News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:The Bowling Pin strategy by BobbyH on Saturday August 21, 2010 @12:04PM (#1623089)
This sounds like a great strategy of using local customer and authoritative references to increase social proof to close sales.

However, the "bowling pin/alley" strategy mentioned in the articles applies in the slightly different context of a disruptive product. A peep hole is not a disruptive product.

Re:The Bowling Pin strategy by jamesbritt on Saturday August 21, 2010 @12:19PM (#1623123)
"This sounds like a great strategy of using local customer and authoritative references to increase social proof to close sales."

Isn't that just what Facebook did? Got one notable school to adopt it, and then used that as social proof of its value to expand?

"A peep hole is not a disruptive product."

It is if you're a door-to-door salesperson. Big difference if people feel they can quietly ignore you after peeping out the hole, versus having to make some sort of contact and then trying to turn you away.

Re:The Bowling Pin strategy by astrofinch on Saturday August 21, 2010 @02:13PM (#1623307)
>Isn't that just what Facebook did? Got one notable school to adopt it, and then used that as social proof of its value to expand?

No, it's not. You could social proof Facebook using Harvard students all you like and it still won't appeal to an old guy who lives in Australia. The key thing is that Facebook is only useful when you've got some friends using it. That's why it made sense to start with a big cluster of friends the founders were part of.

Re:The Bowling Pin strategy by BobbyH on Saturday August 21, 2010 @02:29PM (#1623340)
> [A peep hole] is [a disruptive product] if you're a door-to-door salesperson

Geoff Moore's theories apply to disruptive or discontinuous products that force customers to make a significant change in behavior. A peep hole may force door-to-door salespeople to make significant changes in behavior, but the customer doesn't make a significant change in behavior. The "disruption" or "discontinuity" refers to the changes in behavior of the consumer.

Re:The Bowling Pin strategy by Qz on Sunday August 22, 2010 @01:55AM (#1624292)
Did you read the post you were responding to? How the consumer changes behavior was clearly explained.