People who like this sort of thing will find this the sort of thing they like. —Abraham Lincoln
A person I met at a party said, “You’ll love this book.” So I read it but hated it. Couldn’t finish it.
A waitress said, “This is my favorite dish—you’ll love it.” I didn’t.
Some people think if they like it, then you’ll like it.
A good reference is not just anyone who likes it but someone like me who likes it.
Your sales team gets these requests all the time: “can I talk to someone like me?” That’s why it’s so important to have buyer and user personas defined—and then match those personas when someone needs a reference.
Regular people don’t like to talk to innovators; they want to talk to another regular person. Geeks don’t want to talk to non-geeks. Millennials want to talk to someone else in their group.
My neighbor is a laggard. She asked me what computer to buy. Knowing that I’d be her tech support, I recommended a Mac. She called me a week later saying that her Dell had arrived and could I come teach her how to use it. ???? What happened of course is that she checked with her father who had a Dell and liked it. She got confused: Steve says Mac; Dad says Dell. What to do? Then she saw an ad in the local paper saying that Dell is #1. The advertisement became the tie-breaker.
Your buyers ask around. They look for people like them to give a recommendation. If they can’t find anyone like them, then they’ll ask anyone. Be sure that your sales team is providing the right references with the right recommendations to the right personas.
