Joke of the day - #219: Camping with the kids.

The proper type of motivation is a real asset when you want to convince someone to engage in some type of action.  Here's an example:

The loaded mini-van pulled into the only remaining campsite.

Four children leaped from the vehicle and began feverishly unloading gear and setting up the tent. The boys rushed to gather firewood, while the girls and their mother set up the camp stove and cooking utensils.

A nearby camper marveled to the youngsters' father, "Wow! That is a great display of teamwork."

The father replied, "I have a system -- no one goes to the bathroom until the camp is set up."

The father had determined a very powerful motivating force and the result was obvious to even the most casual observer.

The unfortunate reality is that many people believe that the only way to get others to do things is to hold authority over them and to place them under some sort of duress.  This is probably the least effective type of motivation, since it breeds resentment and sometimes outright refusal to act.  For a prime example that's present in all of our lives, just look at income tax.  IRS is the butt of many jokes due to the fact that people resent being forcibly stripped of their hard-earned money and the fiction that the populace voluntarily complies with the tax requirements is recognized as an untruth.  People comply because they recognize that the penalty for ignoring the demand for part of their money is unpleasant. 

Contrast this with sales tax.  We may grump a little about it, but we recognize that we have the option of just not purchasing as much.  It's the subject of far fewer jokes and less resentment as a result.

Let's apply the same sort of idea to real estate.  When renting a property to a tenant, it's usually the case that the lease contains a late fee clause.  If the tenant is late paying his rent, he will be charged a late fee of perhaps 5 percent.  Nevertheless, many tenants are consistently late in their payments.  If the rent is $1,000, then the late fee would be $50.  This doesn't seem to be enough to keep them on schedule. 

A better way to approach this problem would be to tell the tenant the base rent is $1050, due on the 5th of the month, but they can earn a $50 deduction by paying on the 1st.  Parsing the situation this way converts the penalty into a carrot.  The tenant gets to decide if they want to gain a reward by paying a few days early. 

Rewards are almost always more powerfully motivating, if they are positive in nature.  This has to do with the relative ease of identifying the cause of the reward with the behavior taken to gain it.  Anyone who has ever tried to potty-train a puppy understands this. It's far easier to reward the puppy for successive approximations to the desired behavior, than it is to punish him for making a mistake. 

There's an old story about a couple trying to train their puppy to go on a pile of newspaper.  Every time he went on the carpet, they'd whack him with a rolled up newspaper and then take him into the kitchen and throw him out an open window into the back yard.  After three days of this treatment, he'd mess on the carpet and then go jump out the window by himself.

Try to remember this idea when you're negotiating.  It might just help in some way, if you can figure out how to reward the other side and not make them feel like they are getting penalized.

Have a wonderful day!