Want to close more deals? You need social proof.

“I like you Ian, but pioneers get slaughtered.”

This is the polite manner in which my customer is saying no to me, for the 11th time. I had called on him for nearly six months and had been through every step of the sales process.

I built rapport. Jonathan and I knew each other well. Though I was much younger, we shared many common interests such as family, sports, travel interests and even favorite restaurants. It was safe to say that James liked me and trusted me as a person and I could say the same about him.

I discovered. Over six months, I had called on Jonathan many, many times. He ran a power plant in Chicago for a big utility out of Texas and I had pages of notes from all the open and closed ended questions I had asked Jonathan. I knew what his budget was, how he spent the company’s money, how he was measured, his bonus plan and every other vendor’s services that he was currently paying for.

I offered solutions. I showed him how my company’s products and services helped him overcome the pain points he had shared with me. He understood how our company could add value and felt as if he really knew our featured selling points down to a detailed level.

All of that mattered for shit, because he wasn’t buying.

This was my first job out of college and I sold expensive equipment and services to large businesses. I represented a household name, GE, but I was selling several solutions that were new to the marketplace. What I didn’t have (and candidly didn’t place enough value on) was the benefit of social proof. Jonathan felt like a guinea pig, thus his comment about not wanting to be a pioneer.

My odds changed by luck and through nothing of my own doing. Jonathan happened to run into his peer at another power plant at an industry event. The two were talking business and his peer happened to mention a new service he recently purchased that had been working out well. This peer just happened to be my customer who had recently purchased from me - he was an innovator that was willing to take the risk solely on the compelling case I had made.

“Ian, come over next Tuesday and let’s talk pricing. I talked with Bill and he had great things to say about their contract with you.”

I walked out of his office that day with a purchase order twice the magnitude of what I was expecting. Jonathan had been closed by his peer, not by me personally.

If you want to sell something, your odds increase dramatically if you can share a success story with your product/service and someone else that your customer knows and respects.

Think about most new products you have tried. It is likely that you heard about them from a friend. Restaurants, bars, apps on your phone, a new clothing line, a trendy new IPA beer, books, a corner barber, video games, a babysitter for you newborn, a realtor for a home you plan to purchase in a new town - the list goes on an on.

I am personally not a trailblazer, which puts me squarely in the majority. In fact, 85% of consumers are not “early adopters”. I am typically sold on a new product when I hear someone else rave about it (not their sales rep). On the adoption curve below, I typically fall in the “Pragmatist” or “Conservative” camp, along with 2/3 of all consumers.

I stubbornly held on to my Blackberry until enough of my peers raved about how great their iPhone was. If your first iPhone was the 4 or later, you’re with me. I only downloaded iPay on that phone when I saw enough of my friends pulling out their phone to pay for Starbucks. I added PayPal and Venmo to my iPhone when friends in fantasy football leagues only accepted payment that way. I switched to a pickup truck after a neighbor bought one and raved about it. If you’ve ever heard someone say “Keeping up with the Joneses”, this phenomenon is real.

In my real estate business, I employ an environmental attorney who was referred to me by my contract attorney who was referred to me by my tax accountant who was referred to me by my former manager who had been referred to me by a peer I worked with in a previous job. Do you get the picture? I can spend an enormous amount of time interviewing multiple people in each of these lines of work, checking their references, reviewing examples of their work and still not have much information. Or, I can ask someone that I trust immensely who has deep working knowledge of someone they would tie their name to. In almost every case, I make better decisions when I trust my network referrals.

Psychologists refer to this as “Social Proof”, which is considered prominent in ambiguous social situations where people are unable to determine the appropriate mode of behavior. Social proof is driven by the assumption that the masses possess more knowledge about the current situation. Other terms for this include “wisdom of crowds” and “herd mentality”.

Walk into a crowded elevator where no one is talking and everyone is looking straight forward. Then stand staring at the back wall and start talking to the person next to you. It will make everyone completely uncomfortable. You get it.

If we need to make a difficult decision, we are hard wired to feel better if we go with the masses. If that decision turns out to be wrong, we can at least take solace in the fact that everyone else was doing it.

There is also a comfort in getting “sold” by someone who has no financial skin in the game. We are trained to be deeply skeptical of “sales people” and marketers. If a commercial on TV tells us we should stay at Holiday Inn for the best business travel experience, we understand that their spokesperson has selfish, financial motivation for making that pitch. If a colleague tells us he always stays at the Holiday Inn Express when he travels to Charlotte, we understand he is doing this to be helpful and already puts his money where his mouth is.

Here are a few ways you can use this information to your advantage:

1. If your company is a market leader, inform your customer of this fact early and often. “In 2017, our product represented 40% of the entire market, which was 1st by a margin of 20%.” This tells your prospective customer that deciding on any other company makes them a pioneer and makes them wonder what they know that the majority didn’t.
2. Tell your customer why another similar customer chose your product or service. “Company ABC purchased from us last year and told us they have already realized 35% annual cost savings since implementation.” It helps if that customer is a direct competitor when selling B2B. If you are selling directly to consumers, mention other consumers with similar needs.
3. If your company is looking to take share from larger competitors, offer data that shows your market share gains. “Last year, our market share grew by 10%, as we saw all of these customers leave our competitors for these specific reasons.” If armed with information that customers are leaving your competitors, prospective customers will lose confidence in the big boys and open their eyes to the holes in their offering.
4. Brag a little. This is hard for most people but critical to closing more deals. I want to work with a busy sales person. Busy signals to me that they offer something of real value, so much that others are buying at a high rate. Let them know if you are a top performer. President’s Club? Tell them about it. Hiring additional staff to keep up with all of your new orders? Tell them about it. I would rather buy from a confident sales person with a ton of business than a humble sales person who sucks at selling.

If you are looking to close more deals, unleash the wisdom of crowds.