(Credit to Kenrick Cleveland for pointing this out)

Thought the community might enjoy this. We know how important rapport is, and many of us are consciously aware of their level of rapport with others. The understandings behind this technique will benefit you and, in applying them, you'll soon find people drop their guard and begin to open right up within the first few minutes. And, no one will notice you doing it. (provided you're not completely obvious.)

To fully understand this, what you should do right now is go and stand in front of a mirror, relax, and say "hello" to yourself, just as you would say "hello" to a stranger. Notice how you move when you say it. Notice whether you say hello by smiling, nodding, raising your head, tilting your head, raising an eyebrow, winking, blinking, smirking, grinning, etc. Do you dip? Do you bow? Notice as much as you can.

Now, understand that that "hello" is personal to you. It's how you say it with your body. It's how you say it from afar when you recognize someone you're walking towards and want to engage. It's how you say it when it's too crowded in the club to get close enough to shout, but you need to get someone's attention. Your face is on the other side of the room, broadcasting "Hey! Hey! Hello! Over here!"

Now that it's right in front of you, you'll begin to notice that everyone else has their own personal hello. Again, some people go chin down, some go chin up, some tilt, some bend at the knees, some pop onto their tip-toes.

Something happens when two people greet each other using the same hello. There's a hundred unspoken assumptions that all take place in a split second. (Ok, this person seems nice. Something familiar about him/her. maybe we're from the same area? We seem to have the same status, and probably have other similarities. This person seems to have a similar manner and is probably not be a threat. This person seems friendly.)

So here's how it works. When you first meet someone, shift into neutral. Forget your personal "hello".

When that person gives you a "hello", you give back the exact same "hello". The first person will probably do it again. You do it again, too. (For some reason I don't fully understand, it usually happens twice.) Bam! You've gone from "stranger" to "friendly".

Start talking. Carry on as normal. Try to memorize that hello, because, later, if you either want to get the person's undivided attention or want to reaffirm the "friendly" vibe, you can repeat the hello.

I guarantee, if you give the person's particular "hello" and are in their peripheral vision, they will turn to focus on you, for at least a second.

If you've done this right, you won't have to worry too much about what to say, because the other person will spill their guts like you both went to school together.

(For the NLP guys, the Bam! earlier is when you should anchor a subtle eye-cue like glancing at the left ear. Later, looking at the left ear will effectively give you a communications channel to the person's sub-conscious, bypassing conscious objections reserved for "strangers".)