Chronicling a Tipping Point While it Happens - A Case Study

As many of you know, our sales have recently tripled and continue to grow.  This "happened" as far as we can tell shortly after we changed our marketing message to focus on travelers on 10/22/09, but on 12/26/09 and each day thereafter with only one exception our sales have been exponentially higher than same day sales in the prior year.   We are all scratching our heads trying to figure out precisely what has caused this sudden increase in sales.  I read Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point awhile ago and always wondered whether we would "tip" and if there was anything I could do to help foster the "tip".  I concluded years ago that I could not do anything, that a tipping point must be organic.  I am not sure if that is the case now.  I think it would be very interesting to do a real life case study of our situation applying the conclusions in Gladwell's book, and wanted your opinion.  

In Gladwell's book, he refers to historical events to explain and justify his theories.  Hindsight is always 20/20 and you can easily select events that justify your theories.  In our case, we can look at real data as it is occurring to test Gladwell's theories.  We can write it collectively, Wikipedia style, using real data, as if it was a prologue or another chapter in his book.  We can actually attempt to identify, and reward the 3 types of Influencers: Connectors, Mavens, and Salesman, using social media tools, e.g., Twitter, Facebook, Buzz, Youtube, etc.  For example, if a customer tells us he/she thinks they are one of these Influencers, we would need to confirm that they meet the criteria in Gladwell's book and then reward them for their efforts in some fashion.

I could go on, but wanted your opinion on this idea.  The one downside is that I would be required to open up my books (not all figures, such as cost, but clearly sales data).  I think this could be a lot of fun, and in the process of trying to figure out if we "tipped", actually help foster the tip.

Below are the summaries of the book from Amazon.  Let me know your thoughts.

Amazon.com Review

"The best way to understand the dramatic transformation of unknown books into bestsellers, or the rise of teenage smoking, or the phenomena of word of mouth or any number of the other mysterious changes that mark everyday life," writes Malcolm Gladwell, "is to think of them as epidemics. Ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread just like viruses do." Although anyone familiar with the theory of memetics will recognize this concept, Gladwell's The Tipping Point has quite a few interesting twists on the subject.

For example, Paul Revere was able to galvanize the forces of resistance so effectively in part because he was what Gladwell calls a "Connector": he knew just about everybody, particularly the revolutionary leaders in each of the towns that he rode through. But Revere "wasn't just the man with the biggest Rolodex in colonial Boston," he was also a "Maven" who gathered extensive information about the British. He knew what was going on and he knew exactly whom to tell. The phenomenon continues to this day--think of how often you've received information in an e-mail message that had been forwarded at least half a dozen times before reaching you.

Gladwell develops these and other concepts (such as the "stickiness" of ideas or the effect of population size on information dispersal) through simple, clear explanations and entertainingly illustrative anecdotes, such as comparing the pedagogical methods of Sesame Street and Blue's Clues, or explaining why it would be even easier to play Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon with the actor Rod Steiger. Although some readers may find the transitional passages between chapters hold their hands a little too tightly, and Gladwell's closing invocation of the possibilities of social engineering sketchy, even chilling, The Tipping Point is one of the most effective books on science for a general audience in ages. It seems inevitable that "tipping point," like "future shock" or "chaos theory," will soon become one of those ideas that everybody knows--or at least knows by name. --Ron Hogan --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

The premise of this facile piece of pop sociology has built-in appeal: little changes can have big effects; when small numbers of people start behaving differently, that behavior can ripple outward until a critical mass or "tipping point" is reached, changing the world. Gladwell's thesis that ideas, products, messages and behaviors "spread just like viruses do" remains a metaphor as he follows the growth of "word-of-mouth epidemics" triggered with the help of three pivotal types. These are Connectors, sociable personalities who bring people together; Mavens, who like to pass along knowledge; and Salesmen, adept at persuading the unenlightened. (Paul Revere, for example, was a Maven and a Connector). Gladwell's applications of his "tipping point" concept to current phenomena--such as the drop in violent crime in New York, the rebirth of Hush Puppies suede shoes as a suburban mall favorite, teenage suicide patterns and the efficiency of small work units--may arouse controversy. For example, many parents may be alarmed at his advice on drugs: since teenagers' experimentation with drugs, including cocaine, seldom leads to hardcore use, he contends, "We have to stop fighting this kind of experimentation. We have to accept it and even embrace it." While it offers a smorgasbord of intriguing snippets summarizing research on topics such as conversational patterns, infants' crib talk, judging other people's character, cheating habits in schoolchildren, memory sharing among families or couples, and the dehumanizing effects of prisons, this volume betrays its roots as a series of articles for the New Yorker, where Gladwell is a staff writer: his trendy material feels bloated and insubstantial in book form. Agent, Tina Bennett of Janklow & Nesbit. Major ad/promo. (Mar.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Sincerely,

Scott

Scott Jordan, CEO
SeV/SCOTTEVEST: the best travel clothing on the planet: For the Trip of Your Life!
www.scottevest.com

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