Using Needs Assessments + Building Rapport

Now that you have a head start on what challenges your products/services may solve for your customer, you have the inside scoop on why they may be visiting you in the first place. Once they are in the door, it’s time to tap into skills as a Customer Service King/Queen and encourage your customer to share their needs with you. How do you do that?

Through understanding what it means to use a needs assessment and build rapport. Check out the following articles to help you understand how these elements will take your product presentation to the next level.

In the article above, Randy Matusky explains, "A needs assessment identifies gaps that currently exist between a current and future state. The goal of the assessment helps the user to specify what gaps exist, the cost of filling them, and which ones require immediate attention. Prioritizing gaps is usually done through a framework that focuses on a number of different factors, including the mission, vision and goals of the organization."

Now that you have a better understanding of a needs assessment, let's see how to take this concept one step further in order to build rapport.

These articles offer several strategies to assist you in building rapport with your customers and clients.  The Hubspot article explains that the questions you choose to ask your customers should be personalized, unique, and appropriate.

Now let's read the article below about how to build your empathy muscle to increase rapport.

Reflections

The articles above this section discuss creative and tangible tips for building rapport with your customers and clients. Choose a tip (or 2!) from each article  and create your own standard practice for building rapport. Remember to keep your practice open so the conversation can be fluid.

For instance, From the Sandler article I chose, "Be honest and transparent", and from the Hubspot article I chose " Why did you decide to work in [customer's field]?"

This way I can share how my product works for a particular industry or field and ensure it matches with the conversation flow of what made them work in that field. I can be transparent and share instances where the product or service I'm offering worked in that field, as well as instances it did not. This can happen organically while having a friendly conversation and engaging my client.