How to Build Rapport With Customers

If you’re looking for tactics to build strong two-way conversations, here are some tips on rapport building with customers, along with snippets of advice from our readers.

1. Use the Customer’s Name

Debbie, one of our readers, suggests asking for the customer’s name first, rather than a reference number or address to help establish rapport:

“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.”

It is equally important to get the customer’s name right, as Carolyn Blunt, from Davies Learning Solutions, says: “many people accidentally call me Caroline and when they do that they completely lose rapport with me. This is because they haven’t paid enough attention or 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. Pace and Lead

This technique is extremely useful when someone is in an over-excited state. Start by showing urgency, confidence and concern in your speech patterns and manner to match and reassure them.

As long as the customer feels things are happening and that you’re in rapport, they will follow you down and become calmer in response.

Then gradually begin to calm and slow up your speech patterns. As long as the customer feels things are happening and that you’re in rapport, they will follow you down and become calmer in response.

Contributed by: Michael

3. Take a Personal Interest

Rapport can be built by showing a personal interest in the customer.

For example, if a customer says they have been in hospital, ask them how the recovery is going.

If you were speaking to somebody face-to-face and they said that they had just come out of hospital, it would be courteous to check how they are. The same applies over the phone.

Contributed by: Lisa

4. Use Intonation Well

Train agents on how to use intonation well.

For example, lifting their voice at the end of the sentence for questions, and lowering at the end for an instruction.

You can see an example of the contrast between the warmer ‘language of love’ and sharp ‘nasal tone’ in the short video clip from Clinton Jordan below:

5. Allow Angry Customers 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.

It’s 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 recognized and understood.

Jennifer, a frequent visitor to the Call Centre Helper website, recommends this, saying: “When the customer is angry, allow them to vent without interruption.”

If they interrupt, the advisor will only be making the situation worse. It’s 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 recognized 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: Rapport Building With Angry Customers – With Examples

6. Repeat Back What the Customer Has Said

In many contact centres, a good example of rapport building is when 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 the customer that the advisor is paying attention.

It is also important to mirror the customer’s tone, as Carolyn Blunt continues: “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.”

Just a word of caution, don’t do this when the customer is aggressive, or if their accent is not the same (as trying to copy colloquial language could appear mocking or offensive).

That being said, 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 go for it! That enthusiasm should be mirrored.

7. Make Their Problem Your Problem

When looking at how to build rapport with customers, it’s key that advisors take “ownership of the enquiry, especially if it is a complaint” – according to Veronica, one of our readers.

She continues: “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 to 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 realize 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 it also finishes with “we” to create a notion of teamwork, which can boost rapport.

This approach also turns a negative into a 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.

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.

When a customer seems worried, negative, or agitated, their dominant driver will be to move away from pain, and, if the advisor recognizes this, it is best to use empathy statements.

By contrast, if a customer is more upbeat – having called for a feeling of contentment, relief, or peace of mind – it is best the advisor stays 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.

It’s also important for agents to be aware of their tone of voice. To discover some great information on this, read our article: How to Utilize Tone of Voice in the Contact Centre

9. Use Positive Scripting

Customer rapport can be tricky to achieve.

While many are against the use of scripts in contact centres, as they are often seen as a barrier to natural conversation, letting advisors know what they should not be saying and providing them with a list of positive alternatives can be beneficial.

This aids the rapport-building process, turning negative language (which can cause the customer to worry) into positivity that can instead trigger optimism.

Like these examples below:

If advisors can speak naturally, but refer to the list when they feel the urge to use a “negative” phrase, this can help to evoke positive emotions and rapport can be built more easily.

For more of these examples, read our article: Best Tips, Phrases and Words to Use for Building Rapport or How to Create a Positive Scripting Experience in Your Contact Centre

10. Be Flexible With Formality

When it comes to our in-house advice on how to establish rapport, we address our customers in the way that they introduce themselves.

The screen may show them as Christopher Jones, but if the customer calls himself Chris, we will address him in the same way.

Some customers prefer to keep things more formal and may introduce themselves as Mr Jones. It depends on the business.

Contributed by: Stephen

11. Start Off With Something Positive

If the customer has spent some time explaining a frustrating problem, then beginning a response with a short, direct statement of intent can gain the customer’s confidence.

Something like “OK, we can fix this…” or “Right, let’s get this problem sorted for you…” will reassure the customer that the advisor is taking ownership of the problem.

Contributed by: Matt

12. Keep Focused

Advisors should stay 100% focused on the customer and not let colleagues or other things in the office (or home) distract them.

If the customer doesn’t have the agent’s full attention, they will always pick up on it.

Contributed by: Laura

If you are looking for some great advice on starting and ending customer conversations, read our article: The Best Ways to Start and End a Customer Conversation

13. Let Advisors See Their Feedback

Try to get any post-call survey results, especially spoken or written comments, back to the advisor that took the call.

This is a great learning experience on building rapport, as it bridges the gap between what the advisor did on the call and what the customer felt about it. All the better if you can do this in real time.

Contributed by: Alan

Providing effective feedback can be so important and leaders needs to do this effectively. To find out more, read our article: How to Provide Closed-Loop Feedback With Employees and Customers

14. Use the Feel, Felt, Found Approach

Teach new advisors to use phrases that include the words feel, felt and found. An example of this can be found in the graphic below.

This helps to show empathy and reassure the customer.

Contributed by: Erik

15. Try Standing Up During the Call

If an advisor can stand up straight and maybe even walk around during a call, it could make all the difference to the conversation.

There have been many studies to suggest that good posture can boost rapport and productivity.

Contributed by: Nick

Video Insights – Definition of Rapport

For more on the meaning of building rapport, you can also watch this video, where Christine Knott explains what rapport is and why it is important:

This came from our webinar on How to Improve Rapport With the Customer.

For more advice on this topic, you can also read some of the following articles next:

• How do I – Build Rapport With Callers?
• Top Tips for Building Rapport on the Telephone
• Rapport-Building Tips
• How to Build Rapport on the Phone

Author: Megan Jones
Reviewed by: Robyn Coppell