1. Determine the customers primary working style.

Based on your observations, what is this customers primary style? If

you arent sure, read the descriptions for each style found earlier in this
chapter, and choose the one that fits the best.
2. Set your objective.
One key to successful customer profiling is setting clear and achievable
outcomes. Objectives that are too vague, such as, I want to improve my
relationship with Liza, my co-worker, make it difficult to assess what
exactly needs to happen to achieve the goal. This assessment works
better when you define your outcome more specifically, such as, I want
Liza and I to agree on how we are going to solve the overtime problem.
3. Look at the big picture.
Step back for a moment, consider your working style and the working
style of the customer, ask what potential trouble spots you may
encounter, and decide what ideas you and the customer are likely to
agree on or have in common. By thinking about trouble spots ahead of
time, you can plan for a more successful interaction.
4. Plan a rapport strategy.
After your analysis is complete, plan what actions you can take to create
a rapport with your customer (or co-worker) and achieve the result you
want. At this point, you may want to review the earlier section about
Getting in Step with Different Styles and use that information as a basis
for your strategy.
Be as specific as possible when you write down your strategy actions.
For example:
Be on time to my meeting with Bob.
Prepare a chart with all the information on it.
Ask Bob what his ideas are for solving the problem.
Explain to Bob how I arrived at the solution, step by step.
Give Bob a one-page overview of the proposed solution.
Primary working style:
My objective is:
The big picture:
My strategy for building rapport is: