I often do sales and marketing training and find that the number one challenge for sales teams is engaging a perfect stranger in conversation. I train people to look for non-verbal clues in their potential guest or customer that would give them insight into their potential client’s interests or passions. I have found that people are passionate about the following four topics:
- Their families and, specifically, their children
- Their pets
- Their sport teams
- Their hobbies
If you can identify one of these four touch points, through verbal and non-verbal clues, you immediately have insight to an individual and can immediately begin to build a rapport with that person. I believe that all of us, as humans, have something in common with everyone else on Earth. If you think about it, by just being male or female, you have something in common with 50% of the population.
Non-verbal clues of whether or not someone is a parent are as simple as these:
- Are their children with them?
- Do they have pictures of children on their cell phone?
- Are they purchasing something for a child?
These non-verbal clues can immediately give you speaking points to a perfect stranger—such as, how old are your children, do you have a boy or girl, what’s their birthday, etc. All of these questions begin a conversation with your potential client or guest.
Consider this, the same types of non-verbal clues can be helpful to identify if someone has a pet—for example, if the pet is with them, hair on their clothes, a picture of their pet on a keychain, etc. People are passionate about their sports team as conveyed through their wearing of shirts, jerseys, hats, and even if you don’t know anything about their particular sports team, these non-verbal clues can give you insight to the cities that your client may be from. For instance, if someone is wearing a 49ers jersey, you might not know anything about the 49er’s football team, but you could build a rapport and start a conversation by simply asking, “Are you from San Francisco?”
People are 26% more likely to buy from you if they like you. By identifying non-verbal clues, of what an individual might be passionate about, you can help to begin a conversation and begin to build a rapport.
