Is any reference a good reference?
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.