The Start-Up Success Guide, #4

Ready for our next topic? Here’s #4…

Give And Ye Shall Receive…

In a well known psychological experiment,
researchers traveled to a local restaurant.

Here are the different scenarios they tried…

First, they had the mints sitting in a basket
by the cash register – not given to the
customers with the bill.

Second, they had 1 mint per person given at
the end of the meal, with the bill.

Third, they had 2 mints per person given at
the end of the meal, with the bill.

Fourth, they had the waitress give 1 mint
per person with the bill, then walk away,
then turn around and smile and place another
set of mints on the table – as if she though
of it as an impromptu act of kindness.

Can you guess what happened with the customer
tipping? It’s not too hard to figure out,
right?

They used the first scenario as the baseline.
Then measured the last 3 experiments compared
to it.

In the 2nd experiment – when one 1 mint per
person was given the tip amount increased
by 3.3%. Not bad.

In the 3rd experiment – when 2 mints were given,
the tip amount rose to 14%. Wow.

In the final experiment – when the waitress
returned and gave the second mint as an
impromptu gesture of kindness, the tipping
increased 23%.

So how does this apply to your new business?

In short, give, give, give. If and when you
can give an extra gift, or item, or token,
do it.

One of the simplest ways to give a special
thoughtful gesture is to include a personal
‘thank you’ card with the customer’s order.
When they open the package, they receive a
heartfelt – hand-written note card. Wow, that
speaks volumes, right?

Another way you can give a thoughtful gesture
is to include little items in the customer
package – like hair clips, or stickers.

Finally, a personal email, sent several days
or weeks after the purchase – thanking them
again for choosing you – can be a terrific
act of kindness.

At Liberty Jane we’ve had customers purchase
our items regularly since 2008. They just
keep coming back for more. Have you ever
wondered how we get our auctions so high? It’s
not from bidders who are unfamiliar with our
work. Generally we see the same names over
and over. They are loyal to us because they
know we care, and of course they like our work.
These faithful patrons bid against each
other, and the result is a high final bid price.

So how will you treat your customers special?

Brainstorm 3 or 4 things that you can do to make
things special for your customers. They’ll reward
you for it in more ways than you can imagine.

Bottomline – Giving more than people expect is a
really good business strategy.

Now go give something away,

Jason & Cinnamon