Client Development: Use the Internet to Amplify Reach of Weak Ties

Originally published by Cordell Parvin.

If I coached you, then you know all about the strength of weak ties concept which was first discussed by Mark Granovetter. We talked about it at length.

I also told you how blogging, the internet and social media has taken much of the luck out of getting recommendations from weak ties. Are you taking advantage of what we discussed?

As I reflect on my own career, I know just how powerful weak ties can be. I have shared this story before but it is worth sharing again.

In early 1983, President Reagan signed into law the Surface Transportation Act of 1982. It included a provision that for the first time by statute required that 10% of the federal highway funds be expended with Disadvantaged Business Enterprises. That created new and complicated legal issues for highway contractors.

I wrote a guide and spoke on the subject all over the country. One presentation was a panel in Washington, DC.

A lawyer from the Federal Highway Administration was on the panel with me. I had never met him before we spoke that day. I have not seen him since, but I still remember his name. He was my ultimate “weak tie” relationship.

About six months after the panel presentation, I received a call from the general counsel of one of the country’s largest contractors. They had a $30 million issue with the City of Atlanta.

The general counsel told me he heard I was the one to call for help. Later in the conversation I asked how he had heard of me.

He had called the Federal Highway Administration about the problem and a lawyer there told him that Cordell Parvin was the lawyer who could help them. Fortunately, I was able to help the client solve the problem and that led to a long lawyer-client relationship.

I look back now and almost every major matter or every new client came to me as a result of recommendations from weak ties.

But, in 2015, there is something more to consider. When I was getting referrals from “weak ties,” they most often had heard me speak or read one or more things I had written. Take one moment to think about how limited my weak ties were.

• To hear me speak, they would have had to be there in person.
• To read anything I wrote, they would have had to have a hard copy.

Just, think about how many more “weak ties” would have heard me speak after the internet and social media made it so easy.

I have audio podcasts, a video coaching series and video on Youtube. Anything I write can be found by a Google search of the subject.

I saw a video clip from class taught by Stanford University Instructor Robin D. Stavisky.

I like this quote:

Social networks enable you to amplify reach.

Who are your weak ties?

How can you blog, use the internet and social media to geometrically expand the number of “weak ties?”

Have you thought about my three hour video coaching program?  You can participate and get feedback from me after each of the 7 sessions for only $49. (I spend more than that on coffee over 7 weeks).

The post Client Development: Use the Internet to Amplify Reach of Weak Ties appeared first on Cordell Parvin Blog.

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