Which person would you rather be?

Imagine you are at a business function of some sort and you are meeting new business people.
 

One person comes up to you and says hello. You introduce yourself and ask this person what they do.
 

“I’m John,” this person says “and I’m the best marketing consultant in the country”. And for the next 5 minutes, John talks nonstop about how good he is.
 

What do you mentally think about John?
 

You probably think to yourself something like this: “What a vain obnoxious person John is. All he wants to do is talk about how good he is.’

Now a few minutes later you meet another person and start chatting.
 

This new person then asks you a question.

‘Do you know Fred in the blue shirt over there?’ They point to a person you have not yet met.

You say ‘no’.

‘Well, Fred is probably the best marketing consultant in the country. He worked with my business last year and he helped me to increase my sales by 33% in less than 90 days by doing some very simple things.”

What do you mentally think about Fred?

You probably think to yourself something like this:

‘Fred sounds pretty good. I’d like to chat to him and see if he might give me some marketing tips for my own business.’

What is the difference between John and Fred?
 

John tried to promote himself by saying how good he is. Fred had a happy client promoting him. And that happy client said how good Fred was.
 

The lesson here is simple.
 

It’s a lot more effective to have delighted clients saying good things about your business compared to you saying the same things yourself about your business.
 

Which person would you rather be?
 

John who is trying to promote his own business by saying how good he is?
 

Fred who is getting happy clients to promote his business by saying how good he is?

Today’s quote:“Word of mouth is the primary factor behind 20 percent to 50 percent of all purchasing decisions.” -Jonah Berger