Small business owners, salespeople and managers all know that client rapport is important for the bottom line.
But even though profit is the goal of all businesses, rapport takes things to another level. For many businesses, doing business is about living well, helping others and leaving the world a better place.
Rapport with clients is a way to accomplish all three.
But small businesses are often at a disadvantage. For whatever reason they’re up against the bigger fish in the pond.
Big businesses, though, sometimes struggle with rapport. It seems to be the nature of dealing with such a large enterprise. The business gets big and sometimes you can lose track of clients and what they’re struggling with.
That’s an opportunity for small businesses.
Building Rapport With a Business Blog
We’ve been discussing recently that business blogs are an extension of the product you offer to clients. With content, you can add value to your offering, which can put your business at a huge advantage over the competition including the big competition.
You know that trust is key to any good business relationship. A prospect has to trust you before they’ll hand over money and make a purchase. It can be a lot of work and developing that relationship takes time.
But with a business blog you can establish a rapport before the prospect makes first contact.
I’ve mentioned before here on the blog how a few prospects have reached out both by phone and by email. During that first discussion they have said that they were basically ready to get started. They felt like they already knew me, the writers and the company.
That rapport is built by the blog posts. All the content on the site is information about who we are at Ghost Blog Writers and what we do for clients. Those that like what we have to say keep reading at their own pace and when they’re ready they reach out. There is no outreach to people to bother them on their time. They come to us when they’re ready and the relationship gets off to a great start and if things are a good fit the relationship develops into something long-term that’s profitable for both parties.
Posts That Build Rapport
We write a lot of how-to posts here on the GBW. This type of post is simple in concept. You look for questions your target reader is asking and you answer them with blog posts. Your reader finds it via search and social and they feel thankful for the content. This builds trust and over time the read might trust you enough to make contact.
Your personality will come through in your blogging as well, but you can get even more information out there by sharing stories. Tell stories from your business experience. People love reading stories because it allows them to get to know you in a unique way.
People don’t really pay attention to you if you tell them you’re a good person. But if you share a story and within that story is mention of how you’ve helped someone the person that’s reading will see that you are a good person.
We work with clients to get to know them and what they’re all about. Through our research we’re able to develop how-to posts and stories. You don’t necessarily have to be the one writing the content to tell stories. We speak with clients to learn from their experience and we put that knowledge into the posts. They’re the experts. We’re just the writers.
If you’re looking to improve rapport with your clients consider starting a small business blog. It’s one of the ways you can gain an advantage over the bigger companies out there.