Three Ways to Build Rapport in Business Relationships
As virtual assistants we know that building trusting relationships with clients is key to ensuring everyone’s success. We strive to build trust through competency in our professional work. We do this through displaying characteristics that exude reliability, honesty and a collaborative spirit in both our professional and personal relations.
Building relationships with your clients can help them feel seen and heard. It also helps you know how you can best support your clients and the assistance they need. Building trust into your client relationships also helps at times when one of you needs to provide constructive feedback and move through difficult situations.
Applying skills we have honed through the years and sharpening new or ‘less practiced’ skills is part of our everyday work which leads to our success and that of our clients. Here are just a few simple exercises to aid in building trusting, successful relationships.
Communicate Your Values
Know what is important to you. Having an understanding of yourself, what you value, and how you learn is foundational when building any sort of relationship. It is also important to find a way to communicate this to those you work with. Ask yourself some questions. What are you willing to compromise on? What is non-negotiable? Which three things take priority above all else? (If you’re not sure, take time to find and use a good values clarifying tool or quiz.)
Share those things with your partner or team members. Make sure to be genuine and honest. Next, learn about them and their values. Take what you have learned and apply it to each of your professional relationships.
Learn Your Team’s Personalities & Priorities
A good team is an understanding one, and what better way to gain understanding than knowing another person’s personality? Some great tools that many businesses use are personality tests such as the Enneagram, Myers Briggs, and other useful quizzes. These can be great team-building activities and also lend insight into what may be important to various team members. Everyone is different and approaches their work differently, understanding this and being open to various perspectives and personalities will help you figure out what the team needs to effectively work together. You can also put together some open-ended questions to learn more about your team and what is important to them.
Compromise & Collaborate
Misunderstandings, miscommunications, and conflicts can arise in even the best relationships. But how you approach conflict will set a tone for how you work through it, and how you can avoid them in the future. Take some of these points into consideration:
Acknowledge that there are always multiple options. Think creatively and imaginatively when negotiating – think outside the box!
Be willing to agree to disagree. Take turns implementing ideas. Integrate multiple ideas or identify the common goal and focus on its effective and expedient completion. We may think our idea or opinion is best, but what works best for the team?
Try Active Listening. This is a way of preparing to listen and making sure you take into account what the other person is saying. Sometimes in conversations we are preparing what we will say next so we don’t actually hear the other person. Ask open-ended questions, make eye contact, don’t get distracted, and try not to interrupt. There are plenty of tools online to help you practice, and this technique can help you empathize with and understand those you work with.
Remember you are part of a team. Ultimately building rapport will help grow your business and create a cohesive work environment. It takes all kinds of people to make an effective and winning team! Many leaders are so bogged down with administrative tasks, scheduling, and marketing efforts, that team building sounds like a luxury that has to be on the back burner.. Part of leadership and collaborative success is delegation, and we can help you make a plan. Reach out if you want assistance developing a strong strategy!