Give; Get; Repeat - The Never Ending Cycle of Appreciation Marketing

Last week we discussed the fact that in life there are givers and there are takers.  Without both of these types of people, there would be no exchange of anything.  Without the two halves of the relationship, there is no relationship.  For every giver, there must be a taker.

In the past I never wanted to be known as a taker.  Takers have a bad reputation; they take and take and take.  They never give back.  Is that true?  Why does it have to be considered that way?  Takers can be givers, and givers can be takers.  After all, it requires two for this process to work, doesn’t it?

Perhaps these terms just have a bad reputation, a bad feeling so to speak.  Maybe we should change the terms to donors and recipients, contributors and receivers.  Isn’t it amazing how a change like this can make something that seems to be bad into something that we can accept or even like?

Givers provide something that the recipients want or need, whether the recipients know it or not.  If I give you a referral, I am the giver, and you are the recipient, or taker.  If you pass a compliment to me about a shirt that I am wearing, you are the giver, and I am the receiver or taker.  Every exchange takes two to make it work, a donor (giver) and a recipient (taker).

Many of us just think that takers are bad people, the people that we never want to be, the people that we want to avoid.  If you are a giver, you need takers; you need people to accept or receive your actions that you give.  What good is a referral without a person to which to give it?  What good is a compliment without someone to whom to mention it?

No matter how many referrals or compliments that you give, you must have that many receivers, or takers.  They may be the same person multiple times, but spreading the wealth is so much better.  Your receivers should appreciate your efforts, especially the person who receives multiple referrals, but they should do something else.  They should pay the effort forward.

Pay it forward – wouldn’t that be a great title for a movie?  Repeating the efforts of which you are the recipient extends the action or process.  Give, get, repeat; what a simple philosophy.  What comes around goes around.  When someone gives something to you, you must give something to someone else.  When someone does something nice for you, do something nice for someone else.

What about the originator of the process?  Why not just give back to the person starting the process?  Giving back to the person who gave to you is our normal thought process, and it is not the wrong way to think.  However, why not do both, why not give back to the person who provided you something and pay it forward to someone else?  In other words, what goes around comes around. 

Can we incorporate this philosophy into our business life?  Referrals are the backbone of any business, or should be.  Passing referrals is like giving someone money for their business.  But what about other ways of using this philosophy in our lives?  Passing compliments or advice, providing a friendly ear, sharing a meal, sharing any information that improves someone’s life, even recommending a blog to someone, they all qualify.

When someone helps you through any of these ways, accept their gift, for it is a gift.  Then pass a gift to someone else, or even pass another gift back to the person who helped you, who gave you a gift.  Give, get, repeat; it works for all of us.  Extend, accept, duplicate; provide, receive, replicate.  They all mean the same.

Appreciate all those with whom you come into contact during your life, both business and personal.  Accept their gifts and show your appreciation in return by passing on gifts to others and back to them.  Then repeat the process.  What comes around goes around; what goes around comes around.  It really works.

If you want to add a comment, please do so.  Otherwise I would be glad to chat about these theories, or anything else, if you call me at 360-314-8691.  You can also email me at Jim@SOC4Now.com.  Please let me hear from you so we can build a networking relationship and help each other.