Sales people are critical
in getting the word out

Today, they perform the same analyses on laptop computers. Some readers, along with me, will remember the days when there was a choice among three or four television stations with black and white programming. With today's cable television, people can choose among color programming on hundreds of channels.

In the change from products being unfamiliar to becoming widely known and adopted, various types of people play important roles. In his book "The Tipping Point," Malcolm Gladwell discusses how the characteristics of different people combine to make innovation possible. Some people are visionaries. They look around their environment and identify unfulfilled needs or possible improvements in existing products. Often, others who do not share the visions label the visionaries as crazy. Visionaries are constantly told, "You will waste your time and money." Characteristics possessed by successful visionaries include the ability to move beyond conventional thinking and to sort out helpful from discouraging feedback.

After the initial idea is formulated, a group of people known as connectors enters the picture. Connectors bring people together.

They know lots of people and have good networks in various segments of society. They are very friendly, and others enjoy hearing that the connectors are trying to reach them and to tell them about their current projects. Since connectors know so many people, they become major figures in word-of-mouth communications about the innovation.

Many innovations involve unfamiliar technologies, and so another group of people enters the picture after connectors stimulate the interest of possible adopters. These technologically sophisticated people are called mavens, and they enjoy telling others about the innovations. Mavens are certainly necessary for the two types of technology being used as examples here.

With laptop computers, mavens are needed to help others retrieve programs, link up to the world wide Web, and help when data appears to be lost forever.

With cable television, mavens are needed to help people use advanced features such as finding out what is showing on hundreds of channels and how to record one program while watching another.

Given the presence of visionaries, connectors, and mavens, new products or ideas begin to become familiar to a small group of enthusiasts. Magazine articles may begin to appear in specialized publications and informal interest groups may form. But the general public is still unconvinced.

At this point, salespeople need to enter the picture. Salespeople have communication skills that allow them to persuade large numbers of people who remain unconvinced. They enjoy talking to others and letting them know about the benefits of the new product. While not as technologically knowledgeable as mavens, salespeople know basic points about the product and can answer questions about its uses.

Given the activities of these key people, the product then has a chance of disseminating throughout the marketplace. Salespeople are likely to reach a group of people called the early majority who are initially skeptical and prefer to observe the reactions of initial product users. If the initial product users engage in enough word-of-mouth enthusiasm, then the majority may give the product a try.

Widespread acceptance of a product is marked by frequent comments such as, "How did we ever live without this new product?" People today talk this way about products such as photocopy machines, personal computers, cell phones, and DVD players.