The moral way to get people to give you money
Along the Embarcadero in SF, you‘ll occasionally see a few different monks ask bystanders for donations. I’ve been approached before, and have observed people being approached as well from a nearby Starbucks… and lemme tell you — their shit never fails.
Their approach comes in 3 parts:
#1
They hand you a gift. From what I’ve seen so far, it’s either a black bead bracelet or a some plastic yellow buddhist trinket. They insist you take it.
The principle of reciprocity has been well documented — in one famous experiment, student who were given a free soda and then were asked later to purchase raffle tickets bought way more, easily covering the price of the soda and then some. What a great ROI.
#2
They hand you a notebook filled with people who donated in the past.
This creates social proof… and it is powerful. It is a signal that your actions are socially acceptable. It makes sense — when people don’t know what they hell they’re doing, they do whatever everything else is doing. It’s why Vegas clubs hold up a long line, or why Yelp and Amazon reviews work.
#3
They ask you to sign the notebook. First, your name. Then, a positive word (They recommended me “Peace”). And finally, a dollar amount.
Keep in mind that they’ve never explicitly asked me to donate. Even in the notebook, there is no explicit wording that mentions a donation, or any sort of labels at all — it’s just name, positive word, and dollar amount.
This is fantastic, because once you’ve signed on your name and a positive word, all the momentum is pushing you to complete the form by filling in a dollar amount. And why wouldn’t you? Your name is on there with a positive association, and if you’re human, you have a natural tendency to complete things.
The ask
They point at the dollar amount you wrote, clasp their palms together in a praying motion, and beam a friendly smile. How could you not like them? In fact, the principle of saying yes to people you like is well documented — Tupperware is an obvious example of a company that built success on it.
At this point, everything comes together:
- Reciprocity (free gift)
- Social proof (list of past donators)
- Consistency and Commitment (you’re a positive person who signed)
- Liking (how could you say no to a friendly smile?)
Less than 1 minute
When I signed my name, the guy directly above me put down $35… I did a quick scan and saw only double digit donations. Incredible considering each ask took less than 1 minute and they converted at a high %.
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Want to see for yourself? Come by the Ferry Building area on the Embarcadero on a sunny day and sit around!
Oh yeah… and it’s the moral way to get people to give you money, because… duh, monks are moral!
