Who do you turn to when you are about to make a major purchase? It's likely a combination of your friends, internet rating/review sites and brand name recognition. It really boils down to this: 50% friend word of mouth; 40% non-friend word of mouth and 10% marketing. Know how to utilize and activate a community effectively? Suddenly, you could find that you have over 70% influence over a consumer's purchasing decision.
Word of mouth may not hold as much weight as it used to. Just look at the gaming of RTs, vote whoring, and a variety of other less savory habits of social media junkies.With more success, these platforms run into the same kinds of problems of other media types before it: More Noise.
Word of mouth is becoming devalued within the larger streams. One size fits all marketing messages, astro-turfing and spam all try and drown out your relevant voice. Even if the messaging is on target, appropriate and fulfills an immediate need. Sucks doesn't it? Do all the right things and sometimes your message still isn't effective.
Does this make a community less valuable for influencing purchasing decisions? No, in fact I would argue that it actually puts you in a stronger position. The issue is knowing where your community of consumers hangs out (Yes it's still important.) then being able to effectively move them towards supporting and facilitating a conversion (or "sale" for those of us who still like to use dirty words).
How do you activate a community to become closing agents for you? Do you yell at them and berate them? Despite how awesome the above scene in Glen Garry Ross is. Definitely not. (I maintain that coffee is only for closers though.)
Sales suddenly become less about life and death and more about utility and value. This shift is key in providing a customer with a variety of different dialogues (and options) before deciding on a purchase. Dialogue is a natural part of the sales process anyway. Why not speed up the cycle and try to reach a consensus faster by utilizing your evangelists.
This method of closing may seem unorthodox by some (and crazy by others). It probably will be criticized for not being scalable. However, I think that community encompasses more then just online phenomena. Your peers are your community and they certainly influence the sale's success or failure.
Selling by not selling. This is a weird world we live in, but one I am happy to be a part of.
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tagged as close with community, community evangelists, Community Manager, community marketer, evangelist salespeople, salespeople in community
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Great post (and video clip!). I agree: noise still makes it hard for one's customers to find the right information to make their decision. The online tools are still primitive and the evidence is all around. It's still too easy for spammers to make a living. Community is, definitely, key to research, discovery and execution. The trick for businesses is investing in that community over time; gaining permission over time to help service their market effectively. But I don't think this would make for an entertaining film!
Interesting take: does building a relationship take the place of WOM? Very intriguing article Stuart. I think brands that can effectively leverage SM will have a distinct advantage over those that can't. Point: Zappos. I've never bought from Zappos, but I'd be more likely to purchase from them than another online shoe company. Why? Because they've built a community online and the feedback is almost always positive.
I guess you could say that building a community online is essentially WOM. After all, isn't an successful community advocating for your brand?
I find it entertaining only because I view success as being awesome. However, you still can't get all the way there all the time with community. You still need your salespeople to close on those remaining people that don't convert via community.
Absolutely. You have to tie the two things closer together though. This way you can leverage both things at the same time (and have them act as multipliers for each other).
I like this idea, you already know that I also think that Word of Mouth is going through some changes. I wonder what does Seth think about these opinions of ours.
But again, I can't help to say it again: Money is shifting towards the offline world again. If you want profit, I'm not sure the internet, where there's free-a-plenty, is the place to be today.
Only the future will say…
Amazing to think that if you can get this community thing down pat, you can essentially create sales people out of your customers with the help of WOM.
Amazing to think that if you can get this community thing down pat, you can essentially create sales people out of your customers with the help of WOM.
Amazing to think that if you can get this community thing down pat, you can essentially create sales people out of your customers with the help of WOM.
Amazing to think that if you can get this community thing down pat, you can essentially create sales people out of your customers with the help of WOM.