Don’t overuse a few customer stories
The more I see an individual customer reference the less confidence I have.
And painted beetles explains why.
As a ten year old schoolboy my science teacher took our class out to the woods at the back of the school.
We had a trowel, a plastic flower pot, a saucer and some apple chunks.
The teacher dug a small hole, placed the flower pot in it so that it was level with the ground around it, popped the apple in, and then propped the saucer over the top with some nearby twigs.
The next morning we returned to the wood and lifted off the saucer.
An excited bunch of schoolboys peered in and counted 12 beetles crawling around in the bottom of the flower pot.
The teacher took a pot of Tip-Ex (correcting fluid) and painted a white spot on the back of each beetle before returning them to the surrounding foliage.
We placed more apple into the flower pot, reset the saucer over the top, and headed back to class.
The next day we returned, and again lifted the saucer and peered in. This time there were 15 beetles, but this time, 6 of them had white spots on their back - beetles that had returned for more!
We repeated this same exercise over the course of a few more days, recording our results in our notebooks.
This is called the Mark and Recapture method, and we were able to do a calculation to estimate the total population of beetles in the area,
N = (M*C) / R
N = estimated Number of individuals in the population
M = number of individuals captured and Marked
C = total number Captured the second time (with and without a mark)
R= number of individuals Recaptured (those with a mark)
In our example N = 12*15/6 = 30
Not only is this a wonderful example of a practical school lesson that sticks with you for years after,
But it has always transferred to other areas of my life where I see a “marked beetle” again and again.
You might have that very happy customer.
The customer that is always happy to speak at your event.
Who is always available for a dinner
Who will jump on a customer reference call
Who will happily add a quote to your press release.
But in my mind, that is a marked beetle.
Every time it reappears is reduces the estimate for the total population (of happy customers in this case).
So instead of reverting to a handful of faithful customers for references, testimonials and speaking slots, focus hard on increasing the population of first time customer stories.
As your buyer scrolls through page and page of industry and size appropriate stories they will subconsciously be counting the marked beetles (or lack of them) and estimating your happy customer population.
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