A:  A grandmother once came to me to help prepare her for an audition to be a tour guide in Yad Vashem.  She had no idea how she would ever get the job because she was petrified of speaking in front of small groups – even when the audience was only her children and grandchildren! “Over the years I had developed a bad case of stage fright, which had actually become a phobia in every way,” she recalled. “If I even had to say my name and address in front of more than five people, my heart would beat rapidly, my mouth would get dry, and my back would hurt so badly that I almost buckled over. But worst of all, my mind would freeze and I couldn’t remember what I wanted to say.”

Nonetheless, she wanted to conquer her fear. After being coached by me, she went on to deliver an eight-minute speech to the judges at Yad Vashem. The usual symptoms that followed her whenever she had to speak were no longer there and she was able to keep the audience’s attention for the entire eight minutes. Best of all, she even enjoyed herself! In the end, she was so happy with her accomplishment that she no longer cared if she got the job at all. Needless to say, she did. “I feel this was a real breakthrough for me and the beginning of something that I was always hoping for,” she said.

Eliezer Blatt – Public Speaking Coach Eliezer Blatt is a world-renowned speaker trainer and presentation skills expert. After years as a child actor and singer performing in front of large audiences, he went on to graduate with a BA with honors in Television Production and Professional Speech. For more information about Eliezer, click here.

A:  Great question.

Networks are incredibly powerful.
Are you familiar with the concept “six degrees of separation?”
Here’s the backstory.

In the 1960’s, Stanley Milgram, a social psychologist, conducted an experiment on social networks between people. He gave packages to 160 people to send to a random stockbroker in Boston.
However, if they didn’t know the stockbroker personally, they had to send the package to someone they did know, hoping that person would personally know the stockbroker.

The next person would follow the same procedure.
If they knew the stockbroker, they would send it to him. Otherwise, they would send it to someone they knew, hoping they would know the stockbroker.

Milgram discovered that the packages that made it to the stockbroker passed through an average of six people until they arrived.
This means that you are only six people away from anyone you want to connect with!

Were there problems with this experiment?
Of course.
However, the concept is very powerful.

Here are some strategies for leveraging your network.

Find the clients you want to work with and use your network to reach them.
With this approach, you start with finding your ideal clients. Don’t worry whether or not you are connected to them. Your goal is to simply find them, wherever they are.
Once you have a list of clients, turn to your network.
Start asking members of your network if they are connected with your ideal client.
If they are, simply ask them to make the introduction.
If not, ask them who they can connect you to that might know your ideal clients.

It’s like using stepping-stones to cross a river.
Use one stone to reach the next stone to reach the next.
Use one connection to reach another to reach another until you get in touch with your ideal client.
The good news is that it probably won’t take more than five or six connections to get there!
With this approach, you don’t need to be connected with your ideal clients.
Your network will help you do that.

Use your network to generate client leads.
Start with the easy connections, the close ones.
Invite your network connections to refer a client to you.
If they don’t have any referrals, ask them to connect you to someone who might have a referral.
Just like the stepping-stones in the first approach.

However, with this approach, you aren’t focused on reaching specific clients.
Instead, you are focused on leads developing and evolving as you explore deeper into your network.
Go deep.
Don’t stop.
Keep connecting until client leads start appearing.
You can use both these approaches at the same time to really leverage your outcome.
Good luck out there!

David Hochberg – CEO, DH Group Masterfully blending 25 years of practicing psychology with an expert business sense, David drills right to the core of the problem, provides effective solutions and strategies, and works with you to successfully transform your business and income to the next level. For more information about David, click here.