When I first moved to Japan, I noticed the reciprocity principle with friendship umbrellas at train stations. The stations leave them where anyone can reach them, so if you arrive without an umbrella and find rain waiting outside, you can take one. Once you’ve finished with it, you can drop it off at another station for the next person.
I’d never seen anything like that back home. Nobody asks for your name or checks whether you’ll return the umbrella. You take one because you need it, and the whole arrangement depends on you leaving it for somebody else when you can.
That trust stayed with me. A person could keep an umbrella, yet the stations in Japan continue to put them out because other people still need them.
Before any money changes hands
I try to bring the same attitude to people who contact me about their businesses. They’ve asked me what I think of domain names and lead magnets, why their ads aren’t converting, and how they might build their email lists. Others have wanted my opinion on a video or something they’ve posted on social media.
When I can help, I answer the question in front of me. Sometimes I write back, while other times I record a Loom video or an audio message so I can explain my thoughts properly. I’ve done that for customers and for people who’ve never paid me anything. I don’t check their purchase history before I decide whether to help.
A few people have told me they’d never received a personal video response from a business before, despite buying from plenty of others. I’m glad they found mine useful, though I wish an individual answer didn’t come as such a surprise.
Earning trust
I want people to know they can ask for my honest opinion, even when that opinion won’t lead them towards one of my products. I can’t record a video for every message, but when I do have the time and an answer that might help, I’ll give it.
The stations can’t know who will return a friendship umbrella, but they make one available to the person who needs it now. I can’t know whether someone I help will ever buy from me. If I can give them useful advice today, I don’t need that answer first.