How to Win Client Business When You Don't Know Where to Start

CHAPTER 15I Can't See the Forest for the Trees: Segmenting Your Ecosystem into Three Distinct Groups

The key to discipline is remembering what we want.

—David Campbell, Canadian politician

Sometimes aspiring rainmakers struggle at first in building their professional ecosystem – not so much the conceptual part, but the doing part. Most professionals quickly grasp the importance of building an ecosystem of individuals who care and support one another. And we understand the value in having 200 individuals who can influence our careers.

The 200‐person ecosystem idea is encouraging – it's far less intimidating than 10,000 or 1 million people. But building relationships with several hundred people is also a bit daunting. It's hard enough to maintain close relationships with a significant other, our family, and a handful of close friends. Relationships take time. We have to nurture our relationships if they are to grow. How am I possibly going to do this with hundreds of people?

One of the secrets to effectively building your ecosystem is to see it not as one whole, but as three distinct groups. The first group is your inner circle; I call this Tier 1. Tier 1 is comprised of the most important people in your ecosystem. For most of us, Tier 1 is made up of a few dozen people, maybe 25 to 50 individuals. These are the ones we are going to focus on and spend the most time with in building a close relationship.

Tier 2 is comprised of individuals who are also important to us, but not ...