The Golden Rule states that you should "treat others as you want to be treated". I'm sure that it's been suggested to you that the Golden Rule is the best approach to take in dealing with others. And it’s been the basis of customer service training since ancient Rome. While the concept is obviously better than ‘thinking of yourself’, I submit that there's an even better model than the Golden Rule. I call it the Platinum Rule and I believe that if you follow it, people will always follow you around buying whatever you have to offer.
The Platinum Rule is to "treat others as they want to be treated". Semantics? No. This concept is the basis of something called “rapport”, which in behavioral science translates to ‘people like people who are like themselves’. That is, we all tend to gravitate to things which are like ourselves, not others. It's about what we're comfortable with. And to me, it's taking the Golden Rule further.
The theory of rapport encourages people to be like others (physiologically, emotionally, psychologically) in order to quickly build trust with them. I can tell you that the concept when put into practice works better than any other that I have tested. And we use it as a foundation for the customer service and sales training modules.
Have you ever used ‘rapport’ in customer service situations? How about other situations? Have you ever heard of it? What are your thoughts about the Platinum Rule?
