Today, I have the heavy responsibility of discussing a business philosophy that even experts thereof kind of struggle with making sense out of. If you haven’t heard of the every connection counts philosophy, then in some ways you’re lucky as all heck, and in other ways, you are actually missing out on some things that this methodology does have to offer.

Well, like any more philosophical and pragmatic way of thinking in business, this concept is usually described in immensely convoluted and confusing ways, taking every excuse to pepper it with business jargon that just reduces its penetrability to everyone.

It sounds like I’m criticizing people who do this, but I’m actually not. You see, it’s natural, when one is a professional, to use jargon and elaborate explanations of things. This is an echo of the rigidity of law and scientific method. Unfortunately, in business, this stiff professionalism results in making things more confusing, rather than more clear. This is the case with every connection counts, or ECC (EC Squared).

So, let me give you a practical man’s explanation of this concept, without the confusing convolution. That’s what you came to me for anyhow, right? Right.

So, the idea is based around the fact that in a business, you make a ton of different kinds of connections with others. The main (and most valued) of these is going to be a connection with a prospect (then turned to lead and hopefully customer). However, where most just leave it at that, this philosophy argues that the myriad of other forms of connections made from the same processes should not be undervalued whatsoever.

This means that connections made with people who won’t become customers, but who could potentially recommend you to others, or with people who are listened to in the community (website owners, online bloggers and journalists, or even just verbose users who talk frequently on forums and the like) … these connections, too, are valuable for the overall health of your business, and that of your relationship with the world at large.

These connections are additional, independent outreach units which can continue your marketing, if in a bit of a directionless way, to others, and spread need generation and awareness of your company further than you can through your available channels (even in this day and age).

Along with this, other connections made from things like conferences, conventions and the like are also just as valuable, because the potential for affiliate projects, B2B business opportunities to exchange needed resources or services, and other such potential positives can come from such connections quite readily.

Basically, the more connections you make, customers or not, the more interaction and presence you have, and the more resources you will have at your disposal. “I want to go where everyone knows my name”, as the old song goes.

Well, with the philosophy of every connection counts, you can ensure that you are already where everyone knows your name, because you’ve got ties all over the place and you know people, man! Now, when you look at it this simply, it’s not a complicated philosophy. But, let the others have their confusing explanations, they make them feel important.