Someone sent me this message about 5 years ago.  I think it has more merit than some might think…anyway it’s worth some consideration.  ~ Kirk 

How One Guy Used “Reciprocity” to Make a Quick Half-Million Dollars in a Single, Incredible, Fun-Filled Weekend

BM, a friend who’s in the furniture business, and his girlfriend just got back from a trip to southern France. They flew into Nice, BM told me, where they stayed at a very nice hotel and were treated to a gourmet meal. The next day, they were driven to a private chateau outside Cannes — where they and about 70 other couples were wined, dined, and sumptuously entertained for two solid days, dawn to dusk.

All the guests, including my friend, were furniture sellers or their companions. Their host, MT, was a wholesaler who wanted to introduce them to his new pieces. He was giving them the gift of this fabulous weekend — no formal strings attached — in the hopes that they would reciprocate with purchases.

It was a bold move. The entire weekend, BM figured, cost MT $300,000 — a lot of money, especially during a period of slowing sales.

Did it work?

“Definitely,” BM said. “Everyone was buying stuff.”

“Why?”

“He had good, well-priced items.”

“But was that the only reason? Don’t you think all that wining and dining had something to do with it?”

“Well, of course. It had a lot to do with it.”

“So how much do you think he made?”

BM thought about it. “I spent about eighty grand. And I’d say the average order was about fifty grand.”

“So that’s $50,000 times 80 buyers?”

“Right.”

“$4 million.”

“Right. Wow!”

“At what kind of margin?”

“At those good prices, not that much — but, still, maybe 20% or 25%.”

“Say 20% of $4 million. That’s $800,000. And MT’s cost of putting on the whole thing was $300,000. Sounds to me like good business.”

“Not to mention the friends he made.”

Friends that will probably remember the weekend he treated them to for the rest of their lives.

Reciprocity can be a very effective sales tool. It works well with people you don’t know, as yesterday’s holiday-card experiment proved, and it works even better with existing customers, who are likely to accept free gifts without as much skepticism.

I intend to figure out how each of my clients can make better use of this powerful tool. I make the same recommendation to you.