CollaborativEye

I am working my way through a book I haven't read in literally a decade - Geoffrey Moore's Crossing the Chasm. If you have never read this book, stop what you are doing, go to the nearest bookstore, buy it, and READ IT! I'm not going to give a book review, but if you promise to read it, I'll give you a two sentence summary: High tech products follow a Technology Adoption Curve with distinct customer segments comprised of Innovators, Early Adopters, Early Majority, Late Majority, and Laggards. There are gaps between these segments, but a large chasm from Early Adopters to the mainstream Early Majority segment. How to cross that chasm is the subject of the book.

Why rehash this today? Aside from the fact that the Technology Adoption Curve still holds, I believe the social media/social networking phenomenon has a huge roll to play in helping products cross the chasm. The book was written in 1991, when "social" was more closely associated with Karl Marx or ice cream than technology.  A key to getting the Early Majority segment to adopt your product is to appeal to the pragmatic bent of these types of consumers. They don't care about the technology, but want to know how it can improve what they are doing, today, right now. They want to know other people's experiences, and would rather hear from them than a slick sales person or a flashy vendor demo. In the past, this meant putting together a case study or "success story" on whatever meager evidence was available and leaving it behind in the hopes that it would be enough to push the prospect to a "yes". Fast forward to today... connect your prospects in an online community with existing customers. Let them ask questions, or read posts on real customer experiences. Scary? Yes, but oh so much more believable and relevant.

Many companies have  implemented customer communities, but these are typically private and isolated. Who do you know that is breaking the mold and opening up these conversations to prospects and other "outsiders?" Let me know and I'll summarize.