True life. A recent incoming call from a prospect. Needless to say, no deal was done.

“So can you identify our influencers for us?”

– “Yes, I’m sure we can. Tell me more.”

“We don’t want to know the journalists and analysts – we already know them. And we don’t want industry consultants – because they just want to be paid. And it’s not the people already inside our industry – because we know those too. It’s the others we want …”

– “The others? ..”

“Yeah, you know, those on Facebook and Twitter and that kind of thing ..”

– “Do you think your clients are listening to what’s going on on Twitter?”

“No idea. Probably not. I don’t really care. I’ve some research budget to spend and I need to present some results quickly … like yesterday.”