How Napoleon Bonaparte Built an Empire
By: Ankesh Kothari1.Napoleon’s Secret
How did Napoleon Bonaparte Build an Empire?
Napoleon Bonaparte has carved his name in the history books. Some say he was a masterful soldier. Some say he was a very charismatic statesman. Others say he was the best strategist who ever lived. Yes, he is all of that. But he became “Napoleon the Great” only because of one of his tactics. He created and ruled an empire only because of one secret.
Baubles.
He gave away baubles. What are baubles you ask?
Baubles are small ornaments that have little monetary value. But they have great emotional value attached to them. Napoleon gave Baubles to his soldiers when they achieved a notable feat.
Giving baubles as rewards is the single most important tactic that helped Napoleon establish a humongous empire. This tactic achieved 2 things:
1. Made his soldiers fight harder to earn more baubles.
2. Made his soldiers loyal to him.
Give bonuses and rewards to consumers and you‘ll soon build a business empire too. The consumers will buy your products for the bonuses. And they will stay loyal to you if you provide bonus goodies every so often.
Now that you know that baubles = bonuses and rewards, let us see what kind of baubles should we give away and how to give them away for the best results.
2. E. Joseph Cossman reveals the type of baubles you should give away
E Joseph Cossman is a marketing legend. Wall street journal calls him: “The Messiah of the free enterprise system.” He made more than 1 million dollars through mail order. What‘s more, he wrote a book about it (How I made $1,000,000 in mail order – And you can too!
How did Cossman Sell These Spud Guns?
One time, Cossman starts selling spud guns. Spud guns are little toy guns that use potatoes as bullets. You simply dig the barrel of the spud gun into the potato and when you pull it out, a small piece of potato would stay in the barrel.
Cossman sells the spud guns through grocery stores with some success. But he wants to make a lot of money fast. He knows from experience that giving bonuses boosts sales. So he convinces the grocery store owners to buy his spud guns in huge quantities at a discount rate. The grocery owners can then give away the spud guns for free as a bonus when people buy a bag of potatoes, driving the sales of potatoes up.
Unfortunately, the bonus tactic doesn’t work. The groceries don’t sell more potatoes. And the owners ae not pleased with Cossman, from whom they had to buy the spud guns that are now sitting in the stock room gathering dust.
So Cossman tries one more tactic. He convinces the owners to reverse the bonus tactic. For every spud gun people buy, they would receive 1 bag of potatoes for free.
The entire “spud guns + potatoes“ package still sells for the same amount of money. But by reversing the product and the bonus, the sales of spud guns and potatoes go through the roof!
Cossman shows that giving a bonus with your product can indeed boost sales because a bonus provides one more reason to people to buy your product.
But the bonus has to be something that people want. People didn’t want the spud guns. So they didn’t buy potatoes for a free spud gun. But they did want potatoes. And they bought lots of spud guns for a free bag of potatoes.
3. Psychologist Priya Raghubir reveals what kind of baubles you should not give away
Does the Value of the Pearls Change when they are a Bonus?
Priya Raghubir is a social psychologist and a published writer. One day, she decides to observe how people value bonuses on products.
She gathers 2 groups of people to take part in an experiment. The people aren’t told what the experiment is about. One group is given a catalog that features liquor as the target product and a pearl bracelet as a bonus gift. And the group members are then asked to evaluate the desirability and the value of the bonus: the pearl bracelet.
The other group is given a catalog that has the main target product as the pearl bracelet. There are no bonuses. The group members are then asked to evaluate the desirability and the value of the bracelet.
The findings reveal some amazing insight. The second group value the bracelet a lot more than the first group. Their desire to get their hands on the bracelet is also more.
Peoples valuation of the bracelet lowers when it is bundled as a bonus!
Even though bonuses might make more people buy your products, people will perceive the bonus product itself to be of low value. So it might be a good idea to not to offer your own products as a bonus and instead offer some one else‘s products as the bonus.
4. Waiters show how to give away baubles
How Can Waiters Earn More Tips?
Most waiters have it tough. They earn minimum wages. And they would be under the poverty line if they wouldn’t earn enough in tips. Many experiments have been conducted to see what increases the amount of tips a waiter receives.
Cornell University’s hospitality department conducts one such experiment. The researchers try to determine how rewarding the diners at the end of the meal affects the tips.
