A leasing associate offers a cold bottle of water before the tour. She closes twelve points above her peers.
That is reciprocity, Robert Cialdini’s first principle of influence and the oldest social contract we have.
When someone gives us something, we feel the pull to give something back. Cialdini’s research showed the pull holds even when the gift is unsolicited, small, and obviously self-serving.
In leasing, it looks ordinary: the cold water, the walk through a common area that was not on the tour, the follow-up that names the prospect’s dog. Those are acts of attention, and attention is what starts the loop.
Give the associate her due. She asked question(s) before she presented anything. She listened well enough to remember the dog, then wrote it down and used it. She never needed a closing script, because the prospect’s own discomfort with owing something did the work.
Give first. Give specifically. Give without scorekeeping. The reciprocity loop closes itself. — Mike Brewer
Personal challenge: redesign one touchpoint in your leasing process this week to lead with a genuine act of attention before you make any ask. Measure the conversion difference over thirty days.