Want the perfect consultation? Start with these actionable steps to build rapport

Who wants to close more sales?  A whole lot more sales!  Of course you all do.  And now you can! Because that’s where we come in.  Throughout our years of starting, running and growing medical spas, we have perfected the art of closing sales.  And not only that, our techniques also create life-long clients who not only buy at the consultation, but who remain our loyal clients buying again and again.  But it all has to start a certain way.   And that’s using the consultative sales methodology and conducting a consultation in a specific way.  In today’s episode, we’re revealing a portion of the perfect consultation, an important portion.  What is it?  It’s building rapport in sales. It may sound common sense, but there’s certain steps you have to take.  So if you want to close more sales today and keep selling for years to come, we’re going to tell you how to start, so stay tuned!

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You’re listening to The Body Contouring Academy’s Proven Profits Podcast 

where you’ll learn simple actionable strategies from real world successful body contouring professionals to help you generate more revenue, realize the profits you want and create the life you desire. 

Hi I’m Shannon and I’m Kay and we’re your hosts of The Proven Profits Podcast

Hi there, body contouring professionals.  Kay here.  Thank you for being here too!

Sales are the lifeblood of any business.  It just so happens that in our line of work, most of our sales arise from our consultations. It’s important for us to convert as many consultations to sales as possible.  But with body contouring, closing sales is not so simple.  Because it’s building relationships with clients that leads to sales conversions in our business. With a body contouring business, or any type of aesthetics business for that matter, we have to resist the urge to use a product selling approach and instead, use the consultative sales approach.  You all know product selling, but maybe not by its name.  

It’s where your focus on selling is based upon your product’s features, your product being something like your fat reduction treatment for example, and  then asking the prospect to buy it.  

Though that is our goal, we need to take a different approach.  We need to use consultative selling, sometimes called solutions sellin; it’s different.  It’s about getting to know your client and learning about her problems and then determining the best solution for her to buy.   

So, let’s explain the consultative or solutions based sales methodology in more detail. 

It’s a methodology that prioritizes developing an authentic relationship with a client over simply closing a sale.  

To create an authentic relationship, your focus is on what your client feels, sees and hears

And it prioritizes dialogue (conversation) so you can uncover problems and provide the right solutions.

It enables you to develop a deep understanding of your client and her pain points and so that you can present solutions that are customized to her needs.  We discussed this a bit already in our last podcast, The best way to evaluate results at body contouring follow ups, when we were discussing the number of treatments in your cavitation series.  It shouldn’t be the same for everyone, right?  

And when you do all of this, it ensures that your clients will never feel ‘sold to’ 

Remember the saying, people like to buy but they don’t like being sold to.  It’s true.  

That’s Consultative selling or Solutions selling in a nutshell, but since today’s focus is on building rapport, let’s take a second to explain exactly what rapport is.

Rapport is a connection or a relationship with another person.

Rapport develops out of meaningful conversations.  You cannot create rapport without these meaningful conversations.

In the context of sales, when you have rapport with a client, it means that you have gained your client’s trust by showing an interest, a genuine concern for her needs and a willingness to help by communicating your concern. 

 Building rapport in sales is about focusing on your client.

It’s about relating to your client in a way that creates trust and understanding.

Okay, now that you know what it is….how do you do it?  Well rapport building is a soft skill.  You can think of it as an intangible skill which you can develop by taking tangible steps.  We’re going to tell you the specific techniques to practice.

And it is something you need to learn because knowing how to build rapport in sales is an invaluable skill set that makes such a difference, not only in closing the sale at consultation, but in establishing a long-term relationship that will naturally lead to a lifetime of continued sales.  

Now, understand that rapport building is the start of the process.  A critical part.  The information in this episode is vital.  But we’re sure you know there is sooooo much more to the art of selling and closing sales at your consultations.  So many of you have asked us for business courses.  And the good news is we are releasing them now!  And we have a course that’ll walk you through every detail of conducting the perfect consultation, take a look at our course.  We’ll leave a link to the course details in our show notes. 

