Reward the right behavior

• Gaurav Rastogi
• 06 Feb. 2017

Things won’t change with your positioning overnight. You can move forward by rewarding the right behavior, but not reinforcing the older behavior by starving it of attention. Its a Jedi mind trick.

How the Siberian Silver Fox was Tamed

A modern proof of evolution by human selection (domestication) came up in a surprising place. There is a fur farm in Siberia that systematically shot foxes that were aggressive, leaving only the tame foxes to breed. One out of line growl. Bam! Fur jacket. Only gentle purring? Love shack, baby! In a space of 40 years, 10 generations and 45,000 foxes, the fox became tame, domesticated and available as house-pets. Instead of the aggressive foxes that started the farm, “selective breeding to create genetically docile animals had resulted in a breed of ultra-tame foxes that make good house pets ‘as devoted as dogs but as independent as cats, capable of forming deep-rooted pair bonds with human beings.’ ” Link here. An old post here.

If you reward the right behavior, you can make the change you want to see in the world.

We’re discussing how your company needs to reintroduce itself to your clients frequently to avoid being put into the “friend-zone” that might prevent access to new business opportunities. There are six steps, discussed in my post here, and we’re on the seventh and final step. You can read the previous steps here, here, here, here, here, and here

Six Steps for a Successful Reintroduction Campaign

Here are the six steps that can take you from an older, vacated, position to the new place where you must plant your flag.

Step I: Change your belief about your company’s business and capabilities

Step II: Change your story and learn to tell your new story well

Step III: Change your body language (terms of agreement have changed)

Step IV: Change your language

Step V: Create and carry proof

Step VI: Reward the right behavior (yours as well as clients)

Reward the behavior you want to reinforce

Move the relationship forward by looking for signs that your client is responding positively to your change. If this is the first deal for your new product, send them a gift plaque. If they use your language in the meeting, recognize that and tell them how it makes sense. If they tell others about their positive experience with you, on their own, thank them with a great meal, if your rules of ethical conduct allow for an extravagant dinner. It’s not about the monetary value of the reward as much as a way to reinforce the right behavior.

Pull it forward

Don’t fret about the laggards.

"People won’t move overnight into the new positioning."

If you’re spending all your energy in pushing all the laggards forward, you will run out of energy. It’s simply more efficient to “pull” everyone forward by reinforcing the people who get it. Once you have enough people crossing the chasm, other laggards will also find the courage to make the leap.

Create fun and innovative ways to reward

Tmobile created a “Thank You” app that sends out weekly ‘gifts’ to their users. It’s a fun and friendly way, covered in their magenta color and made like a game. Radiotopia’s "99 Percent Invisible”, an art and architecture podcast, created a very limited edition “challenge coin” that they sent over to the first round of donors. You can get really creative with this, and have fun along the way.

Keep it going

Keep this movement going by continuing to push the envelop of what’s desirable, and rewarding the right behavior along the way. Pretty soon, your clients will settle into your new positioning, and you will once again have access to the new business stream.

That ends the series on How to Reintroduce Yourself to Your Clients. The world is becoming digital much faster now, so you’ll want to do this once every 18 months with each client. Have fun with it!