Deepen Your Relationships Through Reciprocity

So before I commence let me clarify what reciprocity means to me. I refer to it as the process of giving freely, with no expectation of anything in return. In reality, this ‘free giving’ creates a virtual account where you have made a significant deposit into the recipient's account, which in the fullness of time will be repaid in some way via the various swings and roundabouts of life in business.

You might be asking yourself “What does reciprocity have to do with my business?”

I’m going to share how I use reciprocity in my business development role and how you too can implement this action to help you deepen client relationships and therefore increase the number of advocates to your business with an obvious flow on effect to your sale numbers.

Before I share this let me take you back to when, how and whom introduced me to the wonderful world that is “Reciprocity”

Two years ago I attended a work conference in Melbourne where I met for the first time, well face to face anyway, Dean Mannix who is the Co-founder and CEO of Sales ITV. He took the entire room on an amazing sales journey where, for myself, reciprocity stood out head and shoulders above anything else.

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Fast forward back to the present day and I’d like to share how I use reciprocity to help deepen my client relationships.

Firstly look at reciprocity as giving of an unexpected personalised gift. So the gift does not mean a bottle of wine or a lotto ticket, this needs to be personal to your client.

An example of one of my recently sent gifts was after meeting with one of my clients, he mentioned he was taking the wife to Thailand (for the first time) in a few months. Later that week I purchased a travel guide book on all things Thailand. I hand wrote a personal note with the following message:

To _____, thank you for the catch up on _____. I really enjoyed spending some time with you and learning more about your business. I remember you saying that you are taking the wife to Thailand and thought this book might come in handy. Have a great trip and talk soon. Happy Holidays, Dino Pacella. Later that day I posted the book and note.

A few days later I received a phone call from this client who was not only surprised with the parcel but extremely appreciative of the gesture. Now just take a moment and imagine how this would make you feel.

KEY TAKEAWAY – there is never a need to mention your company or a sales pitch in your personalised hand written note to your client. It needs to be all about them always, this is the key ??.

Let me outline the structure that I follow to help ensure this is done consistently. Let’s be honest other things will come up and after a month or so of doing this you will push it to the side and forget about it or you’ll make an excuse saying that you don't have the time or can’t afford approx. $50 a week on the gifts.

Now after each client meeting ensure you note down something personal about your client (this could be anything from them going on holiday, having a baby to moving into a new home). Place a recurring calendar reminder every week or fortnight on one evening (or even on the weekend) where you can spend two hours shopping for the gifts along with writing the personalised notes. Then the next day get to a post office and post them. Then simply repeat the process.

I can hear you saying to yourself but how do I find the time to do this. The excuse you tell yourself when you say you don't have time is just a bad paragraph in your story that is getting in the way of your happy ever after. *boom drop mic now*

Let me finish off with this.......

Just imagine having a 10% increase on incoming business through client referrals year on year. How much of a difference would this have on your bottom line?

Regards

Dino Pacella

Multi Award Winning Business Development Manager

Founder of National Finance Brokers Day

Disclaimer:

This content has been prepared for general information purposes only, all views expressed are my own and is not (and cannot be construed or relied upon as) personal advice, as it does not take into account your personal, financial situation or market conditions.