building "instant rapport" is possible but it takes practice.
First things first, get in the right frame of mind. And the right frame of mind is being genuinely interested in the other person and curious about their business.
Keep in mind you are there to help.
Now many would advise you to look for something you have in common with your prospect. And that can help. But here's the problem. Let's say your prospect is a keen golfer and so are you. You start talking about golf and have a lovely chat. Then you have to start talking about business and the feeling changes immediately. The rapport is mostly lost.
Far better to build rapport by "matching and mirroring"
The idea is we tend to like people who are like us (that's why you spoke about golf). But when you changed the topic of conversation the rapport changed too. Now let's say you "matched" the other person's tone of voice. Maybe even while you were talking about golf. When you start talking about business you can still keep matching the other person's tone of voice and rapport is maintained.
If you want to know more about this click on Rapport.
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