So let’s get going and tell you how to build rapport and create clients who not only buy at the consultation but also buy for many years down the road.  

Let’s dive in to the

Steps to build rapport, develop relationships and convert more consultations to sales

This may surprise you. Rapport building doesn’t start when you meet your client face to face.    

Building rapport with your clients starts when your client is just a prospect.

Before your client ever walks through your doors.

So let’s look at how rapport is being molded even 

before the consultation appointment

We’ve talked about this before when discussing client’s expectations. Not only do they have some pre-set expectations, 

Your clients come to see you with pre-set opinions of who you are and what you can do for them.  Your relationship with your client is being developed…even before you meet face to face.

Listen carefully because your steps to building rapport start here.  

Here’s what forms your prospect’s opinions before you meet:

First of all Website, social media and ads

Take a look at your website, social media posts and ads.  They should all be building trust and setting you up as an expert.  An expert who can serve as a trusted consultant or advisor and solve your client’s problems.

It’s about showing them who you are, what you offer, how you’re different from others and why you care…all in a way that forms a meaningful connection.

And it’s all online.  Not face to face.  So here’s actions you need to take to build rapport online: 

Showcase your brand and let your personality and brand show.

Use emotion in your website and social media; remember people do business with people, not companies.

Exhibit your real customers - make their testimonials and reviews visible. 

Display a variety of before/after photos. 

It’s hard to be an expert without providing helpful information, so you need to Consistently post relevant blogs.  Once a month is fine, you just need to be consistent.

Keep your website content and social media posts up to date; out of date posts and stale content is seen as untrustworthy and unprofessional...certainly not as a trusted advisor.

Make sure your contact information is easy to find and available on every page.

* Don’t forget your ads! Your ads should be consistent with the brand messaging and high standards of your website content and social media posts.

Next, evaluate your Phone, text and email communications

As with your website and social media posts, keep these messages in line with your brand. 

Use a friendly, conversational, yet professional tone; avoid overly technical language. 

Use your client’s name in the communication and sign off politely.

Provide value: include more helpful information about their concern. And  keep your emails short - under 200 words; we all have short attention spans these days

Also, stay in touch with a follow up communication if their consultation appointment is more than two to three days away; this keeps them interested in coming to see you.

Provide links for them to review relevant information on your website. 

Do you see how all of these actions define you as a trusted advisor?

After your prospect has made an appointment for a consultation, you need to Do your research

So sometime Before the consultation appointment (while your clients are researching you, your business and what your solutions can provide), you should be researching and getting to know all you can about your clients.  

With all the social media sites, professional/social sites like LinkedIn and others, it’s pretty easy to find information about your clients.

The research you undertake will provide insight into the client’s life, her interests, her personality and maybe even her pain points.

The better you know and understand your client ahead of time, the sooner (and better) you’ll be able to build rapport with her when she’s in your consultation room.

Do you see this is all about caring about your client?  You are interested in who she is and what makes her tick…so you can help her better.

That’s it for before the consultation appt. 

Before we move on to the consultation itself, Shannon has a message for us.

Ready to start your own body contouring business or add in demand body contouring services to your current business?

We’ve created online courses to make it easy without a huge investment, time consuming research or taking dangerous risks. 

Our online certification courses lay out complete roadmaps for implementing the most popular and affordable body contouring devices on the market. 

Each course is complete with an explanation of technologies, method of action, step by step treatment protocols, downloadable forms and more. 

After completing each course you’ll have the knowledge to deliver desired results and generate maximum revenue. 

Become a body contouring expert! Visit bodycontouringacademy.com click on Certification Courses from the menu and discover the courses that can transform your business today!

Okay, it’s now time for the actual consultation.

Let’s talk about the steps you need to take to build rapport during the consultation appointment 

First and foremost, Be yourself

The first step in mastering rapport-building is to know yourself, to get in touch with your own personality and communication style.  

Don’t try to be who you are not; your clients are like everyone else…they’re able to sense ‘an act’ from a mile away.  

Next, you need to be friendly, warm and confident

Be friendly, while being yourself.

Walk up to your client; make eye contact and smile.

