Learn How to Use the Power of Reciprocity in Sales (Part 1)

Hi there, Chris younger, with another sales thought of the day today’s sales thought we’re going to talk about how to use reciprocity bias to help us in sales.

Now, reciprocity bias is another one of the cognitive biases and if you remember, we learned about cognitive biases.
In last week’s video, how to use cognitive, biases and sales, let’s start with first defining what reciprocity bias actually is.
Reciprocity bias is, when you provide someone a favor or small gift, some type of a concession, and then they in turn, have this strong sense of obligation to pay you back or, as Brian Tracy puts it.

If you do something nice for me, I’ll do something nice for you.
However, it does work both ways, so that quote could be hey.
You do something rotten to me and I’m gon na do something rotten to you.

Now one of the powers of reciprocity lies in the fact that it’s pervasive and ambiguous throughout the world.
You can find it in every single culture.
It’s even been credited with helping develop a system in the world of indebtedness that has actually helped advance society throughout history.

Now it’s this feeling of indebtedness.
That’s made such a huge difference in society’s evolution, because it meant that you could give away food skills ideas without the feeling of giving things away and you’ll never get anything in return.
After all, when it comes to reciprocity, one party has to start the whole string of reciprocity and because our brains, they just don’t like to be in debt, the person who started the giving doesn’t have to be in fear that their actions will never be returned for An example: let’s go back to prehistoric times and let’s pretend that you’re a caveman, you know how to hunt.

So that means you can teach the guy in the cave down the street, how to hunt as well and then, following the rule of reciprocity, he’ll teach you in turn how to make a loincloth out of a saber-toothed Tigers Pelt over time.
This concept of sharing ideas and skills catches on and it grows exponentially, and then eventually it becomes something that is in every society.
Throughout the world, there are two types of reciprocation one’s going to be physical and the other one’s going to be emotional.

Now the physical one would be an example of your neighbor sees you coming home with a car full of groceries, and he offers to help you out and he takes a couple bags in and then in turn a couple days later.
He asks you to borrow that power saw.
You know the one that you never let anybody touch, let alone even borrow and for some reason you go ahead and say yes.

Well, that’s the law of reciprocation right there, it’s reciprocation bias and the second type of reciprocation would be emotional now emotional reciprocation example of that would be.
Quite simply, I thank you for something, and you say you’re welcome it’s just kind of known that that’s the exchange.
There or you do me a favor by maybe picking up lunch well, the next time we’re out to lunch I’ll pick up lunch because it’s my turn, that’s fair! That’s how our society works.

We like to make things even next.
Let’s talk about how to use reciprocity laws in sales.
Now it’s the most basic level.

The law of reciprocity says that, because I do you a favor that you’ll do me a favor, so most likely, our hope is that you will comply and agree to purchase something.
However, while this rule may seem straightforward and simple, it’s a little bit more complicated understand what I mean a little bit better.
Let’s turn to one of my favorite studies that illustrates the power of this bias and how it can help us so much in sales.

This famous restaurant study posed the question: will the amount of a tip increase if the server presents a small gift and, in this case a mint to everybody at the table when they bring this check? Well: here’s what they found out when the server came back and presented the bill and gave each of the people at the table.
One min tips went up 3 % nominal gain.
You say, however, when the server came back and offered two mints to everybody at the table.

Tips went up a whopping 14 percent.
Finally, though, get this if the server offers them one mint but then stops turns on a dime, looks back at the table walks back over and says for you, fine people, let me go ahead and give you another minute.
Tips went up.

20, three percent.
I really love how this restaurant study illustrates the three key elements or the three rules that need to be followed to make the reciprocity bias work for you, let’s go through the rules.
Rule number one you or somebody needs to start the giving number two.

The gift needs to be unexpected: three, it needs to be personalized.
The gift needs to be personalized.
Now, let’s run back through that restaurant study and see what the server did and if they hit all three of these rules and it’ll show us how they increase.

That tip by twenty three percent rule number one: the server offered the first gift with the bill.

They went ahead and gave that first met with the bill.

Rule number two, an unexpected gift.

Now, when they brought the first meant that’s kind of expected, it only got a three percent increase right, however, when they offered that second one that’s a little more unexpected, so that became the unexpected and fulfilling rule number two and then kind of going along with that Rule number three, which is make it personalized the fact they stopped turned around and came back and said for you, fine folks, here’s a second men that personalized that kind of sealed it.
So those were the three elements that helped make an extra twenty three percent tip.
Another way the reciprocity law helps you in sales is recovering if you end up making a bad first impression.

