Early Adopters - Are You Missing Out?

Photo by bruce mars on Unsplash

I still believe that the most effective way to connect with people is to offer something of actual value. For sure, a lot of social media is infotainment: scroll until you find something amusing or something that confirms your cognitive biases. But posting - or engaging with - this kind of content doesn’t generally create a lead or close a deal.

But take heart! In this article, I’ll unlock some of the secrets of organizational psychology that will make it easier to take your service to market - and close the lead.

There are three main things to look at here:

Loss aversion and cognitive bias

Early adopters

Your communication issues

Ostensibly, the main reason people are on LinkedIn is to do exactly that - close leads - and mainly in the B2B and job seeker arenas. But so many technically brilliant people have a “build it and they will come attitude” that is preventing them from making connections that convert.

Loss Aversion & Cognitive Bias

First of all, people in general don’t try what they don’t know. Let me give you an example. If you told your grandparents back in the day that a mobile phone is a necessity, not only would they not have known what it was, they would likely have poo-pooed the notion that people couldn’t wait until they got home to make a call. I actually remember the black phone firmly mounted on the wall of my grandparents’ farm kitchen. My point is this: If you’ve got a solution - that for your prospective clients is new, untried, untested or unknown - you’ve got an uphill battle.

People prefer to continue doing what they’re doing even if they know that change is required and they’re not getting the results they expected or wanted. And this goes for you, too - it’s not just the prospective client. I’ll bet you’re not really changing much about your communications and outreach approach either. Why? Because you don’t understand it. Your area of expertise is tech, perhaps - but not marketing psychology.

So you have the greatest service, the most innovative, cost-effective solution ever - but if your prospective client isn’t convinced … no sale. So how do you - the subject matter expert - convince someone who doesn’t have the training or experience (or time) to properly evaluate the efficacy of your solution and be convinced that it's worth that outlay of precious cash? Doing nothing won’t cost them more than what they’re already spending (so the fallacy goes); whereas spending money on an unknown return seems very risky indeed.

And this is exactly what a cognitive bias is: a mistake in reasoning that’s the result of hanging on to your current ideas regardless of contrary information.

So since people hear what they want to hear, and favour information that supports what they already believe or want to be true, you need to ask yourself this key question: How does your service help them do what they’re already doing - better? Tap into whatever they believe is working for them, and help make it better. This goes double when you are trying to deal with “self-made men”, founders, and entrepreneurs. After all, they got there without your help, didn’t they?

It doesn’t matter that they’ve hit a brick wall or that their “solution” was great for solopreneurship but doesn’t scale. Your client wants to feel like their money has been well spent. And that “feeling” is initially more important than the “facts” or the “solution” which might take time to bear fruit. You need to give them an immediate feeling of value, while also validating their belief that their innate leadership capabilities have led them to make a great choice. And this is why so many programs / apps use micro-rewards to reinforce the feeling of positive action and impact on results.

People fear loss more than they value gaining something of worth. They would rather not lose money than earn that same amount. It’s called “loss aversion”. So coupons, vouchers, free trials, gift cards and the like are important psychologically because they create value even though there’s nothing to own. A free trial will result in more conversions than trying to sell to someone who’s never used your service before. People don’t want to “lose” something they’ve had (the free trial).

Early Adopters

There’s a certain group that are the exception to the rule of not trying what they don’t know. And they’re called “early adopters”. Usually this term is applied to people eager to purchase the latest in technology products, but it can equally be applied to your own business.

Early adopters in our present context are those clients which bought in to your service, your brand, and your value early on. Too many business owners try to quickly “move on and grow” and really don’t understand the value of these “first wins” and first relationships. It’s not enough to have attracted early adopters. The secret is to retain them, and keep them engaged. Why?  They are powerful multiplicators - largely unused or underutilized by most small businesses. Their initial buy-in not only helps validate your services, but is the main catalyst for attracting broader market attention. And if you work with your existing clients more purposefully, you already know the problems they’re trying to solve and how they’re describing / framing them.

So here’s how to keep your early adopters engaged:

Communication Issues

A lot has been written about treating staff and clients like “family” - and that analogy has been stretched so thin as to be virtually useless. But at the heart of it, the idea is that as a savvy, ethical business owner, you care about what you do. So you’re going to care about client satisfaction and the continued opportunity to serve them, and you’re going to care about the referrals and free advertising they are essentially providing for you. That’s what happens when you combine a superior service or product at a reasonable price with exceptional customer communication.

So update them on your progress, your latest product or service offering changes and developments. This will also help keep you and your business front-of-mind when a future need arises (for them or businesses within their circle of influence).

Ask for their feedback often. This will help you to gather valuable insights about both your service - and your customer service - and it demonstrates clearly that you care about your clients’ opinions and that you want to create the best experience possible.

Offer exclusive deals and discounts. There should be some reward for their continued support and a recognition of your valuable relationship. Early adopters are more likely to continue calling on you if they feel like they are getting a good deal.

Don’t forget to say “thank you” - it goes so much further than you can imagine to keeping clients happy and engaged.

I’ve heard that sushi goes a long way in New York.

About the Author:

Anna Garleff is the Founder of Garleff Coaching and Consulting Group. Her writing focuses on decades of experience as an organizational psychologist and her interactions with clients from around the world. This knowledge translates into informative blog articles, leadership tools, and stories that help frame the world of work. Anna continues to ghostwrite for KPMG, Deloitte and PwC - and for executives who want their ideas woven into communications with impact.

You can contact Anna using the Contact Us page of the website.