8:32am
Saint Paul
“I have something for you.”
The waitress took the lotto ticket from my hand.
“What’s this for?”
“It’s a tip. But instead of tipping at the end of the meal, I’m tipping now. Is that ok?”
She looked at me and my friend. She shrugged.
“Sure!”
I got this idea from Glenn Osborn at tippinggold.com.
According to Glenn… and B.F. Skinner… and demonstrated by the success of casinos around the world…
We love a variable, unpredictable reward system.
An unpredictable reward gives us a bigger dopamine hit than a predictable one.
And Glenn suggests giving a reward with every interaction at a restaurant, bar, etc.
So when the server returned to fill our water, I gave her another ticket.
“You already gave me one.”
“Yes. But that was the last visit.”
Next time she came, a dollar.
Next visit, I asked her to pick between a dollar or a lotto ticket. She chose the ticket.
Food runner got his lotto ticket too.
I had no expectation of what might happen.
And for the most part… nothing did happen.
By the end of lunch I had tipped something like $6 in lottery scratch-offs and a single dollar. Then, with the check, I left the normal tip too.
“I won a dollar on one of the tickets.” She smiled. “Thanks for making this a fun lunch.”
Lessons learned:
• It was a memorable lunch. Even if the burger wasn’t.
• Keeping lotto tickets on hand means I can do this more frequently.
• The excitement gets lost a bit if you’re not surrounded by people to witness it, like other patrons and staff. (We were sitting outside.)
Anyway.
How are you creating fun in your business transactions, *|FNAME|*?
Reply and let me know. I read every email.
Everyone who replies gets either an archived interview from my podcast—a $97 value—or one of my books in digital format.
It’s a variable reward system, my friend.
First response gets a podcast, chosen at random.
Second, a book.
Third, a podcast.
Fourth, a book.
And so on.
Go!