The Power of the Hamlatza (recommendation)

When I was in the states and wanted to buy a new electrical device, car, or make any other large purchase I would often consult the literature on such products such as consumer reports. Israelis operate in a completely different way. The so often make significant purchases purely on the recommendation of others.

Yesterday (now last week)I was reminded of this phenomenon when I was doing some work at a cafe and another patron stopped me before I left to ask me about the size of my computer screen. We got to talking and he began to ask me my advice on buying a new computer. After hearing what he wanted in a computer I advised him to buy an iMac because honestly if you have the money to buy from apple (and it seemed like the money wasn't any issue for this guy) why wouldn't you buy from apple? I also explained apple care to him (don't know if it exists in Israel, but I assume it's an international maintenance program for all apple products. If I wasn't typing this post on my phone at work I might actually find the answer haha) which he really liked. At the end of our conversation, which lasted maybe three minutes it seemed like he was sold on buying a Mac. 

It's amazing how this guy, who didn't know me prior to yesterday, took serious advice from me on making an important purchase. It's like he saw that I'm a well spoken guy who is passionate about Apple products and trusted my advice that it was sound. It felt nice to have someone trust what I told them in such a short period of time. Apple, if you're reading this and want to offer me a job I'm currently open to employment offers.

In any case, for any of you who don't know it yet, the person to person recommendation in Israel has a great amount of power. If you're in business or need to promote yourself or a product recognize this power and use it to your advantage as much as possible.  In my experience Israelis will more likely go off a friend or neighbor's recommendation than literature such as consumer reports.