Giving Gains – The Law of Reciprocity
Here’s some situations we want you to think about today:
– Have you ever had a free mint with your receipt at a restaurant?
– Have you ever tried a free sample at a supermarket?
– Have you used free wifi in a cafe?
You may think these are all random acts of kindness, but if the business owner is savvy enough, they may have been trying to lure you with The Law of Reciprocity.
The Law of Reciprocity basically says that people are more likely to buy from you (or buy more from you, or leave you a bigger tip etc.) if you have first shown an act of kindness, or given them something for free. There are loads of psychological studies about it, but they basically show that as a whole the human race inherently wants to return favours.
As business owners we can learn loads from this. We need to STOP making our marketing so one way, and STOP telling people why to buy from us. Instead show the value, with a simple favour or a simple nice gesture. As the saying goes – giving gains!
We see people attempt this and fail all the time, by using ‘free consultations’ to give some value to customers. But as is often the case, there is no actual value, you need to then buy from them. Telling somebody how you can fix their problems for a fee won’t work, you need to fix them a little bit in the beginning.
Or instead of that, just be extra nice, and give away something that isn’t necessarily related to your business, but the potential customer is still thankful of (like free wifi)!
This isn’t always going to be instantaneous. People may not be ready to buy from you, so don’t give up if it doesn’t work once or twice, keep at it!
Here’s some examples you may be able to adapt to your business:
– Have free coffee and treats in your shop/office
– Brand Your Free Consultation into something useful, where the customer gets actual value
– Give out free gifts when you go networking or to any events
– Give out referrals
– Have a useful blog/newsletter that isn’t full of just sales messages
– Show how people can use your product/service with other products/services
– Have free samples or trials of your product/service
As spiritual as it sounds, the more we give, the more we get!
ACTION: Think about your business, do you give out as much as you get?
ACTION: We only want people to feel indebted to us, that can buy from us or help us grow our business in other ways. Do you know who these people are? Are you giving enough to them?
ACTION: Test out this theory. Instead of waiting for a sale to happen before people receive actual value from your service, how can you give a little? Use the list above for inspiration, and implement this into your business.