Let’s talk about 3rd person/3rd party selling. I will use the ultimate analogy, with the firm caveat it is only meant as an analogy of process, not as comparison.
Christ ingeniously chose to spread Christianity by organizing a team of disciples who told stories about him, as opposed to going out and telling his own story about himself 1st-person.
It is easier for me to tell those stories about Christ’s miracles than it is for him to tell them himself.
Told by others, they are amazing and credible eye-witness accounts. Told himself, it’s bragging, not to be believed.
I had this explained to me early, in much this same way, and I understood it, and have always used it to one extent or another in my selling. It is much easier to sell another person than to sell yourself. (It is also, incidentally, easier to sell a person than a product, but that’s a topic for another time.)
This is also the reason true word-of-mouth marketing or “buzz” always far outperforms anything done through paid media.
If you receive the most persuasive sales letter ever put together for a local restaurant, it may or may not command your attention; then it may or may not persuade you – but if it does, it will do so overcoming the handicap of your natural skepticism toward anybody selling themselves to you.
If, however, a good friend, neighbor or co-worker who you like and respect enthusiastically tells you about this fabulous restaurant they discovered (note the word: discovered) they have no hurdles to overcome.
You are much more likely to be persuaded.
How much more likely?
Well, with “cold” direct-mail selling to consumers, you’d have a major success on your hands if ¼-of-1% to 2% of the recipients decided to come in and try the restaurant.
I’d wager, if you told ten of your closest friends, co-workers and neighbors about the terrific restaurant you discovered and urged them to try it, 2 or 3 or 4 or more would; 20% to 40%. 10 to 20 times more. That’s how much more effective: 10X to 20X.
What are you doing to gather your disciples to spread your message?
