Customer information fuels Sun Software's analyst program. In 1996 UpStart Communications launched a user program for Sun Software, a division of Sun Microsystems. Never did these clients realize what riches were buried in their own customer base. UpStart developed the Leverage program when interactions with both the media and clients' customers made it clear how important reference selling was to both sides of the marketing equation. By its very nature a press release asks the press and the public to take the company's word for a product's very existence, much less its wonderful features and benefits.
Users are the proof to the press release's pudding.
A third-party testimonial makes any vendor's claims far easier to swallow. From a customer's standpoint, the single most powerful factor in the decision to buy a new high-technology product is its successful adoption by another customer. It's only natural. When one's job depends on making the right decision, one is far more comfortable throwing open the corporate coffers if one's jitters are first quieted by strong testimonials. A well-blazed trail is much more inviting than a trackless wilderness.