Client references: what prestige does not prove in Genève
In Genève, proposals for private banking, international organisations, luxury watchmaking and commodity trading often feature client references. For sales managers, the useful question is precise: should those references be selected for their prestige or for their relevance to the prospect's circumstances?
What the literature establishes
Robert B. Cialdini, Raymond R. Reno and Carl A. Kallgren (1990, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology) distinguish descriptive norms, which indicate what others do, from injunctive norms, which indicate what others approve of. Their experiments on littering in public spaces show that a norm's influence depends in part on whether it is made salient in the situation. Applied cautiously to selling, this distinction is a reminder that displaying existing clients signals adoption, not demonstrated quality.
Shared context rather than prestige
Noah J. Goldstein, Robert B. Cialdini and Vladas Griskevicius (2008, Journal of Consumer Research) studied messages encouraging hotel guests to reuse towels. A message describing the behaviour of previous occupants of the same room proved more effective than one referring to hotel guests in general. This finding suggests that a shared context can matter in social influence; it does not demonstrate that a reference from the same industry generates more sales.
The premature conclusion
One might conclude that prominent names simply need to be replaced with clients who resemble the prospect. That would confuse an influence cue with evidence of value: two private banks may face very different operational constraints. A useful reference should therefore allow the prospect to examine whether the problem, delivery conditions and outcome are comparable, rather than leaving the client's name to carry the argument. (our executive and employee training programmes)
What these findings cannot establish
These studies concern narrowly defined behaviours, not complex purchases involving several functions, a budget and contractual responsibility. They establish neither an effect on closing rates nor the superiority of local references. In practice, supplier-selected testimonials also showcase visible successes without accounting for all comparable projects.
A practical check in Genève
Within SHR — Swiss Human Resources' « Vente à forte valeur ajoutée » programme, one possible exercise is to replace the list of logos with a reference brief specifying the problem addressed, constraints, documented outcome and limits of comparison, with the named client's consent. In Genève, that brief could identify a confidentiality requirement in private banking, an approval procedure in an international organisation, a traceability constraint in watchmaking or an operational exposure in commodity trading. Over a period defined in advance, the team would ask after each presentation: “Which aspect of this case is transferable to your situation, and which is not?” The measure would be the proportion of presentations in which the prospect explicitly identifies both a transferable element and a limitation, with their response recorded: an indicator of understood relevance, not evidence of increased sales. To go further: explore the High-Value Selling training in Geneva in the canton of Geneva, or browse our executive and employee training programmes in Switzerland.
In pictures: High-Value Selling in Geneva
- high-value selling
- Geneva
- research
- training geneva