Dianna Booher

Whether you're selling a product, service, or simply your ideas, be sure to practice the principle of reciprocity.

Consider this example:

Three parties--a neighbor, the City of Grapevine, and I--joined together to buy a strip of land as investment property along an interstate several years ago. The then-owner refused to subdivide the acreage in smaller lots, and it took all three of us to pool our resources to make the purchase.

The only remaining issue was the overgrowth of trees and grass on the land. However, every time we as property owners would get a call that the acreage needed to be mowed, our neighbor who had bought the adjoining land offered to take care of it for us when he took care of his parcel of land.

I appreciated it and offered to pay my portion of the bill. However, he refused to let me reimburse him.

Result: Every time a restaurant chain, hotel, or bank approached him wanting to buy his corner lot but needing additional acreage, he has asked us about our willingness to sell our property with his. Even though we have had plans all along to use the land for our own building, guess our answer?

This is the principle of reciprocity. If somebody does something nice for you--no matter how big or small--you feel compelled to return the favor.

When presenting, you can use this same principle by “giving” your audience something: paying a sincere compliment, acknowledging that their viewpoint or situation has validity, agreeing with them about the difficulty of their decision or job, ensuring their physical comfort, or paying them respect.

When it comes time to accept your ideas, they often feel obligated to go along.

Send your communication questions to AskDianna (at) booher.com,
and I'll respond in this newsletter or in my blog, Booher Banter.