” The importance of gratitude is never forgotten.” – Deborah Lee
When you give something to someone they tend to want to reciprocate, to give back to you. When it comes to people liking each other, when others act as if they like us, we tend to like them back. Similarly, if you want something from someone, it is best to start by giving. For us, this is one common factor of humanity that you really want to build into your marketing.
Some might say ‘If you build it they will come’, but I believe ‘You must give before you receive’.
There are a couple of ways the principle of reciprocity applies to us as Mortgage Brokers. On a personal level it pays to be warm and welcoming to everyone you deal with and express a genuine interest in them. People will tend to respond to you in the same manner you deal with them. This is why you want to move from the reserved professional relationship your clients are expecting to a friendly one.
On a business level it means in your customer service that you want to be constantly giving to your clients, over and above what they expect from a transactional relationship. If people are expecting you to do a good job for them in return for the bank’s commission you will be paid, then when you do that good job they will simply consider that everyone has played their part and received a fair return for doing so. Nobody owes anyone. Instead, what you want to do is to provide them more than they were expecting, to make them want to reciprocate and support your business by referring their friends and using your services again.
“Here is a powerful yet simple rule. Always give people more than they expect to get.” – Nelson Boswell
My basic concept of marketing takes advantage of this concept of reciprocity — give, and keep giving, real value to people to start and progress your relationship. One of the principles of being a Trusted Advisor is to move your focus from getting to giving, so you need to always be in a mode of giving to people. Sometimes this will pay off, sometimes it won’t, but the people who do reciprocate by choosing you to be their Broker are more likely to be genuine clients that you can build a lifetime relationship with.
As a general rule it is unwise to ‘go for the sale’ early on when you meet someone, be it a referrer or a client, not least of all because it means you are asking for something from them, which is the wrong direction to start a relationship. It’s a lot better to propose a minor transaction first to get a bit of give and take occurring, then build up over time.