If you remember back on our video on car salesman’s meet-and-greet, we talked about biking and we talked about how liking was important, because that was one of the things that helped create a favorable impression now likings.
Also one of the biases we discussed in last week’s video.
How to use cognitive bias to help us in sales and remember that liking bias can actually lead to someone else making judgments about our other traits and deciding that we must be good in all of our traits because they like this from the first impression now.

There’s an opposite end of the liking bias and it’s disliking bias, and that just means, if you make a four first impression what the person will do that’s met.
You is, though, I’m making assumption that your entire character must be bad just because of this bad first impression.
Well, there’s some good news: the reciprocity rule can save you.

What do I mean? Well, let’s use a car salesperson coming back late from lunch to an appointment as our example, the salesperson got caught in traffic, so they’re on their way.
Back from lunch, however, they’ve got a guest, that’s been waiting for them for a little while and when the salesperson gets to the dealership, the guests noticeably irritated from having to wait.
So what do you do? Is the salesperson obviously you’re going to apologize and then what you’re going to do is you’re going to give them a free car wash pouch or from one of those quick assembly lines, style type of carwash places that does a good job inside and out and then You’re gon na just state this folks, I’m so sorry that I got stuck in traffic and I came back and held you up and and and made you have to wait.

Let me do this.
Let me give you a free car wash voucher, that’s going to go ahead and clean your vehicle inside now.
Hopefully this will make up for a little bit of the time that that I delay John and also the nice thing about it.

Is it’s going to make your vehicle look great after one of those fun weekends of off-roading and mudding that I know you guys said you like to do upon giving the guests the voucher.
You notice that their body language and you can hear their tone of voice that they’re positive now and that the rest of the porosity rule has helped save your first impression.
The carwash a voucher worked because it followed all three steps or rules to makin the reciprocity bias work for you number one.

The salesperson offered up the voucher number two, the voucher was unexpected and thirdly, the salesperson proved one their listening skills, because the guests had previously told them about being a enthusiast, two off-roading and then, secondly, because they geared the voucher and discussed about how the guests could Use this on the Monday morning, after a long weekend of mudding to make their car look nice that personalized the gift and made the reciprocity law really stick.
The carwash voucher example offers a great great illustration of how to use the reciprocity law at the beginning of a sale.
However, what about the end of the sale? Can it be used, then well sure can and to go ahead and give you an example.

Let me tell you a true story that I used years ago when I was selling cars or okay – maybe it wasn’t years ago it was 1992.
So maybe we should say decades ago when I was selling cars.
The story goes like this.

I was working with this guest that had just got a job with the Illinois Department of Transportation, and it was an entry-level position.
In fact, he was the person that held the sign.
That said, slow, we’ve all driven by those those people.

Well, he happened to purchase this car during August of 92 and it was during one of those times when we were going through a heatwave that was like 98 degrees in the shade and humidity that probably matched well typically after a purchase.
I’ll send a thank-you note out the day after and then about a week after the purchase, I send out a postcard or a letter that asks for referrals, it says: hey, we pay referral fees and it asks and solicits for referrals.
Well, with this particular gentleman, I decided to mix things up a little bit and what I do is I went down to the local grocery store and I bought a couple packets of Gatorade and I put them in an envelope, and I just put a little note With it that said, hey thinking of you during this hot week hope you can keep cool something simple like that, and I went ahead and sent that off to him.

Well, let me tell you for 19 years this person was an ambassador for our dealership and he was my personal spokesman, bringing me more referrals that I could actually handle in fact later on, he still brought people in when I became a manager, and I was handing Them out still to salespeople, so it’s a great example of the power of reciprocity and how it can have some lasting power that can help you further down the road than maybe it thought.
Why did my gaiter a gift work so well and create so much reciprocity during the relationship with this particular guest? Well, I get all three rules or all three key elements of the reciprocity law number one I went first, I offered up the Gatorade packets too.
It was unexpected 3, it was personalized, that’s what made it work and that’s part one on how to use reciprocity laws to help you in sales, and please join me next week, when I jump into part two of how to make the reciprocity bias work for you.

Next week, I’ll touch on how the reciprocity bias could actually backfire and have you agreeing with an even exchange something that you didn’t even want see you next week, .

About Richie Bello

Richie Bello has a vast knowledge of the automotive industry, so most of his services are faced towards automotive dealerships. He couples all his skills with the power of the internet to render even remote services to clients in need of a little brushing

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