How to read clients to build instant rapport

“The more a broker can focus on and understand their clients, the more they can learn what the client really needs, which helps them provide better services,” Mr Stevens told The Adviser.

“The way to do that is always through building relationships. At the end of the day, no matter how good a product or service you have, you will never get the chance to show it off with a client until you build a relationship.”

Mr Stevens urged brokers to learn how to read their clients’ personality, facial features, and body language to understand how they absorb and process information and speak to them in a manner that they need to be spoken to.

“First of all, I always try to understand my own personality, and then understand the other person’s personality to see where they are on the world scale compared to where I am,” he explained.

“Then I know how to change the way I like to be spoken to so I can match the way that the client needs to be spoken to. That will allow me to build instant rapport and form a connection with others each time.”

Mr Stevens added that forming this connection will also inform the direction of his conversations.

“It tells me not only how much to tell them but how to deliver information,” he said.

“For example, if a client is somebody who is focused on the price, I can see that in their face. If they’re somebody who is focused on the service, I can see that as well. So, the conversation I have will either be about the service they’re going to receive or the value that they’re going to get out of doing business with me.”

Clients who feel understood and trust their broker are more likely to refer them to their network and generate leads, he noted, while brokers who feel they have serviced a client well are better placed to successfully ask clients for referrals.

Mr Stevens will be travelling to five Australian capital cities in March for The Adviser’s Better Business Summit 2023, where he will teach brokers how to recognise a client’s personality instantly and modify their conversation to adapt to that client. 

Brokers will learn how to question clients to uncover ‘what is not being said’ and identify non-verbal indicators to confirm truth and deception.

The ability to read clients and ensure they are telling the truth has become vital as recent studies found that some borrowers lie on their home loan applications to receive approval.

Brokers can use open, closed, or probing questioning techniques to unearth information about the clients, Mr Stevens suggested.

“Clients may keep stuff they don’t want to tell you to themselves but their body language and expressions are going to give it away that they’re concealing information,” he said.

Observing a client’s body language and eye movement could prove useful when asking closed questions (which require “yes” or “no” answers), Mr Stevens added, because if the broker detects that the client is withholding information or providing inaccurate information, they can ask probing questions.

“Knowing how to deliver these probing questions is important,” Mr Stevens concluded.

“You should be able to bounce around because people can’t create a lie from the end to the beginning. They can only create it from the beginning to the end. If you bounce around, that can confuse them and they might give away more information.”

To hear more from Alan Stevens about the art of human negotiation and how to build instant rapport and trust with clients, come along to the Better Business Summit 2023.

It will be held in the following locations:

• Brisbane, 2 March 2023, Brisbane Showgrounds
• Perth, 9 March 2023, Crown Towers Perth
• Adelaide, 16 March 2023, Adelaide Convention Centre
• Sydney, 23 March 2023, The Star, Sydney
• Melbourne, 30 March 2023, Melbourne Pullman Albert Hotel

To buy tickets and secure your spot, click here.

Did you know The Adviser premium members go for free? Become a premium member here.

For more information, including agenda and speakers, click here.