Sales & Physics:

Anyone who studies electromagnetism and Maxwell's equations, has probably heard of the reciprocity theorem.

Anyways...

A friend and I were driving, yesterday, when the tire pressure sensor lit up…

We pulled into a gas station and parked by the air pump. I got out of the car and began pumping. A minute went by. The tire felt good again.

“Young man?”

I turned around.

“Can I borrow that?” he said, pointing at his tire. He had a flat, too.

“Sure,” I said. “Need a hand?”

The gentle old man smiled. “Thanks for not making me ask!"

I took a knee and pumped his tire while we had a small chat.

“What do you do?” he said.

“I own an advertising company.”

“Oh! You look young to own a company. I got something for you, then. Take this!" he said, holding out this chic looking pen in the picture (Swipe left). “It’s a Sheafer pen. Very prestigious.”

I said no. He insisted. “Please,” he said.

This nice gesture made me think that the Theorem of Reciprocity, when applied to human behaviors and psychology, tells us it’s natural to want to return a favor, a gesture.

We’re programmed to give value after receiving value. And here’s the thing: we tend to give back far more than we originally received.

The same thing applies to sales and marketing. This is how small, free samples turn into big sales.

Give away your content, your expertise, your product, your time — and it will come back to you in spades.

It's just how humans work.