Earning a new client’s trust is an important part of establishing a great business relationship. Strong, open communication ensures that your client can fully express their wants and needs without feeling timid or embarrassed. Psychological and behavioural studies have revealed unexpected ways that you can help put someone in your presence at ease while you’re conversing or working together. Here are a few to try with your next new client.

Mirror their body language

This is something that is often done subconsciously when we’re enjoying the company of our conversation partner. Body language mirroring, that is, subtly copying the mannerisms of the people around us, has shown to improve bonding and the development of rapport among individuals. Mimicking can take many forms such as copying gestures, tone of voice, posture, distance, eye contact and how your body is oriented. However, keep in mind that this mirroring is meant to be subtle to the point where the other individual doesn’t notice anything different. It could be something as simple as crossing your legs if they are or gently leaning into a conversation if they seem to do the same.

Repeat their name in conversation

It’s a classic trick from Dale Carnegie’s book How to Win Friends & Influence People.  “Remember that a person’s name is, to that person, the sweetest and most important sound,” Carnegie states. Use their first name when greeting the client or asking questions. Begin and end conversations with a mention of their name. Again this should be a subtle trick that doesn’t make it seem as though you’re forcing the repetition.

Encourage them to speak more

Allowing a client to express their thoughts and opinions should be a natural inclination for any real estate agent. You can help to encourage this behaviour by asking the right questions. Instead of posing queries that could be answered with a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’, go for an open ended question that merits a longer response. Studies have shown that people enjoy speaking about themselves so much that it stimulates the same reward centres of the brain as food and money.