Give a firm handshake.

Be conversational.  

Remember your client’s name and use it.

You’ve heard what everyone’s favorite word is, haven’t you?  It’s their name!  So use it.  It’ll make her feel good.

PRO TIP:  Be natural.  You must avoid forcing friendliness and being fake; your clients are like everyone else…they can sense it.  

Throughout all of your conversation, you need to

Lead the conversation with open-ended questions

Remember, your goal is to uncover your client’s needs and recommend the best solution (in a short period of time), so you must control the conversation.

When you are asking questions, you are controlling the conversation.

But not just any questions.  You need to use open-ended questions to uncover needs.

You know when it’s an open-ended question because open-ended questions encourage a full answer, rather than a yes or a no.

Example of an open-ended question:  “Before coming in today, what all have you tried to lose your belly fat?” versus “Have you tried any other treatments?”

So when you’re asking those open-ended questions, you need to 

Practice active listening

Your clients want to feel like they’re being heard.  The more you can show you’re listening to them, the more they’ll feel heard and keep talking.  

Active listening is not merely hearing. It means you are understanding what you are hearing.

Active listening is listening in a way that you can genuinely understand your client’s needs, goals, pain points and feelings.

And that you convey you understand.  Active listening makes clients feel understood.

And when your client feels understood, she is more likely to trust you and listen to you.

One way to convey that you are actively listening is to 

Ask follow-up questions

When you ask follow-up questions, you are not only learning more about your client but you are demonstrating that you care about your client. 

This shows you are listening closely and you want to know more.

Because you do want to know more.  That’s how you’ll know exactly how you can help your client.

And you need to find a way to Give genuine compliments

We are definitely not talking about being insincere.

Find something about your client that you genuinely like, i.e. her shoes, her haircut, her handbag, etc.  It’s always easy to find something you truly like.

Pay her a compliment about it, but don’t overdo it.  Your client may see that as insincere. 

You also need to Find commonalities

Like attracts like.  That’s why finding common ground helps to connect you with your client.

People are drawn to those who are like them, such as sharing similar experiences, problems, interests and/or values.

Finding commonalities is a form of empathy that demonstrates that you understand them. 

Example, “Oh you have a dog.  What kind?  I have two dogs.”   “I totally get that. I went through the same thing at menopause.”

And you need to Mirror or (Adapt to match)

Mirroring and matching work on a subconscious level.  Though you must be yourself, mirroring and adapting means you work to match your client and her personality. 

That’s because when people are similar, it’s easier to develop a relationship. 

Observe your client’s body language, voice tone, communication style, etc.

If she’s boisterous and joyful, you can be lighthearted too 

Or maybe your client is sitting cross-armed, and being serious, very quiet and ‘businesslike,’  you’ll want to speak more softly, cut out any unnecessary ‘small talk’ and ‘get down to business.

Be yourself but tailor it to their style, mood and manner

Now throughout the consultative process, you must be 

Setting realistic expectations at every opportunity

That’s because every client comes to see you with pre-set expectations; some realistic and others not so realistic.

You must not only do your best to uncover your client’s expectations and to set realistic expectations throughout the entire consultation and in every interaction you have with the client.   

And if she doesn’t indicate what she is expecting (and believe us, she does have expectations), Ask open-ended questions or follow-up questions such as, “What do good results look like to you?” or “What specifically do you mean by getting rid of your belly?”

And clearly explain what your client can expect to see from the treatments. 

Conclusion

Building rapport with your clients is essential for converting more consultations to sales. By following the steps we laid out in this episode, you can learn how to build rapport before and during the consultation appointment. 

Why is this important?  When you build rapport with your clients, you create a sense of trust and understanding that makes them more likely to buy from you.

And once you master the art of rapport-building, you are primed and ready to continue with the other critical steps to close the sale at the consultation and create a lifetime client.  If you want to learn more about conducting the perfect consultation, check out our course details.  The link is in our show notes!

And that’s it for today.  BW

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Visit body contouring academy dot com for tools, education, industry news, and cutting edge articles.Thanks so much for listening. Have a great rest of your week