I often get asked about the ideal number of connections you should have in your professional network. The topic often gets muddled because our first impulse is to equate networking success directly with the number of connections we have. I’m here to tell you that you don’t need a huge number contacts to have networking work for you. It’s much more important that you have strong relationships with the people in your network. But if you are really looking for that magic number of connections, here it is:
One more than you have now.
That’s the key to success. What’s really important isn’t the overall number of connections, but the attitude you bring to your activity. If you are always looking for one more connection, you’ll find that you keep yourself open to new opportunities and relationships; and that’s the key to successful networking.
So whether you have 10, 100, or 1,000 contacts, the goals is to keep your eyes open for that next relationship you can build.