Bill Freedman

Default text

The Imperfect Practice of Influence

By Bill Freedman

The inner workings of our minds is fun to think about but difficult to understand.

I have deep interest in neurology, neuropsychology and behavioral science research. Many interesting studies are in current circulation…my personal favorite at the moment is The Behavioralist Meets the Market: Measuring Social Preferences and Reputation Effects in Actual Transactions–more on that at a different time.

In the absence of compelling and all-encompassing theories of the mind, the imperfect practice of influence is delegated to artists, politicians, salesmen and li’l ole me. Here are a few things I’ve learned from my own research:

  1. Facts matter. Unless you are a philosophy undergraduate pondering the meaning of life, facts are extremely persuasive. The sun rises in the east. A one way bus ride costs $1.50. No argument.
  2. Know your audience. Different people in different circumstances respond to different stimuli. No single technique works in all cases. For an audience of one, aim squarely at the individual’s core need. For an audience of many, plan on using multiple strategies to connect with a variety of segments.
  3. Be realistic about outcomes. Influencing perceptions and behavior is hard…just ask the quirky wannabes trying out for “American Idol.”  But successfully changing perceptions through influence is achievable…just ask Barak Obama.
  4. Practice humility. Factual arguments don’t persuade 100% of the time. Baseball batters are heroes if they can hit a ball three out of ten times. Influencing others is even more elusive than hitting a baseball.

I maintain my sanity by celebrating every interaction and cherishing each win. Today is another good day!

Listening to Linkbait

By Bill Freedman

Good ideas come in many shapes and sizes. The ideas that matter, however, are those that are actively evaluated and employed.

Linkbaiting, despite its unseemly name, is an idea that matters. It combines the economics of information on the Internet with the best practice of exceptional customer service. It’s Seth Godin meets Peter Drucker. It drives customers to your website with no variable cost. It quickly connects consumers with information.

Linkbaiting is the umbrella term for the range of techniques that attracts links to your Web site.  And while links of all kinds are the medium of the Web, linkbaiting draws a disproportionately large number of links without cash payment.  Linkbaiting matters because, when done effectively, it drives improvement in search engine ranking, web traffic and visitors.

Here are a few linkbaiting techniques that work (with examples and links to effective linkbait content):

One caution to linkbaiting novices: use linkbaiting for the long run. Getting someone to come to your site once, visit one page and leave disappointed does little for your business. Trick me once, shame on you. Trick me twice, shame on me.

Would Your Recommend This Product to a Friend?

By Bill Freedman

Business consulting firms and academics are actively working to quantify the degree to which word of mouth advocacy drives revenue growth in industries ranging from mobile phone networks to automobiles to enterprise software.

Advocacy correlating with revenue growth seems like a reasonable assertion. Word of mouth recommendations should improve sales productivity and reduce the length of sales cycles, both of which improve revenue growth. Alternatively, “bad buzz” will drive potential buyers to seek alternatives. Bain & Company, Fred Reichheld and Satmetrix have jointly copyrighted the term “net promoter score” and formalized the statistical calculations of customer answers to the question “would you recommend this product/brand/company/stock to a friend.”

One recent study published in Brand Strategy confirmed the validity of the Net Promoter Score. Using large sample sizes across multiple industries in the UK, this study confirmed that the “Net Promoter Score” accurately predicts revenue growth (correlation coefficient of 0.484 and significance less than 0.01), and negative word of mouth correlates with reduced revenue growth (correlation coefficient of -0.524 and significance less than 0.01). Wow, that is good evidence…and it’s only one of many studies.

With repeated studies confirming the value behind the Net Promoter Score, it is worth thinking about monitoring this statistic and implementing programs that improve customer referral behavior. A few such programs include:

  • Referral rewards, ranging from service credits to hard cash for customer referrals
  • Free product trials, making it easy to progress from receiving a recommendation to experiencing the product
  • Anointing customers as brand ambassadors, this creates an emotional bond between the customer and your product. The savviest tech brands have made industries out of ambassador programs: Novel CNE and Microsoft MSCE are examples
  • And my personal favorite: having sales ask the question directly of their customers. If the answer is anything less than a yes, the reason needs to be tracked and managed.

Before you can manage your net promoter score, you need to establish a base line. So start asking your customers: would you recommend this product to a friend?

Resistance to Change

By Bill Freedman

Sales and marketing professionals at technology companies often complain that IT customers are resistant to change. The evidence supporting this assertion ranges from customers turning down meeting requests to older products continuing in use despite the availability of newer versions.

The shocking truth is that, collectively, these stick-in-the-mud IT organizations are making many important changes. They are embracing Service Oriented Architecture, 64-bit computing, open source technology, outsourcing and mobile computing. They are exceeding demanding service levels for back office application availability and improving end user productivity. They are holding the line on costs, while helping their organizations achieve top-line and bottom-line growth.

Labeling customers as “resistant to change” is convenient, but the facts tell a different and more complex story. Many changes are taking place in these organizations every day. Many ideas and distractions arise to compete with the plan of record, but only a precious few earn much attention. Is the problem resistance to change or are vendor claims not inspiring decision-makers to change their plans?

Overcoming Resistance to Change: Look Inward

Human attitudes towards change result from a complex interplay of emotions and cognitive processes. We all make choices in our lives that result in changes to the status quo. We all cope and adapt to changes that happen in our environment and that impel a reaction.

Former University of California Chancellor Clark Kerr wisely stated “the status quo is the only solution that cannot be vetoed.” I believe that the status quo is what the disgruntled technology vendors are bemoaning. And, broadly speaking, the status quo plan of record appears to serve IT decision-makers quite well.

There is hope for disgruntled vendors, but it won’t come easy. While IT decision-makers are heavily dependent on IT vendors, they are also pragmatic and skeptical. They will resist products which are not aligned with their priorities. Time and time again, compelling, urgent and value-creating products are purchased, deployed, used and upgraded.

Look at your product portfolio. Resistance to change?