A Structured Plan for Client Conversations

Hello and welcome to the podcast. Today's episode is going to be, well, not going to be actually, it's one of those late night episodes. So I can't talk really loud because I don't wake up the whole house. I don't want wifey and the kids to wake up and be like, what's this old man doing again? Anyway? So today what we're going to be talking about on the podcast is we're going to explore more ideas about building rapport in business.

Now, for those of you who've been listening for a while, you know, the reason why we're still on this rapport business is because I've happened to catch some chatter on LinkedIn where people are asking questions around these sorts of things. And unfortunately, there are some people who have some very half baked ideas about these things and they're throwing their ideas about on LinkedIn. And and I just don't want those of you who listen to this podcast to be LED astray in case you've been coming across, you know, these kinds of conversations.

Now, there is one thing that I've some of these people have said on LinkedIn that is absolutely correct. And that is that building rapport is not just about asking random questions. Now, the reason why I want to emphasize that, Avi, does it emphasize any? The reason why I'm going to agree with that over here and expand on it just a little bit is because if you follow any sales offer, let me just put it that way, if you follow any sales author on the Internet,

whether Nigerian or foreign, there's some stuff that we've said about rapport, which is that building rapport involves asking questions. And that is correct. But unfortunately, lots of people don't give very helpful guidelines about the kind of questions that you are supposed to ask. Oh, by the way, if this is your first time listening to the podcast and you don't know what rapport is, then this is kind of like a Part 3 or maybe a part 4.

So after you're done listening to this episode, skip back, listen to two or three more episodes and you get caught up to speed. But basically rapport is the state in the business relationship or in the sales conversation where we're trying to achieve a certain level of ease, a certain level of comfort, a certain level of familiarity between you and your potential customers so that everybody's cool and you guys can have a serious business conversation.

So those are the things that we're trying to set up when we talk about rapport. So in previous podcast episodes, I've spoken about the 5 W framework, which is who, why, what, where, when? And some people say how, even though how doesn't start with an, doesn't start with AW, obviously. Well, that's the five W framework. Who, why, what, where, when? And I've mentioned that when we're trying to build rapport with potential customers,

potential clients, potential investors, whoever it is you're having a conversation with, so long as you're having open-ended conversations with people that start with, you know, who I what, where and when you should be making good progress. But looking back now, I don't think I gave a certain idea as to the kind of structure that these questions should be built around. So that's the reason I'm making today's episode. So First off, if you listen to the former episodes about building rapport and you liked everything that you've heard,

cool. If you've tried applying some of those things, you know even better. But I forgot to mention then, so let me make mention it now. The questions that you're going to be asking your potential customer, the potential client should be built around their own needs, the needs of the person that you have in the conversation with. So don't just ask questions, who, why, what, where, when, how in a very general sense, but the question should be oriented towards the person.

So there's an old framework, a much older framework from Zig Ziglar that I've spoken about on the podcast before, and that is Pogo. Pogo, that's an acronym. And each of the letters in this acronym stands for something. Now, forgive me, I don't think I can remember the last OI think the first is a person, the next is organization, the next is goals and objectives or something like that. But either way, when you're having a conversation with someone and you're trying to build rapport with the person,

you should be asking them questions, you know, personal questions about them because you're trying to figure out who they are. Then organization, you should be asking them questions, you know, carrier questions around their business, you know, things like that. Then goals, you should be asking them questions around their goals, what they're trying to achieve, and then say objectives or outcomes. And I can't remember, but you get the sense.

So Zig Ziglar, the legendary Zig Ziglar, what he says is when you're talking to people in a business context and you're trying to build rapport, you should be asking questions about them. Personal questions, organizational questions, career questions, business questions, questions about their goals, questions about their outcomes. Shah, you're trying to ask questions about the people them. Now that is what gets you to build a certain level of rapport with them.

Now, if you're not for all these fancy acronyms like Pogo, a simpler approach basically is when you're having a conversation with person a person and you're trying to close the deal. You're trying to close this here with the person. You should be trying to figure out some very simple following elements. Number one, you should try to figure out who this person is. Then you should also try and figure out the person's background.

Then you should also try and figure out the particular problems that the person has at the moment or try and figure out the particular vision that the person is seeking to achieve in their business life or in their personal life. When you have conversations with people using this kind of framework, I'll be using this kind of backdrop, it is then that you have the information that you need to be able to build relationships effectively and make a convincing proposal or a convincing sales pitch later on down the line.

So these kinds of approaches, the reason why they're important is because they help the other person to feel seen and they help the other person to feel validated. So that is the reason why when we're trying to build rapport with people is not just about asking conversation. Those are just about asking random questions. Anyhow. The questions that we ask should have a certain goal towards them, should have a certain feel towards them, and that's the reason why I'm making today's podcast episode.

So if you're trying to do anything else, if you're asking questions randomly, if you're not focused on this person, what their needs are, what their goals are, what the outcomes they're trying to achieve, then at the end of the day, it's going to look like a random conversation. And it's going to be a nice conversation. But it's a conversation that won't have any particular goal. And it's a conversation that won't have any particular structure to it.

And it's a conversation that ultimately is not going to help you move the person towards buying your product or your service. This has been your first time listening to the podcast. My name is Tavishima Ayede, I'm a former lawyer turned business consultant. And if you like these sorts of things, subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Apple iTunes, or you know, wherever it is that you listen to your podcasts, then if you'd love to connect with me,

you can call, send me a text message or a WhatsApp message on 08064662140. I'd love to hear particularly from people who have potential clients, potential customers. You're trying to build rapport with your potential customers and you don't seem to be making any progress whatsoever. Then reach out to me. Let's see if we can help you put more structure and get more effective with the kinds of conversations that you're having with your prospects and with your potential customers.

Also, I'd love to hear from people who are trying to build businesses. You have 345 ideas and you haven't particularly made progress with any single one. So reach out to me so we can help you start your business journey or to build your business in the three easy steps. So we're going to teach you how to select the right idea first of all, instead of juggling 3 or 4 balls at the same time. Then we're also going to help you validate the business idea so that we select the idea that has promise to it, the idea that people are willing to pay for and the idea that people are willing to pay good money for.

And then after that, we're also going to help you build a selling system around that particular idea. So that's it. And that's all for today. Thank you very much guys for listening. I will catch you all some other time.