{
  "title": "Customer reception: echoing words without manufacturing rapport",
  "url": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/accueil-client-reprendre-les-mots-sans-jouer-la-proximite-en",
  "language": "en",
  "datePublished": "2026-04-05",
  "publisher": {
    "name": "SHR — Swiss Human Resources",
    "url": "https://www.shr.swiss",
    "address": "Esplanade de Pont-Rouge 9A, 1212 Lancy, Suisse"
  },
  "summary": "Echoing a visitor's words can help build rapport. It does not establish that their request has been understood or that systematic imitation improves reception.",
  "section": "Research",
  "topic": "Client Reception",
  "place": {
    "name": "Lausanne",
    "region": "Vaud",
    "country": "CH"
  },
  "keyPoints": [
    {
      "heading": "What the literature establishes",
      "point": "Tanya Chartrand and John Bargh (1999, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology) studied nonconscious mimicry of postures, gestures and expressions during interaction."
    },
    {
      "heading": "When verbal repetition changes behaviour",
      "point": "Rick van Baaren, Rob Holland, Bregje Steenaert and Ad van Knippenberg (2003, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology) studied verbal repetition in a restaurant."
    },
    {
      "heading": "The premature conclusion",
      "point": "A simple instruction might seem to follow: systematically repeat every visitor's words."
    },
    {
      "heading": "What the evidence cannot settle",
      "point": "These studies do not establish whether verbal repetition produces lasting improvements in trust in an organisation, or how it is received in a multilingual reception setting."
    },
    {
      "heading": "A practical check in Lausanne",
      "point": "Within SHR's « Accueil client » programme in Lausanne, a role-play exercise could compare a neutral acknowledgement with a faithful repetition of the visitor's key term, in alternating order and without imitating their voice."
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "authors": "Bargh",
      "year": "1999",
      "source": "Journal of Personality and Social Psychology"
    },
    {
      "authors": "Knippenberg",
      "year": "2003",
      "source": "Journal of Experimental Social Psychology"
    }
  ],
  "wordCount": 426,
  "image": "https://www.shr.swiss/img/blog-Training-Client-Reception-Lausanne-accueil-client-reprendre-les-mots-sans-jouer-la-proximite-en.jpg?v=4",
  "translations": {
    "fr": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/accueil-client-reprendre-les-mots-sans-jouer-la-proximite",
    "en": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/accueil-client-reprendre-les-mots-sans-jouer-la-proximite-en",
    "de": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/accueil-client-reprendre-les-mots-sans-jouer-la-proximite-de",
    "it": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/accueil-client-reprendre-les-mots-sans-jouer-la-proximite-it"
  },
  "relatedPages": {
    "programme": "https://www.shr.swiss/formation/accueil-client/lausanne",
    "city": "https://www.shr.swiss/formations-ville/lausanne",
    "blog": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog"
  },
  "citationPolicy": "Citation autorisée avec mention « SHR — Swiss Human Resources » et lien vers l'article."
}