How ‘Pre-Stamps’ Help Overcome Client Resistance

A local car wash ran a loyalty program
For every car wash you paid for, you got one stamp on your card. If you completed eight washes, you got one free wash.

Another set of customers also joined that very same loyalty program. But they didn't have eight blocks to fill on their card. They had ten blocks to fill. But there was a difference. The second set of customers had two stamps already filled for them in advance.

You see what's happening, right?

Both sets of customers have to fill in the exact same number of stamps to get the free car wash—namely eight washes. So which group did better? Yup, the second group. In fact 34% of the second group got to their free car wash vs. just 19% of the first group. So why did this happen?

It's called momentum

And it's a feeling you know exceedingly well. If you have to start a project, you dilly and you dally. You find every reason to avoid the project, because starting up is so hard. But once you've got about 20% of the project going, you feel the wind in your sails and you move groggily ahead, but at least you're moving. And this is what resistance hates the most.

It hates momentum, because momentum disregards the temptation to get easily distracted; it avoids those fervent pleas to just head to the cafe or do something that's not project-related.

Which is why you need to create momentum both for yourself and your clients

Let's start with your client. Let's say you want them to do something really big and momentous. Where do you start? You start with the tiny bits. So tiny in fact, that they're almost impossible to goof up.

So let's take an example. At a Psychotactics workshop, we want to create a safe zone as quickly as possible. But this is difficult if everyone just shows up on the day of the event itself. Everything is new; everything is different and hence quite intimidating.

So we have a meet and greet session the day before

What do they have to do for the meet and greet? Why, nothing other than show up. That's easy, huh? So they show up. And they don't show up in their regal outfits. Everyone's casually dressed. There are no speeches, no notes, no seats to find, nothing to do but show up.

And when they've shown up, we take them to the room and show them the room. They get a chance to see where they're sitting. They see the notes on their desk. And then we have a question session. If there are any questions, they can get it out of the way. Once they're done, we suggest they go to dinner together.

So what just happened there?

20% of the safe zone was created before the workshop began. When you watch the participants walk in the next day, they're not frozen. They're laughing, they're joking and they’re having a great time. There's no fear and intimidation. And hence the momentum towards creating a safe zone is well on its way.

And no matter whether you're in consulting or training, you can knock out the resistance simply by getting stamps on their card. Once the client gets started, they continue to move along more efficiently than if they started from zero.

But how do you use this concept for your own goals?

Let's say you want to lose weight. What do you do? You need to get 20% on your card, right? Well, don't start with this big vigorous program of losing weight. Just focus on one thing you are guaranteed to achieve. E.g. No munching sweets after lunch or dinner.

Now this isn't about eating less, or exercising more or doing Zumba steps. It's just a little something that is almost like cheating. But it gets the momentum in place. A week of this simple activity and you're well on your way to getting 20% on your card.

But isn't this kinda sneaky, almost like fooling your brain?

Sure it is. But why do you care? You want to get the job done, don't you? So go ahead and fool your brain, if that's what it takes. And help your clients fool their brain. If you're running into clients that won't get their work done, won't do their assignments, don't implement things on time—then look for the blockage.

The blockage lies in them having to fill ten stamps on their card, instead of eight.

How can you fill two stamps in advance?
How can you get the momentum going?
Figure that out, and more clients will get to the finish line faster than ever before. And ironically, so will you!

How do you get momentum? Share your business or personal story here.

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