Are You A Big Tipper?

When it comes to digital marketing, I’m about as frugal as they get. I like to get the absolute maximum return for my advertising dollars. It’s all about cutting costs, and being efficient and optimal. When it comes to life, I’m prudent from a financial standpoint. However, I do enjoy tipping and consider myself to be a big tipper. It really is all about doing the right thing. When someone does a good job and provides good/great service, I like to give a great tip. Many people rely on tips as an important source of income. Tips are my way of giving back and making others smile.

I recently had the pleasure of attending two amazing digital marketing conferences: I spoke at Search Insider Summit and I attended AdWords Performance Forum. At these conferences, there were many opportunities to tip: waiters, hotel employees, housekeeping, drivers, and so much more. I took these opportunities to tip, I always bring a stack of fives and singles when I travel, for this very reason.

In life and business, I have noticed that there are others like me who enjoy tipping. However, I have also noticed that there are people who do not tip. I like to pay attention to the tipping habits of others because you can learn a lot about someone from their tipping generosity (or lack thereof). Just a few points you may wish to ponder, when analyzing someone from a tip perspective:

• Are they generous, or could they be cheap? Generous is a very good thing, someone generous likes to look out for and take care of others. They are a team player. Someone cheap sometimes has poor judgment, because they fail to invest money when it makes prudent financial sense or is simply the right thing to do. Cheap, however, is not to be confused with frugal. Someone who is frugal is often smart because they cut costs on the right items but are smart about investing when it makes sense. Frugal individuals can still be tippers, but cheap individuals are often not.
• Do they truly care about others? Do they value the happiness of others? Do they value good work and how it adds value to society? If someone likes to tip, I am often able to infer great things about that person. If they avoid tipping in very key situations, I sometimes start to wonder.
• If I were to do business with this person, would they try to nickel and dime me? Or, are they going to be more flexible and collaborative when it comes to money.
• Does this person like to cut corners? Tipping is a “finishing touch” in my opinion. Those who like to tip are leaving no stone unturned, they don’t like to cut corners.
• Does this person have the right values and global perspective (caring about others and not only themselves)? Tipping can help demonstrate character.

Important word of caution: You do not want to fully understand someone based on their tipping habits alone. That would be far too little data. It’s just like digital marketing: You need a statistically significant sample size to truly understand someone. Tipping alone is not enough. However, observing someone’s tipping habits can help round out your perception.

As you journey through life and also business, pay attention to tipping. See what others do, it can sometimes tell you quite a bit. Also, I encourage you to take a look at your own situation. Do you tip those who do great work? If not, why not? Remember: No tip is too small, anything is better than nothing! Every good thing you do for others will end up coming back to you in one way or another.