As I sat down to think about what to blog this week, a past interview that I had with Matthew Goddard of R2i came to mind. For the next few days, I will share a question and answer from that discussion. I would love to hear your thoughts and encourage your feedback.
What role do Opinions Leaders play in influencing purchasing decisions?
There are countless definitions out there for Opinion Leaders. I think of them as Trusted Advisors – the individuals you call when contemplating an issue, wrestling with a decision, solving a problem or just looking for new ideas. The role they play in purchasing decisions varies depending on the product or service involved. For instance, one of your Trusted Advisors relative to fitness might say to you, “Matt, you have got to join this new gym – it is the best fitness program I’ve seen and has made a huge difference in my energy level and productivity.” In this case, you may not even be in the market for a new gym, but because you trust and admire this person’s opinion on fitness, you are now excited to look into a membership. On the other hand, you probably have Trusted Advisors whose advice you seek for very specific decisions you are facing. For instance, I recently had to make a decision about whether Community Analytics should purchase or build a particular piece of technology. There were four people I talked with about this decision. I chose those four because I trust each of them personally, and I have experienced the positive impact of their knowledge in this area before.
Do you have particular people you go to for specific topics?
