4 Cheap Things You Can Do For Your Prospect

Good Morning. More than 900 million SpaceX shares unlock today, meaning employees and early investors can finally cash out. So if you want in on the wild rocket, satellite, and AI company, you have two options: buy the stock or apply for one of its hottest jobs, selling Starlink (more on that below). Apparently, even a company trying to put people on Mars still needs salespeople to hit quota. Now, let’s get into today’s Follow Up. (:

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Ten cents.

That's what a Coke cost in the late 1960s when a scientist named Dennis Regan ran this study. He brought people in, one at a time, to rate paintings with a partner.

The ‘partner’ was always the same guy. We’ll call him Joe.

For half the people, Joe left partway through and came back with two Cokes. He handed one over and kept one for himself.

For the other half, he came back empty handed.

Later, Joe started selling raffle tickets for 25 cents each.

The people who got a free Coke bought twice as many tickets as the people who got nothing. So, essentially he spent 10 cents to get 50 cents back.

The scientist checked one more thing. He asked everyone how much they liked Joe.

He found that the people who didn’t get a Coke, but liked Joe, bought more tickets.

And for the ones who did get Coke, how much they liked Joe didn’t matter. Even people who said they didn't like Joe bought just as many tickets as the ones who did.

That’s how the rule of reciprocity works. When you do something nice for someone, they feel the need to do something nice for you.

So today we're breaking down four cheap things you can do for a prospect. Because when you do cool stuff for them, they’re more likely to buy what you’re selling.

Any chance you get, you should be listening for their pain points or the things they're working on.

That includes stuff that has nothing to do with what you sell.

The 3 most common things I hear are:

Now, before you go and think “there’s no way I’m going to have a customer, or qualified candidate to send them”, hear me out.

In most cases, you’re right. You won’t have someone you can send them.

But you’ll be surprised just how many people you can think of when someone says they’re looking for something specific.

I’ve made a lot of intros in my career, and it feels really good when you can connect two people that get value from each other.

The key to making this effective is never attaching a condition (ie., If I intro you, you have to do this for me.) If you do, you’ll ruin their natural feeling of reciprocity.

Whenever you're going to meet someone in person, always show up with something.

For example: a coffee or Diet Coke. Bonus points if you know what they like, so you can come with their favorite protein bar, or pack of candy.

This trick will cost you less than $5, and is probably one of the highest ROI gifts you can give.

But here’s where you can mess this up: Never ask ahead if they want something.

It feels considerate, but it hands the other person a decision, and in most cases they say no.

So skip the question. Just show up and hand it over: "I picked this up on the way and grabbed you one."

Taking the choice away makes it feel like a gift instead of a favor.

Social reach is a currency now, and everyone wants some of it.

I see tons of people worth $100’s of millions of dollars launch a YouTube channel, just to get a taste of that sweet, sweet social clout. But that’s a story for another day.

I say that to drive home the point that everyone wants views and likes on social these days, but most people that start posting on LinkedIn basically get none.

That’s where you come in. Show up for your prospects and engage with their stuff. On both their personal posts and company posts.

I'm not gonna tell you how to use social media, but here’s 3 things I recommend:

They notice who is constantly engaging with their posts, and it’s an easy way to get them to remember you.

This last one is different, because it’s not exactly something you “give” them.

It’s something that shows them you were paying attention and you cared enough to go do something about it.

I'm talking about going and checking out something they talk about on a call.

It could be a movie or TV show they mentioned they just watched, or a podcast they love, or a sports game they’re looking forward to… anything they bring up on a call, and you end up saying, "Oh, I'll have to check that out."

Everyone says that phrase in the moment, because it’s basically a reflex. But almost nobody actually goes home and ‘checks it out’.

This might be the single easiest opportunity to show someone you actually do what you say you’re going to do. (Also known as… building trust.)

And of course, make sure you follow up and let them know you checked it out.

One catch: you actually have to do the thing. This doesn’t work if you fake it. And they can tell if you’re lying.

Anyways… that’s the newsletter. Go out there and do stuff for your prospects.

And let me know which one you like the most.

Check out The Follow Up Guy on LinkedIn.