Who influences buyers? Not who you think…

For years, companies have used experts to hawk their products.

Nearly every (NM) supplement company for example, has an MD or scientific panel affirming that their company’s products are the finest, most natural, cutting edge, state of the art and a cut above.

But the wary citizen wonders, can they all be right?

In criminal trials, both sides will drag psychiatrists onto the stand. And each will say the opposite about the defendant – one that he knew what he was doing and the other, that he didn’t.

Books and movies, too. Ask a different reviewers or critics – the “experts” – and get an opposite point of view.

So who does a prospective buyer listen to?

Not the experts, apparently.

We seem to prefer hearing the opinions of people who are like us, i.e. NOT experts. People we identify with have more credibility with us than ‘experts’.

Amazon posts peer reviews of books, games, and toys. Not reviews of experts. People value most the recommendations of other regular readers or players – people like themselves.

Here’s one reason experts have lost their credibility. Every product, program or service seems to have an expert vouching for it. So who can you trust?

Everyone of us normal schmos knows that every product cannot be the best. So the experts, we conclude, have an agenda. They’re being paid (often secretly, as in the case of medical doctors taking fees for drugs and treatments they recommend) or have another agenda – a personal benefit they’re getting – that may not be known to us. So who cares what they say?

It’s a question of trust. And the experts are losing ours.

We’ve come to see that the quality of the product is not first for the experts. Yes, it has to be good enough not to be bad. But for the rest, we’re discovering that the referrals seem to be self-benefitting. Including in medicine, once a trusted profession.

Needless to say, people WITH an agenda that is known to all – such as sales people (including network marketers) – also have less credibility when they’re recommending something than does a regular peer. Regular peers don’t sell stuff. All the more reason to be forthright up front if you’re selling something when you talk to friends.

Don’t you too, appreciate being forewarned so you can adjust your mental attitude as your friend makes her pitch? Here are some ways to do that…on the house.