Do you need more prospects right now?

There is that magical formula again..the power of 3!

We have all heard the notion of the 6 degrees of separation?  The definition as explained by Wikipedia is;

Six degrees of separation (also referred to as the “Human Web”) refers to the idea that, if a person is one step away from each person they know and two steps away from each person who is known by one of the people they know, then everyone is no more than six “steps” away from each person on Earth.

Recently, Harvard University finalised a piece of research (covered here in the Harvard Business Review, and the article The Dynamics of Personal Influence)  that suggests that people are only influenced by those who are 3 degrees away?

The article quotes;

“… a person’s influence progressively diminishes as the degrees of separation increase. For example, the risk for smoking in a person connected to a smoker (that is, at one degree of separation) is 61% higher, on average, than would be expected as a result of chance. It is 29% higher if the friends of that person’s friends smoke, and 11% higher if the friends of the person’s friends’ friends smoke. By the fourth degree of separation there is no longer an increase in risk.”

What does that mean for your personal brand, and your marketing efforts?

“Efforts to foster creativity or innovation might depend on the degree of separation of the relevant parties. And groups of customers – including customers who have online connections – might be strategically targeted so as to take advantage of their influence on one another.”

Is this really that surprising?  This research just confirms what we have always known at Buzzle…that people buy people, and the more people know about you (and like) the more likely you are to influence them, persuade them, or meet their needs; in other words SELL.  

The opportunity for you is to think about those you are connected to; or 3 steps away from you, who know you and what you stand for?  Do they know you at all, and if they do, how close is your relationship with these people?  This should form the basis of an extremely effective networking plan for you (online or offline);

• Who is 3 steps away from you,
• How do you access these people,
• What is your message for approaching these people in the first instance?
• What is it you are going to do to develop a relationship with these people?
• What are you selling?

How targeted is your networking? How great are you (and your people) at seeking out and developing new relationships? How much do you use LinkedIn, ecademy, Facebook or other social networking sites to connect with these people? How many potential prospects are there in your 3 degrees of seperation (if every person knows 250 people, then I guess this is 250 to the power of 3!)

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Tags: buzzle, Creativity, Facebook, Harvard University, LinkedIn, networking, Personal Brand, personal branding, Six degrees of separation, Social network, Wikipedia
This entry was posted on Thursday, February 5th, 2009 at 9:13 pm and is filed under Entrepreneurs, Leadership. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.