That first impression when a potential customer enters your shop or phones your business is very important. It's about projecting the right image in that first minute or two.

• Trust is often based on appearances
• Trust is one of the first steps to building rapport
• Trust builds sales and keeps customers for life

How can you create a good first impression in the office?

Basic standard requirements for staff

• It is vital that the customer is acknowledged when they enter the office. Even if all consultants are busy, the customer should be recognised within the first 10 – 15 seconds. Eye contact and a smile are better than nothing at all. A customer is more likely to stay if they have been acknowledged than if they are ignored. Don’t let the customers be invisible.
• Stand to greet the customer and where possible move toward them. By standing up we are putting ourselves on the same level as the customer and it shows them they we are happy to see them.
• Ensure you introduce yourself as early as possible, either in the initial approach, or as soon as the customer has taken a seat. Giving them your business card immediately can help as a tool to help them remember your name and use it throughout the conversation and build rapport
• Smile - a genuine, pleased to see them smile will help to build trust and ensure they feel welcomed.
• Speak first and get the lines of communication open. Don’t overdo it, but remember that a pleasant, friendly greeting is hard to ignore. Adapt your greeting to suit the customer.
• Be enthusiastic about their enquiry – even if it is 4.45pm on Friday!
• Give the customer your full attention while you are dealing with them
• Answer the phone promptly ie within 3 – 5 rings
• “Good Morning / Afternoon, Welcome to XYZ - This is Mary“
• Demonstrate a positive attitude & SMILE while speaking clearly, slowly and confidently
• Be sincere, interested and professional  - avoid “travel speak”
• CLEAR THE DECKS - Clear your desk for each new enquiry
• Never make assumptions based on someone’s appearance  
• Treat everyone you meet like a million-dollar customer
• If we look like we are busy, productive and professional the customer will feel more comfortable to enter.

Tips on how to build rapport

• Be highly respectful and courteous in your dealings.
• Ask their name and use it to show interest and make a client feel
• special  - when dealing with clients older than you, do not use their first name unless this is all they’ve offered or until they invite you to call them by their first name
• Demonstrate your sincerity and your genuine concern about their enquiry.
• Ask questions, be patient and give them your full attention at all times
• Make the person you are with (or speaking to on the phone) feel as though he or she is the most important person in your life at that moment.
• If the phone rings while you’re with a client, always ask the client if they mind you answering it. Do not spend time talking on the phone - take a message.  Apologise to the seated client when you hang up the phone.
• Begin creating a memorable travel experience for your client immediately.
• Be sincere, interested , real and honest in your dealings with them
• Listen to the client and hear what they are actually saying to you
• Be mindful of your body language gestures and remember to keep them positive!
• Sell the way your customer wants to buy – not the way you want to sell
• Find out what you have in common – travel!
• Always thank people for phoning or coming in.
• Speak the same language (visual, auditory or kinaesthetic)