Ep #189 Grow Sales with the Reciprocity Principle

When we understand human nature and how to tap into powerful persuasive techniques, not out of manipulation, but simply to help people be more open to buying from you, everyone wins! The reciprocity principle is something we touched on in the Up Level Workshop and I expand on more here. It is one of the most deeply ingrained principles in humans and it can open the door to increased sales with more fun and ease!

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Transcript

Sari  
Welcome to your Food Business Success. This podcast is for early stage entrepreneurs in the packaged food industry ready to finally turn that delicious idea into reality. I'm your host Sari Kimbell, I have guided hundreds of food brand founders to success as an industry expert and business coach, and it's got to be fun. In this podcast, I share with you mindset tools to become a true entrepreneur and run your business like a boss, interviews with industry experts to help you understand the business you are actually in, and food founder journeys so you can learn what worked and didn't work, and not feel so alone in your own journey. Now, let's jump in!

Welcome back to the podcast, you get a solo episode with me today. And I want to continue this theme around increasing your sales and concept that I really love. And I've been learning more about, I've been reading more on pricing psychology and principles of persuasion. And well, I don't advocate for doing things just to get more sales, I really believe in coming from a heart of generosity and wanting to help. And I believe all of you listening, who make an amazing product, you're coming from the same space. But why not get a little edge up in our sales tactics, and how we can tap into some of these principles to increase our sales for something we really believe in, something we believe and know in our hearts that people will benefit from. So sure, are there people who are using all of these amazing persuasion techniques that you can find on the internet and read in books to make or convince people to buy something that they don't really need, just for their own greed or making more money? Sure, absolutely. And people are hawking products that they don't believe in all the time. But that doesn't mean that you shouldn't use these tactics, because it's not a black or white thing. It's not like, only the people who are selling things that they don't believe in are total crap, are using the persuasion techniques, like it's not one in the same. And maybe that's where we get the sleazy sales person stereotype that comes from. So but what if we were fighting a fair fight by taking some of these principles and putting them on our business model where we are giving something that we believe in a 100%? I think sometimes we just think, well, if I just offered out of the goodness of my heart, and I let people see the value, and I let people decide that that's me not being salesy, and therefore I'm not a bad person. But those two things are mutually exclusive. They're not one in the same. Using techniques of persuasion to help people understand and see the value in what you offer is a win, win, win. It is a win for everyone, including yourself, and that's okay, we need to get to a place where we are okay winning, because our customers are also winning, that it's both, not just our customers, because you will not be in business for very long if you do not also win in this game of business. And in the Uplevel Workshop that Danny and I presented, I'm recording this a week later, so last week when we presented or two weeks whenever listening to this, we presented some additional persuasion techniques. And we touched on this one, but I wanted to give it a little bit more focus because I think it's such a powerful tool that can have really incredible results. And I just recently had an experience in my own life that I'll share where I was the customer in this. And it was really using, it was because of the reciprocity principle. And this is possibly one of the most powerful tools of persuasion in human nature. So that's why I wanted to focus on it. And I also believe that we can tap into such a spirit of love and care and generosity so that we can understand how this actually works and benefit everyone. So the law, the principle of reciprocity states that human beings are wired to return favors and pay back debts, to treat others as they have treated us. So the idea of the reciprocity principle says that by nature, people feel obliged to provide discounts or concessions to others if they've received favors from the same people. So if I pick up lunch one time, you're going to kind of have this loop in your head, that's like the next time you and I go to lunch or go get something, you're going to offer to pay, because there's like a debt owed now where one person has picked up the tab, and you're like, next time that's on me. And when it comes to business, this is why I believe in leading with generosity first, you guys have now gotten over 100, and almost 190 episodes from me, this totally free, I don't use sponsors on this podcast, I just create this content, and I put it out in the world. And every week, some 600 of you download an episode and you are getting value, through this podcast, through the YouTube channel through my book through a lot of different ways. I am depositing value into a bank account essentially, that is in your brain, you're like, oh, I keep receiving, I keep receiving. And eventually, you may feel like I want to reciprocate, I've gotten so much value that the next time I offer you something, you're like, yes, I want to take you up, I want to reciprocate and exchange value. And this recently happened with me, there's a podcast that I've been listening to for years, by a life coach that I really like. And I actually did join her program, I think for one month, and then I just had too much going on. And so I chose to not continue. But she recently launched a book. And she's doing it like on a mass scale, like, you know, not just self publishing, but needs to get pre orders. And so she's putting out a lot of effort, lots of podcasts, lots of content about helping, you know, encouraging people to preorder her book. And it was so interesting, I found myself because I have received so much free content, free value from her. I was like, you know, I probably don't need the book, it's probably all the stuff that I've already been listening to on the podcast. But just because I love her and because I've received so much value, I'm going to go ahead and preorder the book. And not only did I preorder the book, I bought three copies of it, because I'm like, I'm going to share this with some other people who could really benefit from it as well. And so I found myself on the other side of the reciprocity principle, right? Where she had deposited so much value into my world, in my bank account that when there was an opportunity, and the program that she offered wasn't the right thing for me. But she offered this book and I was like, yes, I would love to pay back some of the value that you've given me. And so that was just a fun example of like, yeah, easy, done. I'm so excited to support her and that felt really good. And so I want you to think about how you could turn this around on in your own business. So if you're doing lead ads for instance in last week's podcast was Zach was all about lead ads. Again, I think leading with something of value, right? Depositing value into their world, generosity first, giving first. So that could be a great recipe ebook or something that helps them in their lives, right? You're going to give them something some value ahead of time and not just a discount, you want to give them something that truly, they get some small wind from some little transformation. And then you're going to keep adding, like adding more deposits into that value bank. You're going to offer in your email sequence, you're going to offer a little bit more entertainment, a little more value, a little more, you know, maybe recipes or ways to use before you ask for anything. 

