[powerpress]
Ever wonder what makes people talk about things? Maybe not, but you should. If you are in direct sales much of your success comes from the word of mouth of your product or service, or even of you. The whole model is built on a product so phenomenal that it generates word of mouth. We know that your product generates word of mouth, but knowing why and how it does so will help you to maximize your word of mouth opportunities and help your business continue to grow.
Over the past month, I read Jonah Berger’s, Contagious. It was wonderful. I did it on Audible and the stories were vivid and helped everything to connect. I highly recommend it, and it’s a book explaining the science of why things go viral. Pick it up if you are focusing on your word of mouth strategy. Today I’m going to do a quick breakdown for you and give you some ideas on how they can be applied to direct sales products I’m familiar with. Then you will be able to think about how to apply them to you.
What makes things go viral?
- Social currency: How does it make the teller of the story look when they talk about it? Does it make them look cool, or “in the know?”
- Triggers: These are stimulators to get people to think about it. For example when you think of peanut butter, you think of jelly.
- Emotion: When we care, we share.
- Public: People talk about things they can see others using. If you can’t see it being used, it doesn’t get talked about. Maybe this is why there had to be a Superbowl commercial on IBS. It’s something private and so the word of mouth is just not spreading.
- Practical value: People share things that will save others time, money or help their health. This might be why you are so passionate about sharing your product.
- Stories: People love to tell stories of what happened, or even better, what happened to them. The story then acts as the conduit to the product’s message.
Let’s dig in to the first 3 concepts this week, and we will pick up the next three next week. There are a lot of great ideas for each one and it will be way too overwhelming and a 10-15 minute podcast can’t do this great book justice.
Social Currency
Does it make me look cool when I talk about it? What I talk about leads to my identity, and the things I talk about is how I make a good impression to others. There are a few different ways our products make people look cool. First, they are remarkable. This is the nice thing about direct sales products, they are of the best in class. We look pretty cool when we tell someone we have shears that can cut through a penny. Think about what your product does that is remarkable. Second, games are fun for people. Leader boards or contests get people excited and they want to talk about where they are, and if they win. Are there ways to gamify your business? Maybe a leader board for a contest? I have seen companies have contests and that is something. But if you give daily updates, that makes a big difference. One month my team challenged me to a healthy habit contest. They had a hard time beating me in score, until I gave my team lead a tip to help his team. Send daily updates. The full gamification of the contest led to drastic improvements in behavior, better scores in the game, and more excitement around winning. And of course, they were talking about it. If someone on a different team offered a piece of cake they would think about the game, share that they were in a contest and decline. The important part for you to take away is that they were talking about their contest. Third, you can make people feel special. If you name a drink or a meal after someone, they will tell people about it. If their picture is on a prominent website, they will tell others. For us, could we highlight a newcomer of the month for our teams? It’s an awesome thing to do to encourage your new team members, and they will likely talk about how awesome it is to be on your team. Fourth, you can make people feel like an insider due to scarcity or exclusivity. If you live in the LA area you know about Magic Castle, which is an exclusive magic club. You can only get in if you know a member. I remember how excited I was when I was finally able to get in. And I definitely told people about it. And in fact, I’m telling you about it now. I was so cool because I was there.
Triggers
One fact that surprised me was that Americans engage in word of mouth 16x per day. Can you believe it? What’s more fascinating is that we talk about Cheerios more than Disneyland. Disneyland is far more remarkable but people don’t go that often, so it doesn’t come up as much. Cheerios, on the other hand, is a daily occurrence. A lot of direct sales products are used on a daily basis, which builds a solid foundation. However, you need to keep in mind that there might be seasons that we don’t use them as much. I’m not in allergy season, so I’m not going through my essential oils at the same rate as before. Be prepared for these seasons. The other day I was chatting with a friend Monica about her essential oil business and we were chatting about some great ideas she had to stay top of mind for her customers. She had one idea that lined directly up with this. Air fresheners. If she sent her customers air fresheners as a gifts, they would see it in their car since it hangs from their rearview mirror. So every time they got in the car, they would think of essential oils. Talk about an amazing trigger.
Emotion
When we care, we share. Berger studied which emotions caused more sharing. Positive feelings get more share than negative feelings. That is, happy gets more shares than sad. However, fear and anxiety creates more shares. I suppose that makes sense. It’s kind of like a warning to others. Emotions matters a lot in how we share our products with people. Often, as the person representing the product, we want to talk about the specs of the product. What it’s made of, what it does. But the what doesn’t matter as much as how it makes the customer feel. So with your product, you need to ask “why?” a few times. Ask, “why do people buy my product?” Then ask, “why is that important?” three times like a two-year old would. It’s annoying but by the third time you will get to the root emotion. Right now I’m working at a standing desk. Let’s try this exercise with standing desks. “Why am I using a standing desk?” I don’t want to sit all day. “Why is that important to me?” It’s important because it’s uncomfortable and bad for my health. “Why is my health important to me?” I want to be in good shape to live my life to my fullest. “Why is that important?” I don’t want to regret missing something, or not be able to do something if it’s preventible. A standing desk moves me a step closer even though I need to be working. Find the emotion and people will talk about your product more.
I hope you have had at least one “AHA!” moment, or have come up with one idea that you can put some energy into to increase your word of mouth.
If you want to subscribe to Audible, click here.
If you want to get Contagious, click here.
And now, if you want an affordable standing desk attachment, click here.
Have a great day and I’ll chat with you next week.
Tasha
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