Sales psychology reciprocity principle

Apply reciprocity to build sales relationships. Principle: people feel obligated to give back when they receive something of value. Sales applications: 1. Give before asking: share valuable insight, industry report, template, introduction before pitching. 2. Free trial or pilot: let them experience product value before buying. 3. Unexpected bonuses: throw in extra training, extended support at no cost during negotiation. 4. Personalized research: 'I analyzed your competitors and created this comparison for you.' Examples: send personalized video audit of their website, create custom ROI analysis, introduce them to potential client, share salary benchmarking data for their role. Important: value must be genuine and unconditional (don't explicitly ask for favor back). Creates goodwill, returned calls, agreement to meetings. Experiment: track response rate when leading with value vs direct pitch. Typically 2-3x higher engagement.