I recently came back from a trip to South East Asia. For those who have travelled to any 2nd or 3rd world country you know that there are a lot of people selling you souvenirs. What is interesting is that it seems impossible to make a sale as a souvenir shop. As a local running a shop you have the same souvenirs as the next shop, you probably get the merchandise at the same purchase price as the next shop, and there are so many shops just like yours that the tourist has been offered all your merchandise at least once before, and likely within the hour. So how do they sucker my friends into a sale?
One weapon of influence (from Robert Cialdini's book Influence) that the salesmen deploy especially well is reciprocity. In Cialdini's book he states that you are likely to do something for someone if they do something for you. It is why free samples work so well. The guilt of getting a free gift weighs on you.
I saw locals deploy this weapon in action extremely well. Locals at tourist destinations take you to spots that you would not find on your own, they offer to take photos of you and your friends that you could not take, and they point you in the right direction if you are lost. Sometimes they will spend up to 20 minutes with you if you need it. All this for no cost at all! They actually won't take your money sometimes. What they will do is lead you to their shop of souvenirs. That is when you buy the souvenir you have seen 5 times that day.
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