One of my UPS customers is Simpson Strong Tie, which reminded me of strong ties vs weak ties, which reminded me of this blog post I did earlier this year:
Network Marketing
Only two words, but most people (including me), have it all backwards. I've heard this before but it's finally starting to sink in. Network marketing is not about marketing your stuff to the people in your network, it's about getting the people in your network to market your stuff to their network.
I
think I've heard that the average person has 200 contacts in their
phone. Or is it 200 Facebook friends? Doesn't really matter, so let's
say that your network consists of 200 people. If you try to sell your
stuff to them, if you're lucky maybe 10% (20 people) may buy from you.
But if your 200 friends market to their 200 friends, we're now talking
about 40,000 people hearing about your product or service. If 10% of
those people are interested, you've now got 4,000 customers.
But
how do you get your friends to market for you? One way is to post stuff
on FB that's worthy of being liked, shared or commented on. Another way
is to train them on what to tell their friends. Here's an excellent podcast from Dr. Ivan Misner, the founder of BNI (Business Network International) on the subject.
And
LinkedIn is really built on the idea of reaching your 2nd degree
connections, that is the people who are connected to your connections.
Here's an article on
how to reach out to them. According to LinkedIn, I have 319 1st degree
connections, but 201,712 2nd degree connections. That's an average of
just over 632 connections per person.
And there is also the theory that
weak ties can be more influential than strong ties, because your strong
ties tend to be more like you, therefore they already tend to know the
same people you do and they know about the same things, such as job
openings, as you do. However, the people that they know that are outside
of your group, your weak ties, will likely have other interests or
needs than your close group of friends.
LinkedIn
will also list your 3rd degree connections (I know a guy who knows a
guy). These are very weak ties but you may still have some influence
over them according to this article.
So, quit trying to sell to your friends! Instead, let them sell for you to their friends.
Interesting days
Today - Don’t Make Your Bed Day, Short Story Day, Re-gifting Day, International Dalek Remembrance Day, Flashlight Day, Ribbon Candy Day, Short Girl Appreciation Day, Look On The Bright Side Day and Crossword Puzzle Day
Tomorrow - Forefathers' Day and Date Nut Bread Day
Next Thursday- Card Playing Day Gin? Poker? Bridge? Go Fish? What's your favorite?
January 21 - International Sweatpants Day, Squirrel Appreciation Day, Hugging Day and Granola Bar Day
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