The Seven Rules of Reciprocity
Any Sales person who knows their job understands the law of reciprocity in selling. It’s something that should be pretty instinctive if you want to get the best response from customers. However, if you know and practice this technique, the end result can be truly amazing. Here are my seven rules for reciprocity:
Rule 1 – People Want to Be Even.
People are generally hard wired to respond to human kindness (There will always be exceptions but let’s consider them as the absolute minority) and therefore they feel the need to return the favour. This can obviously be very useful in sales.
Rule 2 – It’s Not Necessarily About Material Value
Studies have been carried out in the past to see how people react to acts of kindness. The results were fascinating because they are not what you would expect. When people were given material objects they felt the need to respond. The amazing thing is that they were willing to give things of greater value and frequently didn’t count the cost. This is valuable knowledge for people in the business of selling. I still however believe that this should not be abused, because it could eventually come back to bite if used unethically.
Rule 3- It’s Not an Exchange or You Will Fail
Another really important consideration when using the law of reciprocity is the fact that you can’t always expect a return like some kind of exchange. The customer or prospect will not react in the same way if there is any indication that you have done them a favour and that you expect one in return. This one may seem obvious but I have seen lots of examples, more stupid than you could even imagine.
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