How Joe's target doctors
out-influenced an influential!
Joe had a dilemma
A key opinion leader was talking in favor of the competition's product. And the competition was gleefully
spreading the word. But Joe had a story to tell. His product offered attributes the competition didn't.
Joe had little sales support. And his budget had been trimmed. He couldn't out-shout the opinion leader.
Joe was stumped.
"Fight fire with fire…"
…offered a friend. "Involve your target doctors. Write to them personally.
Ask if they'll assist you by rating the value of each product attribute. Promise to share the results with them.
A lot of them will respond. You'll be pleased at how positively they value the attributes.
Then summarize what they say and share with all your targets.
You'll be more than happy with what happens."
Asking doctors to speak
Joe did it. He began a dialog with doctors. He personally wrote to each. He asked if they would assist him.
He offered each a voice in evaluating the attributes. And offered each a chance to learn what everyone said.
A remarkable thing happened.
Specialists speak volumes
One out of five targets responded. They wholeheartedly supported the product attributes. Sales began to climb.
Joe fed their aggregate answers to all his targets as critical mass influence. Sales reached their highest levels,
shooting past goal for the year—a 1/3 increase—the highest worldwide.

Take Away: Invite doctors to speak for you and they'll out-influence an influential.

New Knowledge:
Did you know…?

Rogers (Diffusion of Innovation) theory said the “influential” drove product adoption.
But the newest research says a critical mass drives adoption.
Controlled ROI studies of Doctors Dialogs by pharma affirm it. 
These studies show that the influence from mass feedback produces the highest, most lasting sales increases.

“Cascades of influence are driven not by influentials but by a critical mass...”
(Watts and Dodds, 2009)