The researchers findings surprise them:
- When the diners are given one single candy after the meal, the waiters receive a healthy tip of 15.1%
- When the diners are given a bigger reward: two candies after the meal, the waiters receive 19% in tips.
- But when the diners are initially given one candy and then spontaneously offered another candy just before they pay their bills, the waiters receive a whooping 23% in tips!
In both the 2nd and 3rd case, only two candies are given to the diner. But the way they are given increases the tips by an awesome 4%!
The experiment shows that the bigger the reward the better the client response.
And the response can be even better when you surprise the clients with a reward.
Action summary:
- Give away bonuses and rewards (baubles) to make people buy your products over your competitors.
- Give away only those bonuses that the consumers really want.
- Give away some one else‘s products that compliment your own as a bonus.
- Surprise your clients with bonuses from time to time to make them buy more products from you and become loyal to you.
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This is the best article that you wrote Ankesh.
I’ve been into sales for 5 years and this strategy is
rewarding.
Only leaders that are managers can relate on this matter.
But not those only managers that are managers.
Coz it has a big difference of a manager that a leader.
And a manager that is only a manager.
I am working at fastfood restaurant.
And I remember last month that my manager get angry to me.
Because I surprise my customer of a value card that can avail bonuses.
He said to me that I should not use it a strategy to suggestive selling.
That I will only inform the customer if the customer only ask for it.
He said all those things to me after I finished my transaction.
Guess what? My customer ask me for another order, that half of the total of their first order.
The customer leave the restaurant with a big smile in their face and of course also me.
People really value a bonuses. I know it because I am customer too.
Hi Don,
Thanks for a lengthy comment.
And thanks for being smarter than your manager
Great post Anke — Seth Godin better watch out
Hehe – thanks again Skellie for comparing my humble posts with someone great
I’m with Skellie here! Great post, very nice how you show different sides of this tactic.
Thumbs up!
Thanks Lodewijk!
I love your blog too – its pretty impressive.
This blog never ceases to amaze me, if you wrote a book, I would buy it today – great researched articles and strategies[started using some of them already]. And it comes out just infrequently enough for me to value the content and yearn for the next post, keep up the great work -> thumbs up
I think – today – blogs are more powerful than book in spreading a message.
Don’t have any books planned as of now – but you never know.
A book does give me a reason to travel the world on a book tour… if it turns out to be a hit. So maybe sometime in the future…
I’ve just stumbled upon this site and I’m glad I did! Great information here. I will be attentive on the following posts (and read past ones). Thanks for the articles.
Hi Lupzdut
Thanks for your kind words. Am glad that this blog is being liked by a lot of people!
nice article here. I stumbled it for you.
Thanks Mike for the stumble. Much appreciared!
Nice post as usual Anke
Thanks Ami!
Ankesh, you’ve written yet another great post. I’ve been reading all your updates and all your posts are just amazing! You should consider publishing a book, really.
Wow – 2nd commenter over 1 post that suggests writing a book. Maybe I should take the hint
Thanks Lucas for the comment and the link love too. I appreciate it a lot!
I agree that small thoughtful gifts, or greeting cards for that matter, do wonders for keeping you in good stead with your clients and boost not only sales, but referrals as well.
Thank You Eric for getting the point of the post and making a comment.
These stories are really something else. As a teacher, I am particularly concerned with human behavior and what motivates specific actions.
I definitely give out baubles. As your post states, though, you have to pay attention to how and when you do it. Great food for thought.
I’m usually not one to reply on a blog but that was a great post on Napoleon Bonaparte. My family actually owns an original shield and swords that were owned by Napoleon himself. I made a short video on my site.
Great site/blog. Interesting perspectives, all. Look forward to more. Best – cc
Nice! thanks
Very interesting information. I will reference this article in my next blog post.
Great articles. This is really a bonus to me
I think one reason people like bonus because of its value and one reason people response to bonus because they feel appreciated.
Man this stuff is sooooo untrue I’m in class right now and it doesn’t say anything about him giving away anything to anybody and he was a statesman he was a captain and took part in the French Revolution. Soooo…..LMAO Get It Together!! lOl. . .Jk Jk But Nice Work! The pictures are good looking!
He is great man