Prospects prefer referrals from "a person like me"

Whose opinion counts most to your prospective clients?  According to the most recent survey by The Edelman Trust Barometer, the answer is most likely "a person like me."   (Thanks to the Church of the Customer for pointing out this link.)

This fits nicely with research conducted by Prince & Associates a few years ago. They found that at 2/3 of affluent clients said they'd prefer to find a financial advisor by referral, and about half of those would look to friends or colleagues (aka "people like me") for that referral:

Your best prospects WANT to find you by referral.  If you're not regularly asking "people like them" for introductions, it's time to get started.

Comments

[David Koopmans]

Interesting read; in reality you could replace "Affluent" with "CEO" or "buyer" and the same stats would apply. I know this is your niche, but what you are saying relates very strongly to b2b marketing as well.