1. Establish rapport with the client.
Make yourself relatable to the person you’re interacting with. When interacting with clients or employees, establishing rapport is important for a business owner. This can come from conversations where you’ve had similar experiences, showing empathy to what the client has to say if they have concerns or what their goals are, and making sure the client knows you’re a reputable and trustworthy business for them to work with. The best way to make rapport stick is through mirroring.
Mirroring is an NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) technique that uses body language to make you seem relatable to who you’re interacting with. If they seem relaxed, make your body language and tone match that. Notice how they speak and try to use the same language that they do. In doing so, you make yourself seem more relatable to them.
2. Gather information about goals and problems by taking note of verbal and non-verbal responses.
Taking the chance to focus on what the client is saying, verbally or otherwise, will help give you insight into the best way to interact with them to ensure the outcome is favorable to you and the client. It’ll help give you a better idea of what they want and what they are worried about so you can tell them solutions to the issues they may see or fear.
3. Consider the impact of achieving the client’s or business’s goals.
Thinking ahead about what the outcomes will be in situations can help you decide what course of action you need to take and how to ensure you keep the loss of anything to a minimum. Sometimes a course of action or a specific goal may be too risky or have downfalls that could negatively impact you, the business, or the client. In this case, you will need to take a different course of action and find new solutions or alter goals as needed.
4. Help the client or business by using specific techniques to alter responses.
Much of NLP relies on subconscious reactions to conscious situations. That is the best way to make lasting impacts on clients and employees and keep your marketing going well. In terms of interacting with clients or marketing the business, you can use your skills in NLP to help tackle cognitive biases that may be in the way of specific desired outcomes.
“A central feature of NLP is the idea that a person is biased towards one sensory system, known as the preferred representational system or PRS." If you can figure out what bias the person you are speaking to works with, you can lean into it with responses that let them know you understand their view.
Some examples are “I see what you mean” or “I see your point.” When it comes to work within a business, an NLP technique that can be very helpful, with practice, is the NLP Swish. This well-known technique can help you combat negative presumptions about work or your goals and replace them with positive and uplifting ideas.
First, you create an image of what you don’t want to happen. For example, this can be the negative results of your work effort or lack of work being done. You make this image as vivid in your head as you can. Now, you create an image of what you want to happen. This can be an image of success for your efforts and the growth of your business.
Make this image seem dull and unclear compared to the negative images you thought of first. Once both images are in your head, flip them. Make the negative image dull and unclear and make the positive images vivid and large.
Do this 3-5 times over time, this will help you focus on positive thoughts and outcomes rather than negative ones—success for your efforts and the growth of your business. In doing so, you will be motivated and find it easier to reach your goals because you have more motivation to do so.
5. Ensure altered responses are integrated into daily life.
When used correctly and consistently, NLP can help provide lasting positive effects for your business. Ensure altered responses are integrated into daily life. Your client interactions will be more positive and fulfilling, workplace morale will rise, and there will be a focus on productivity and a higher rate of achieving desired goals.
Some doubt how helpful NLP can be, as this article goes over. Still, when used correctly in business, it can be a great way to achieve a higher level of motivation and success with communication between clients and those you work with.
For information on more ways NLP can help benefit your business, check out these articles:
• Top 10 Benefits of Neuro Linguistic Programming in Business
• 3 Ways to Use Neuro Linguistic Programming NLP to Increase Your Sales
• Make Your Marketing Message Pop with NLP
We hope you learned about the benefits of implementing NLP techniques into your small business and how to do so effectively for long-term results. If you need further assistance learning how to use NLP, Comprehensive Consulting Solutions for Small Businesses would love to help!
