I am a great fan of Robert Cialdini and his studies on hard-wired human behavior. One of my favorites is his study of reciprocity – the human reaction that pushes you to give something to people who give you things.

It staggers me how many sales and marketing folks don’t seem to grasp this concept.

Why should I fill out your 60 page survey? What’s in it for me?

My favorite is the situation I encountered (again) recently: I emailed a service to ask for a quote, and was asked for a meeting.

Note: I understand that the sales rep wants to meet to “discover my pain”, so that they can sell me something.

I respect that.

But I’ve just come in as a bluebird, with no effort expended on their part, and asked for an order-of-magnitude quote ($1k or $10k). It will waste both our time if I want to spend $1k, and their minimum is $10k.

I’ve made the first move – so, earn the right to request a meeting.

Give me information in return. Then ask. By ignoring my request (twice) and asking for a meeting without any response to the quid pro quo rule, you’ve just annoyed me.

So marketers and sales alike, take note: when making an exchange, offer some (virtual) quid – something, in exchange for something.

[ps: Please buy my book. http://buynow.stupidmarketing.com -- and tell your friends!]