--- title: Inbound Sales and Marketing Building Rapport with Prospects description: What about thinking off building rapport BEFORE you ever meet or talk to a prospect? Inbound Sales opens doors and sets your sales team up to win --- [![Todd Hockenberry, Inc.](https://www.toddhockenberry.com/hs-fs/hubfs/2015_NEW_Site/todd-hockenberry-inc.png?width=188&height=75&name=todd-hockenberry-inc.png "Todd Hockenberry, Inc.")](https://www.toddhockenberry.com) ## Welcome to my Blog [Blog Main Page](https://www.toddhockenberry.com/blog) ###### Posted by [Todd Hockenberry](https://www.toddhockenberry.com/blog/author/todd-hockenberry) ● Apr 07, 2016 # Inbound Sales and Marketing Building Rapport with Prospects One of our long time customers [Bell Performance](https://bellperformance.com), shared this outline of ways for sales people to build rapport with contacts during an initial call (phone or face-to-face). Rapport = Connection    How do we build rapport during the first exchange? 1. Look for commonalities/overlapping interests 2. Do your homework on their business and industry 3. Ask good questions and listen to the answers with understanding them as the goal 4. Be genuinely empathetic to their issues, time, attention 5. Be perceived as an expert 6. Don't sell - Educate them 7. Be passionate and energetic 8. Help them out  - keep their best interest in mind 9. Give a gift (e.g. doughnuts or a free demo) 10. Have fun, be fun 11. Set time and constraints and stick to them 12. Third-party introductions break down barriers to connection 13. Have a reason/purpose for the interaction Pretty good list, I can't argue with any of them. What about thinking of building rapport BEFORE you ever meet or talk to a prospect? Bell Performance is excellent at this because they committed to Inbound Marketing over 5 years ago with the guiding principle being that they would be helpful and educate a market that was flooded with over hyped products and misleading marketing. They chose the high road and are reaping the benefits by setting the tone of every conversation in a helpful context BEFORE they ever talk to a prospect. The Bell website is full of articles, white papers, infographics, e-books, charts, and other content that is designed from the perspective of the buyer and their issues. In other words Bell's marketing builds rapport with the brand that accrues to the sales people before they talk to a prospect. Read more about our work with [Bell Performance here](https://www.toddhockenberry.com/blog/manufacturing-marketing-builds-online-presence-and-increases-revenue). 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