Effective sales people start the sales process by getting to know their customers. They then use this knowledge to somehow draw connections to people the customer already knows. The reason is obvious. People prefer to do business with those they know and trust. If you don’t know someone directly you can build trust by showing them how they are connected to you through someone they do know. In many ways this is the equivalent of a warm introduction.
According to the idea of the six degrees of separation everyone is separated by only 5 acquaintances at most. This notion greatly influenced early thought on social networks. Current social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin allow users to network with various objectives in mind. Some networks are focussed on “friending” and others on building business connections. In the end all represent some sort of connection.
By building direct connections in social networks you gain many mutual connections. These mutual connections could be instrumental in building trust with your customers. The key is exposing them. MashedIn is a free product that provides a way for you to show people how they are connected to you.
