By Matthew B. James
Jan, 27, 2011
One time I was on a business trip, and due to a series of events I had to get a hotel room with no reservation. I called several brand name hotels only to be told they were booked. But I went to one of the hotels I had called and used some specific techniques to build rapport with the woman at the front desk.
As we talked, I matched and mirrored her tone of voice and the speed in which she spoke. Almost immediately I established rapport. She told me, “I’m going to do whatever it takes to get you a room.” Even though I had been told earlier the hotel was overbooked, I ended up getting a room.
Most communication occurs outside our conscious awareness. Tone of voice accounts for 38 percent of communication and, in face-to-face contacts, physiology accounts for an amazing 55 percent. Only 7 percent of communication is made up of the words we use.
One of the best ways to build good communication beyond our words is called Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP). NLP is a behavioral technology – a set of guiding principles, attitudes and techniques – that allows sales professionals to build rapport and trust, the basis for all business relationships.
The benefit of NLP training in business and sales has been well documented in various peer reviewed journals and studies. For instance, a 2006 study (The Sociolinguistic Basis of Managing Rapport When Overcoming Buying Objections, 2006, by Kim Sydow Campbell and Lenita Davis) validated that NLP-based rapport increases trust specifically in sales.
As a certified master trainer of NLP trained by Richard Bandler in the 1980s, I have come to appreciate NLP as one of the most thorough and concise approaches for working with the unconscious mind – and consciously choosing behaviors that bring success.