We all know the importance of building rapport over the phone. Let’s face it, people tend to do business with people they like, know or trust.

What you may not know, though, is that talking about the latest sports scores or schmoozing about vacation spots is not an effective way to build rapport and often just lengthens the call, dilutes your message, and gets you no closer to the deal than you were before you wasted all that time.

If you want to truly connect to your prospect and build the kind of rapport that will actually influence and lead to a closed deal, then you need to learn how build what I call, “Relevant Rapport.”

Relevant rapport means taking the time to talk about the issues your prospect is going through or what they’re trying to solve, and then expanding on these relevant issues and letting them know you understand exactly what they’re trying to accomplish and explaining how you are uniquely qualified to help them.

Remember, your prospects have a need they are looking to you to help them fulfill, and the more they feel you understand their needs and can help them, the more likely it is they will do business with you. So, how do you build relevant rapport? You start by asking questions related to their specific work related situation. For example, instead of asking:

“So where did you go on vacation?” Ask:

“Now that you’re back from vacation, I’ll bet you’ve got lots to catch up on. How can I help you?” Or,

“You’re probably buried now that you’re back on vacation. I’d be happy to refill your normal order from last month and take that bit of business off your plate. Would that help you?”

Instead of asking:

“Are you excited about the upcoming football season?” Ask:

“As we head into the fall, what are your top three priorities for increasing revenue?”

Then layer by asking:

“You know _________, I’m working with another client who is facing the same challenge this quarter. What I proposed for him is to (then explain your solution). Do you think that might help you as well?”

The point of relevant rapport is that your prospect will like you more and trust you more if you show an interest in their problems related to business, rather than their problems outside of business. Just remember that your prospect is under just as much pressure to do their job as you are to do yours. Who would you be more interested in talking to – a prospect who wants to talk about the latest diet, or a prospect who wants to place an order?

Thought so. I challenge you this week to go out and begin connecting with your prospects on issues related to what they are doing for 8 to 9 hours a day – trying to get their jobs done. When you can show them how to do that better, faster or easier, then you will have truly made the connection with them that counts the most. That’s what building relevant rapport is all about.

Copyright (c) 2010 Mr. Inside Sales

Mike Brooks, Mr. Inside Sales, helps sales reps close more business over the phone. Learn how to sell more today by downloading the Special Report, “Ten Techniques to Instantly Become a Better Closer.”

As a senior citizen just being introduced to the computer world, you will have to learn a whole new language of funny words connected with this new phase of your life…words that have a far different meaning than what you normal think they mean. Additionally, you will find strange new words such as “bits, bytes, megabytes, megahertz” and so on, but you may not have to worry about all of them.

When you are working a computer program, you may use a “mouse” which is not the four-legged type but a device with a hard rubber ball on the bottom (or even just a light) that helps move a “cursor (a pointer, that is, not one that uses foul language) on the “monitor” (not a teacher who watches you when taking a test, but a TV picture tube or flat screen nowadays) of the computer that shows you what you are typing or drawing or moving. You move the mouse with your hand (or finger if you are using a laptop (a portable computer) and “click” (attach) the pointer to a specific object to tell the CPU (computer processing unit) to do something.

Other terms peculiar to computers are “CD Rom, discs, hard and optical drives, desktops, laptops, notebooks, spread sheets, mother boards, Pentium families, dot matrix-ink, jet-bubble jet laser printers.” There is also DOS and Windows 95 or XP to add to the new vocabulary…and new ones practically every time you look around.

Right now the “in” thing is to “Surf the Net” (that’s the worldwide Internet, and you don’t use a surfboard to do that)…it’s a compendium of interesting facts, business and social relationships, news sources (such as this web site and not connected with a spider if you please) which you can reach through a “modem” (computer connections via a phone and online service that you have to pay for) at “baud rates (rates of speed including “broadband” which is the fastest one right now and will probably change in the future!).

Repairing a computer when it breaks down (freezes or crashes) may require calling in or seeing a “hardware” (equipment) or “programmer” person.

“Hard copy” is exactly what it means: however, with computers it means “print out” on a piece of paper from a “printer” (laser, ink jet or otherwise) of what is shown on the “monitor.”

One word after a particularly bad session when things go wrong in “cyberspace” we understand quite easily…”Exit” or “Quit” or “Escape”, while another is “Save” (And we also understand the mental anguish when we don’t do that and what you have done is wiped out and you have to do it all over again unless you can “revert” back to what you just did which is possible.) The temptation to punch the computer’s monitor is an experience we all go through while enjoying the attributes of a computer system and the help it gives us.

And “help” is the one attribute the computer has done for us. When I first started out in the printing business all type was set with metal individual pieces of type to form articles that were printed on a press. Today, if there was a mistake in this column, for example, it probably would take an hour to make the correction–something that takes a few seconds with the current computers.

The latest social words in cyberspace are “YouTube”, “Facebook” and the newest, “Twitter” (and we do it too) which makes it a whole new “another” world in social communication.

This writer’s last comment: Just enjoy the wonderful world of cyberspace…and surf to your heart’s content on the Internet, even without a surfboard!

Bernard Block, editor and publisher of [http://TheSeniorConnextion.com] a web magazine for senior lifestyles to inform, educate and help-to-improve

Canon iP90 printer is portable, powerful and rugged, the photo printer delivers outstanding performance at home or on the road. This compact printer can yield up to 16 pages per minute in black and up to 12 pages per minute in color, while having a resolution of up to 4,800 x 1,200 color dots per inch (dpi). Canon full-photolithography inkjet nozzle engineering uses a high-performance 1,088-nozzle print head which ejects exact plus consistent droplets as small as 2 picoliters along with remarkable accuracy. Your outcomes: outstanding resolution and spectacular detail on graphics and photos, wherever you are printing from.

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Easy-PhotoPrint v3

While the majority of photo-editing software applications may lighten up the whole picture, Easy-PhotoPrint 3. precisely detects the subject’s face plus adjusts the skin to the best tone. Brighten dark faces caused by bright backgrounds. Select from one-click automatic to fix the whole picture all at one time, or even manual to fix just a chosen region. Easy-PhotoPrint 3. also allows you to choose and print any picture on your computer, completely trim pictures, correct pictures making use of lab-quality retouching features, correct red-eye, smooth facial lines plus skin tone, sharpen faces, remove blemishes, and print in a number of sizes as well as layouts.

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Canon Smart Ink Features

In case you are on-the-go plus have less ink the Canon iP90 printer’s “Ink Usage Control” setting lets you produce approximately 1.5 times more pages without decreasing print quality. And, if you uses up black ink, simply select the “Use Composite Black” choice and the Canon ip90 printer continues to print black utilizing a composite of colour inks in the “Ink Usage Control” setting. All these features are a handy safety net whenever you do not have additional ink.

Versatile, Wireless Printing

The Canon iP90 printer provides both IrDA compatibility plus an optional Bluetooth interface allowing you to print wirelessly from a PC, PDA or even mobile phone. For maximum portability, an optional Canon car adapter plus rechargeable electric battery kit provide power on the go.

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