One of the key features of human nature is the urge to give something back when we receive something for free. This behavior is called reciprocity.
A study at Cornell University explored this by placing individuals in a room and telling them they were going to evaluate some art.
While carrying out this fake exercise, half of the subjects were left to get on with it, but the other half were interrupted by a planted assistant who slipped out of the room to get himself a drink from the vending machine. When the lab assistant came back, he had “bought” an extra Coke for the participant.
After the art evaluation was completed, all of the subjects were asked if they’d like to buy a raffle ticket. The researchers found that the subjects who had been given a Coke from the assistant bought two times as many raffle tickets as those who received nothing.
This behavior is well known in e-commerce sales, but it’s just as applicable in other sales relationships if you expand your definition of a “gift”. For example, a personalized piece of content shows that you invested your resources into creating something for them. A message full of very specific details shows that you invested your time researching them. This is all more likely to trigger a response than something generic that was copied and pasted. The majority of salespeople agree with this.
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