Recently my friend Vicki Flaugher recommended a book to me. It’s called Influence, by Robert Cialdini. I started to read it last night and I could barely put it down. It has case study after case study that show how to attain influence.
Dr. Cialdini tells the story of a car salesman who sold, on average, 5 cars a day. How did he do it?
Every month he sent all his former customers a card that said, “I like you!” And it worked! People began to like him too, and came back to buy.
Why does it produce results?
People feel pre-disposed to like you if they know that you like them.
I had a board chair in a previous position who just looked me in the eye one day and said, “I Like You!” And that stayed with me for weeks, and every time I thought about it, I got happy again. How many times have we heard this phrase, delivered simply and genuinely to our faces? My first instinct is, not that often! So many people are looking for positive feedback, and so often, all they get is criticism. It’s easier to find something to criticize than to say, “I Like You!” but this is something that works. Try it!
Imagine if you could apply this to your donors. Every time you make a touch, whether it’s through phone, email, or a card (you might want to outsource the mailing if this happens every month) and you just tell them, “I like you,” imagine how many more donations you could get. Imagine how you could build good feeling about your nonprofit.
Instead of trying to tell people the doom and gloom story, the business case for giving, or simply trying to get them to come out to a social event, why not just say, “I Like YOU!”
Tell me your results with this!