Rapport building in B2B sales interactions: the process and explananda

Abstract

Despite the expansion of digital transformation, interpersonal interactions remain the foundation for successful business-to-business (B2B) sales meetings in complex exchanges. This study focuses on rapport building and examines it as an explicitly and implicitly manifested ongoing process covering the entire duration of a B2B sales meeting. Based on empirical findings from a qualitative study of Japanese business professionals, the study develops a process conceptualization of rapport building. It draws on the rapport management model from sociolinguistics, showing how rapport building is based on meeting individuals’ fundamental needs for appreciation, approval, fair consideration, and social inclusion, besides fulfilling business-related rapport needs. Based on the data, we identified three phases in rapport building (establishing, developing, and leveraging) and various overt and covert rapport-building activities the salesperson can adopt to create and nurture rapport with a customer by relying on verbal, nonverbal, and intuitive cues. Our findings indicate that only the final phase, leveraging rapport, offers an optimal setting for discussions on future business opportunities. The study challenges the stereotypical notion of rapport as mere small talk at the beginning of a sales meeting and provides valuable managerial implications related to successful rapport building.