Prospecting

Prospecting is a form of business communication that attempts to deliver a marketing message to a receptive person by going through many non-receptive people to find the receptive ones. Business people try to narrow the field of people to those likely to be receptive by purchasing mailing lists or joining networking groups of people professing to share similar interests. Another hidden power of prospecting is the principle of the six degree of separation, sometimes called the small world hypothesis.

What is?Com has a brief history of the six degrees concept. "Six degrees of separation is the theory that anyone on the planet can be connected to any other person on the planet through a chain of acquaintances that has no more than five intermediaries. The theory was first proposed in 1929 by the Hungarian writer Frigyes Karinthy in a short story called 'Chains.' " Continued.... http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci932596_
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Prospecting is, thus, a very hopeful endeavor. If we can frame an attractive message (package) and ask everyone we know to deliver it to someone they know who meets a certain criteria (like needing a certain type of service), chances are the message might get to a receptive person. This approach is what powers the most effective way of getting a new job--tell all your friends you are looking for work. Salespeople use the concept in every industry. Yet many new businesspeople act as if the law of averages doesn't work and neglect the six degrees principle.
David Orr