Network Marketing: Diversify Your Contacts

It’s been said that most people know between two hundred and three hundred people. “Isn’t that plenty for my network marketing business?” you might ask. “Why should I expand? Won’t I dilute my efforts if I spread myself too thin, trying to keep up with so many more people?”

These may seem like good questions, but the concept underly­ing this strategy is stepping outside your comfort zone to meet peo­ple who are different from you. By doing so, you expose yourself and your business to people you might not have otherwise met, simply because they are not within your everyday circle of contacts.

Build Diversity In Your Network Marketing Business

A major key to success in building a powerful network marketing business is diversity. Yet, it’s natural for us to be attracted to people much like ourselves. People tend to cluster and congregate based on edu­cation, age, race, professional status, and other characteristics. We connect with people based on shared interests and spend time with those who have experiences or perspectives similar to ours. Most of our friends and associates know one another as well, and we find ourselves associating with the same circle of friends.

The problem is that when you surround yourself with people who have similar contacts, you may find it hard to connect with new people or companies with whom you want to do business. If you limit yourself to that one circle of friends and colleagues, your business’s exposure will be finite—limited to that same circle of associates, and the people they know. This can be a recipe for the slow and painful death of your network marketing business.

But think about the untapped world beyond the security of your circle of close contacts. What network marketing business opportunities could you be missing, simply because you’re not connected in those cir­cles? A diverse business network increases the chances of including connectors, or linchpins, in your network. Linchpins are people with a variety of interests that make them part of more than one network. This lets them serve as “bridges” between two or more groups of people with different interests and contacts.

Utilize Linchpins In Network Marketing

Diversifying helps you locate these connectors between clusters of people. In other words, linchpins are the folks who create shortcuts across “clumps” or groups of people.  The best way to increase the number of linchpins in your network marketing is to develop a diverse network, not a homogeneous one. The more diverse the network, the more likely that it will include overlapping connec­tors or linchpins that link people together in ways you never would have imagined. When it comes to business networking, you never know who people know.

The moral here is that you don’t know who “they” know. All too frequently we see people with built-in, self-defeating prejudices. They just don’t want to do business with “this type” of business professional or “that kind” of salesperson or—heaven forbid—a cosmetics consultant. People who think this way just don’t get it. The secret is to have truly diverse networks in which the people have only one thing in common: they’re good at what they do. In the end, that’s all that really counts. For the people who are truly successful at networking, it’s all that ever counts.

In network marketing, someone you don’t have a lot in common with could be a connector between you and a whole world of people you might not otherwise be able to meet. The more diverse your network, the more likely you are to find valuable linkages between people like you and people unlike you. The more of these linkages you can make, the stronger your network can be—and the broader your opportunities.

If you wish to build a powerful business network, branch out. Build a diverse network of professional contacts that includes peo­ple who don’t look like you, sound like you, speak like you, or share your background, education, or history. The only thing they should have in common with you and others in your network is that they should be really good at what they do. Create a network like that, and you’ll have a network marketing business that can help you succeed at anything.