I went to a seminar a number of years ago with a guy called Rob Torres.

Rob's sadly no longer with us. But back then he was a world-class comedian, mime and juggler. Kind of like a live version of Mr Bean.

My reason for going to the seminar was to learn more about stagecraft – using your body, the space on stage, timing – all the things that can make your presence on stage more powerful.

But I also indirectly picked up some great lessons about marketing.

One came from a story Rob told about how he interacts with his audience.

To get the most laughs out of his show he needed a couple of his audience members to participate with gusto. To join in and do things they wouldn't normally do.

How did he do that?

Gradually. And with kindness.

In one case, for example, he started off by handing a camera to an audience member in the front row and gesturing for him to take a photo of Rob on stage.

Not a huge commitment, nothing risky or embarrassing, so the audience member played along.

Then he whipped out a tie for the photo – but struggled to get it on. So he handed the tie to the audience member gesturing for him to show him how to tie it.

Again, not asking for much more. The audience member's in the spotlight a bit now, but nothing arduous. And he got a big round of applause just for tying a tie.

Next, Rob jumped off stage to have his photo taken with the audience member and they both posed for the photo amidst much laughter. By now the audience member was happily taking cues and enjoying every minute of it.

Rob combed his hair with a giant comb. So did the audience member.

He put on a huge cheesy grin. So did the audience member.

He then blew up a balloon and shoved it in his mouth so his cheeks puff out like a blowfish.

And amazingly, the audience member followed suit stuffing a balloon into his cheeks.

And they posed for the camera to tumultuous applause.

Now if Rob had just appeared on stage and asked that audience member from cold to shove a balloon in his mouth and pose in front of the whole audience, there's no way he'd have done it.

But by building up to it. By asking for small commitments and rewarding (through the applause of the audience) him for each step, he built up to a stage where the audience member was more than willing to do so.

In a very short space of time, he'd learnt to trust Rob. He knew he wouldn't be embarrassed or ridiculed. And that there'd be a payoff for him. So he did it.

And, of course, that's a great model for our own marketing.

Rather than asking our clients to take the big step of hiring us from cold, we should be nurturing our relationship with them.

Every interaction with us should build trust – and give some sort of payoff for them.

For Rob's impromptu assistant, the payoff was the applause.

For us, it's going to be some kind of useful advice or help that makes their life or business better.

But at every stage, they need to be building up their confidence in us so that when we ask them to shove a balloon in their mouth and grin for the audience, they have no hesitation in doing so.