what’s in this article:
- Is your business a giver, taker, or a matcher? Read our breakdown of a popular Ted Talk for the best marketing takeaways.
Organizational psychologist Adam Grant has spent years observing workplace relationships and dynamics.
Throughout his career, he’s found that employees generally fall into one of three categories:
- Takers are always looking out for themselves — and will often take advantage of others to get what they want.
- Matchers seek fairness, taking a quid pro quo approach to their work environment.
- Givers are constantly looking for ways to help others accomplish their goals — even if it means making sacrifices of their own.
In his TED Talk, Are You a Giver or a Taker?, Grant explains that the best-performing companies are typically those with the most givers.
While Grant’s Talk focuses more on internal operations, his words of wisdom can also be applied to the way we approach our customers.
Here’s how.
Find Small Ways to Add Large Value
Now, it might seem counterintuitive to suggest that giving, giving, giving is the best way to succeed in the world of business.
(After all, it’s just not sustainable to constantly provide value to your audience without asking for much in return.)
But, as Grant explains, there’s a way around this.
His first piece of advice is actually adopted from a quote by Fortune’s Adam Rifkin:
“Find small ways to add large value to other people’s lives.”
The key phrases in that sentence: small ways and large value.
It’s not about overextending your workforce or your budget to make your customers happy.
Rather, it’s about identifying what your customers value most about the products, services, and overall experience you provide — and figuring out the most effective (and cost-effective) way to give it to them.
Of course, you will need to be compensated as you provide this value to your customers. But, they’ll be more than happy to pay what they see as a fair price for the products or services they’ll be receiving in return.
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To this end, you’re not “matching” in the sense that Grant explains it. The goal is not to make an objectively even exchange — but instead to create exchanges of value in which both parties actually end up with more than what they started with.
Check out these digital marketing tools to help you determine what your customers really want from your company — and to figure out how to give it to them without breaking the bank.
Offer an Open Invitation to Help
Throughout his Talk, Grant discusses the importance of creating a culture “where help-seeking is the norm”.
Again, this goes for your brand community as much as for your internal operations: You need to ensure that your customers are comfortable asking for assistance — and are always able to get the help they need from your team.
Unfortunately, there’s no guarantee your customers will ask for help when they need it. Even worse, the vast majority of your unhappy customers won’t ask for help — and will simply churn, instead.
So, for starters, you need to make it crystal clear to your audience that customer service and support is a top priority within your organization.
From there, you’ll need to provide multiple, user-friendly ways for your customers to receive the help they need. Even if you end up delivering this assistance on a more optimal channel, your customers should at least be able to ask for help using any of the major channels you use for engagement.
The better course of action, though, is to proactively provide ways for your customers to help themselves.
A few examples of such self-service options to provide:
- A comprehensive knowledge base full of in-depth information regarding your products and services
- Automated and manual chat on your website and social channels
- Triggered emails based on customer behavior (or inaction)
In order to provide these proactive means of support to your customers, there are three key things your team needs to do.
First, you need to have a clear understanding of your customers’ pain points, frustrations, and hang-ups throughout their journey with your brand. From there, you can create the tools, documents, and other resources needed to help them overcome these challenges. Finally, you’ll need to determine the optimal way to showcase and/or deliver these resources when needed.
By providing top-notch support to your customers free of charge, you’ll prove your dedication to their success beyond all doubt. If you’re always willing and able to help your customers take the next step along their path to success, they’ll have every reason to continue doing business with your company.
Protect Your Organization From Takers
In his Talk, Grant explicitly warns about the dangers of allowing “takers” to infest your community.
He explains that even just one “taker” can have a negative impact on your team — and can cause others in your community to become “takers”, as well.
(As the old saying goes, one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch.)
Having too many “takers” infiltrate your customer base can have a similarly negative impact on your business — albeit in a different way.
Here, we’re talking about the fraudsters and other such blackhat “consumers” that continue to plague the ecommerce realm around the world.
Unfortunately, recent reports show that these ne’er-do-wells have actually become more emboldened throughout the pandemic — especially when it comes to abusing ecommerce promotions.
This causes a predicament for giving companies that actively look to reward their customers via promotions, discounts, and other such initiatives.
On the one hand, there will always be “takers” looking to exploit your company’s giving nature. Left unchecked, these individuals can cause major financial losses for your business.
But, you can’t not reward your actual, loyal customers because you’re afraid “a few bad apples” will take advantage of your generosity. Regardless of the reason, your true community members will likely notice this lack of generosity — and may decide to defect to a more thankful and giving brand.
The task at hand, then, is to do what’s necessary to protect your organization from “takers” — while also doing what’s needed to continue giving back to your customers.
As we’ve discussed in a past article, this means being constantly vigilant when it comes to cybersecurity and consumer behavior monitoring. You also need to ensure your promotional campaigns include specific terms of use and engagement — and are free of loopholes and technicalities that could be exploited by those who choose to do so.
Putting these safeguards in place will take some extra effort on your part. But, it will allow you to filter out those looking to exploit your generosity — and enable you to focus on giving more freely to those who deserve it.
Which brings us to our last takeaway from Grant’s TED Talk…
Attract (and Create) Other Givers
In addition to filtering “takers” out of your branded community, it’s also important to create a branded community and environment that’s highly welcoming to “givers”.
Basically, this means providing ongoing opportunities for your customers to give back to their community in various ways.
Your customers should feel comfortable helping one another whenever necessary. Providing platforms, channels, and forums specifically for this purpose will allow the members of your community to engage with one another authentically and productively — and will ultimately lead to a better experience for all involved.
Thinking beyond your branded community, you might also give your audience the chance to donate their time or money to certain charitable causes. Whether through one-off branded events or overarching company policies (or both), championing benevolent causes is an effective way to attract the right type of consumer to your company.
Finally, you should give your loyal customers the opportunity to give back to your company if they so desire.
There’s no shortage of options here.
You might ask your customers to create and share user-generated content showcasing your brand’s value. Or, you might ask them to refer others in their network to your brand. Or, perhaps you’re looking to improve your products — and need feedback from your best customers to supercharge your efforts.
This last point brings us back to our first piece of advice:
When asking your customers to give of themselves for your company’s benefit, make sure they still get more than they give.
In some cases, it may be a tangible, extrinsic reward — or even just the chance to earn one.
In other situations, you might provide a unique, branded experience to your giving customers.
In still others, the added value will come in the form of future improvements to your products or services.
In any case, the goal is to always deliver more in perceived value to your customers than they feel they’re giving up. If you can guarantee that your customers will only gain more from their efforts, your most loyal fans will continuously look for ways to give back to your brand as time goes on.