5 Ways To Build Rapport Online

Posted At : September 8, 2010 4:39 PM | Posted By : Marita Greenidge
Related Categories: Influence,Rapport

By Corey Graham 2.0

The world today is largely based on your connections. Telecommunications and the internet have removed many of the geographic barriers to business. Additionally, it is critical to forge strong connections with your stakeholders. It doesn’t matter if it customers, clients, associates, suppliers or simply fans of what you are doing, strong connections can take your business very far. You might find yourself with a team of advocates ready to be commissioned and embraced by you at no charge!

In light of how easy it is to join communities worldwide we present a few tips on building rapport online:

Use an authentic, familiar voice - in communications to your online community choose the appropriate tone and lingo for the particular situation. Use some of the words that the people you are speaking to will use. You have to be careful not to overdo it if you are not completely comfortable speaking in that way. Be smart and adapt your own words in a way that sounds familiar and is authentic. Remember, its ok to ask some of them for help.

Be open and share information – You might need to be more open and more focused on sharing information with the persons are you trying to connect with. You might need to take photos while you are at a conference, for example, to show them people who you have met or cool things you have seen. Take some time to share in the experience with them. This stuff can really get you going to building rapport with persons online. In short share your experiences with them.

Be relevant – this is self explanatory – talk about the things that are affecting your particular audience or those things they find interesting. Keep what you say relevant to them, and also in the context of what they are coming to you looking for. E.g. If you are a talking about your business, you don’t have to share the family vacation.

Be consistent – one simple thing in building any relationship or rapport we all know is to keep in touch. Sometimes we overlook the importance of even the simplest of contact as we go through or day to day like. Just a quick “hey” and a quick update can really go a long way.

Be passionate – Passion is one thing that can bring the spark to this whole operation. If you can show you are actually living what you are talking about and passionate about it. It will create fireworks for you. It’s probably the main thing that will keep a community together for the long term. We all enjoy watching in the board room as someone passionately presents on a project that has been dear to their heart. Of course provided they don’t carry it on too too long. That’s a hint. Show your passion and love for your business and that will go a far way in building up rapport with others online. 

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4 ways to Influence the Influencers in your market

Posted At : September 3, 2010 10:34 PM | Posted By : Marita Greenidge
Related Categories: Influence,Entrepreneurship

By Kathy-Ann Fletcher

Who do your customers consult before they make a purchase decision? Do they ask friends or associates, or seek the opinion of industry analysts, consultants and researchers for advice or reviews and rankings? Whoever they turn to or whose advice they follow, these are the key influencers. They are the opinion leaders that you need to be in regular contact with and who you need to influence. This is one of the most cost-effective ways to increase your customer base.

1.       Know who they are – Each industry or sector has different people or entities that are the key opinion leaders of that market. Investigate who these are relative to your industry/ies and learn as much as you can as far as who they are what it takes to influence them and what influences them. This will help you influence people in your market that are influential in your circles. Additionally, it will determine the content that you send their way. For instance, you won’t share with the press in the same way that you would share with and analyst.

2.       Follow them – Become their friend on Facebook, follow them on Twitter, subscribe to their blog. This will help you gain a deeper understanding of them and the content that they distribute and those who they influence and the influence they have on their followers.

3.       Develop a relationship with them – Just sending an email with a pitch or calling up an influencer will get you nowhere fast. Take time to cultivate a relationship with them. You should posts comments on their blogs, retweet their tweets and like their statuses on Facebook. These actions will help you gain their attention, so that when you do contact them, there is already a level of familiarity with you and what you have to offer.

4.       Develop a strong pitch – don’t go the way of the generic pitch. Develop something that is personal to each influencer you are approaching so they see the direct benefits they get from introducing you to their followers. You may want to make this pitch a soft sell rather than a hard approach. Ask for the party’s opinion on your product/service so that you could offer the best possible solution to their followers. This is where you can give them a compelling story that they may feel is interested enough to share with their fans.

To our readers do you know any additional steps that can be used to influence the influencers? Chime in as this list is by no means exhaustive.

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