Again, I think it really does matter, the energy that you are coming from, like that place of you know, is this about just making money and greed, greed, greed, whether you believe in this product, or is this no, I believe in my product so much and I want to be a successful business owner and I want my customers, like this product is going to really benefit my customers. And I talked about that a couple of weeks ago on this podcast as well about that kind of mindset of sales and the place that you are coming from. I know it's a little woowoo. But I believe that the energy that you write that email from comes across to those people that are reading it. So you could use it in your lead ads, you could also use it, let's say you're at the farmers market, even just the offering of a smile, or offering to take their trash, like little things open up the door on the reciprocity principle. That person, you're like, hey, I'll take your trash for you. You know, maybe they're carrying around some sample stuff from a previous booth. There now, there's like a little bit of indebtness to you. They're like, oh, and they're going to be more open to what you have to then offer. So it's a beautiful principle, that it's just good to know what's happening. And when we have knowledge about it, we're not going to manipulate people, but we can maybe expand it a little bit and kind of get right in our attitude and our mindset. But know that this is what's happening. When you offer someone a sample and they love it, you're depositing value into the value bank for them, and they're going to be more likely to then put make a purchase. And sure, sometimes people are going to make purchases. Sometimes I do feel like there are pity purchases, where you're just like, I do this on the market sometimes where I'm like, I really don't need this thing. But man, they're working hard. They're like hustling. And they're making me laugh, they were having some fun. Like there are a lot of times there are things I don't personally eat because I don't eat a lot of sugar and I don't eat, generally do flour. But I'm like, I'm gonna give that to somebody, right? Because they they're offering me so much value in those moment. And so what if you could think about sales in that way of how can I lean into the reciprocity principle, knowing that by just offering a smile, or some little gesture, offering that sample, offering a story that just entertains me that now you've opened up the reciprocity principle and I as a customer, I'm going to be more likely to want to pay you back. And to finally, I'll just offer to you that if you as somebody who consumes a lot of content, a lot of free content, which I am all for being scrappy. And like I said, I mean, there are people I have been following for years and never purchased a single thing from and I'm grateful for the value that they provide in the world. But I noticed sometimes I start to feel a different energy with them. Because I am getting so much and I'm almost like overwhelmed or over consumed with debt. And it kind of changes the relationship. And I might feel even a little weirdly, like a little resentful. And if you notice yourself that way, it might be time to open your wallet. And maybe you're not buying the big thing. But you're like, let me support them. Let me say thank you. Let me show them that I appreciate what they're putting out into the world. And I find when I do that, things open up for me in other ways. I was just talking to a client yesterday and she was talking about when she's feeling the most closed down and the least like open and abundant. Then she knows that's when she needs to go out and give. And we were going through a trying time, we were doing some coaching. She was feeling like things just aren't working. It was really hard. And she said I went in I was grabbing lunch at like Chipotle or something like that. And I was feeling so closed off and kind of poor me and you know, all those tough feelings and she's like, I decided to buy the person behind me. I decided to buy their lunch. And it just really helped open my heart. I started leaning more into abundance and generosity and it felt so good. And it did open up the reciprocity principle while this person you know, didn't necessarily like pay her back. He was like so over come by how generous that was and said thank you. But now maybe that person is going to go and do something for someone else, right? It opens up that whole Pay It Forward principle as well which just gets the wheels of abundance going and I think that's if you really want to open up sales in your own business and kind of get through some, maybe you're going through a time that just feels like or it's just really hard, you know, nothing's working, I recommend going and opening your own wallet for others, and paying them back, maybe closing the loop and exchanging some value back into somebody else's bank account. So I'm keeping this one short and sweet. Hopefully, this is some food for thought for you to think about. Just just knowing these tools of persuasion and that they exist, and how do you want to use it for good to create win wins for everyone involved. I hope that that just kind of sits with you a little bit. And you can at least start noticing it. Like notice in your body when someone opens the door for you. There's a an openness of warmth, that you want to repay them in some way, even if it's just a thank you, and a smile, right? But this is something that's happening in the background of our lives. And don't be afraid to use it in your own business and really come from a place of generosity and seize the opportunity of the reciprocity principle. And I hope I have added some value into your bank account by today's episode. And until next time, have an amazing week. 

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