Reciprocity is recognized as an important psychological factor in selling and negotiations (see this excerpt from Bazerman/Malhotra’s “Negotation Genius” for a brief discussion on reciprocity). If someone gives you something, you want to give something in return.
Taken to extremes, of course, this give-to-get mentality causes all sorts of problems in human relations. But understanding reciprocity and how it operates gives a customer-facing person important, and completely ethical, tools to use to improve the chances of getting what you need from a busy customer.
Take followup, for example. At one level, checking in with a client on something (the status of a proposal review, a promised deliverable, or payment for a recent invoice) is basic business tactics. You need something, and you remind the other party to give it to you. Wait for response, and repeat as necessary.
But following up is a small way of generating feelings of reciprocity. What you’re saying is, “I’m taking some of my time to ask you for something you owe to me” or “I’m taking the initiative to reach out, and thereby save you from having to remember.”
And the reciprocal response is, often, to move that request up nearer the top of the heap, to bother finance about that late payment, or to review the proposal she’s been meaning to look at the last two weeks.
That alone makes it worthwhile to pick up the phone or write a quick email, don’t you think?
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The unbalanced relationship between buyer and seller
