Ask Victoria: Can Rapport-Building Be Taught?

September 23, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

It is imperative that direct selling business owners and independent consultants build rapport with customers, representatives, and potential recruits.

What exactly is rapport?

rap•port (noun)

Definition: friendly relationship: an emotional bond or friendly relationship between people based on mutual liking, trust, and a sense that they understand and share each other’s concerns.

Successful business owners build rapport with their sales force every day. They realize that rapport is a vital element in their recipe for business success.

Can direct selling companies teach the importance of rapport to their independent representatives?

I believe the answer is YES.

I suggest the following steps are taken:

1. Explain the importance of rapport, that people buy from people they like and that rapport-building is the process of discovering common interests.

2. Teach by example.

3. Emulate the tone of voice, the cadence of speech, the volume, and the pace of the conversation with others.

4. Seek and find a comfort zone of topics for both you and the potential customer or sponsored representative. Examples are career, hobbies, pets, photography, kids, vacation spots, etc.

5. Have established representatives share examples of role-playing to encourage new representatives to practice role-playing with others

Jay Leisner, the President of Sylvina Consulting, is a top compensation plan and direct selling expert, a trusted adviser to new and established network marketing and party plan companies. For more than 30 years, Jay has enjoyed assessing and improving network marketing, party plan and referral marketing companies across the globe.

Jay Leisner and Victoria Dohr authored the top-rated book for new and young network marketing, referral marketing, and party plan companies, "Start Here: The Guide to Building and Growing Your Direct Selling Company".

Available in English and Spanish. This startup guide contains 250 pages of wisdom that will guide you through the right steps to start and continue on your journey to build a successful direct selling company.

You will save thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours of your time using the information you will read in our book.

In 1986, Jay began his career in direct selling by working for a major direct selling software provider. First as a software developer and later as a project leader and a business analyst, Jay worked closely with new and established network marketing and party direct selling companies to provide them with software solutions to meet their unique requirements.

Jay contributed in many ways to the success of large implementation projects for many companies. Jay also worked with dozens of smaller companies to assist each of them in various capacities to provide them with the systems they needed to help their businesses to grow faster.

Along the way while working with them, he learned the secrets of successful direct selling companies and the challenges faced by them. In true entrepreneurial spirit, Jay’s decision in 1999 to start Sylvina Consulting as a direct selling consulting company was driven by what he saw was a need for answers, advice, and solutions.

In 2004, 2006, 2009, 2014, and 2018, Jay gave presentations on compensation plans, recognition, and field leadership development at conferences held by the US Direct Selling Association.

He traveled to South Africa in 2015, 2016, and 2017 to conduct workshops on compensation plan design and recognition programs for member companies of the South African Direct Selling Association.

In 2017, Jay spoke at the Canadian Direct Sellers Association Meeting on the importance of recognition.

More than just a compensation plan expert, Jay is exceptionally skilled at advising new and established companies on business strategies. Before offering advice or solutions, he asks important questions to understand each client’s specific concerns and goals.

Subscribe for FREE to receive our monthly email newsletters.