When individuals believe that they are linked by some peripheral reason or rationale, but in fact are thrown together, usually by coincidence or twist of fate, you have a granfalloon.
It is indeed remarkable how easily granfalloons can be created. Once total strangers become part of a networking group, they will behave like those in their granfalloon, where they are closest friends. Granfalloons are a powerful propaganda and resource device, and once established, a granfalloon can be a great source of information.
In fact, there's no fundamental intersection between the interests and destiny of members of a granfalloon, but its members believe and act as if there is. Being a member of a granfalloon gives you some interpersonal leverage with other members. You can use that leverage to break the ice and establish a basis for asking for a little help:
"Jeff, I don't know if you remember me or not, but we were in the same graduating class at med school in '72. I've been getting in touch with a number of my old classmates to see if I might get a little advice and counsel as I work through a career shift."
"Leah, this is Claude Bennett. Your daughter Deirdre and my son Ian go to the Fuzzy Bunny Day Care Center together. Listen, I'm in the middle of a job search, and I thought one way to get a little more market exposure would be to go through the center's parent directory, introduce myself to the parents of some of Ian's little friends, and maybe do a little informal networking."
"Ed, this is Evan Monroe calling, from down in Tupelo. I've been calling a number of colleagues in the Business Forms Manufacturing Association to see if I might arrange to drop in on you when I make my rounds through Mobile early next month."
Granfalloons represent ready-made mini-networks that you can mine to broaden your market exposure without the greater discomfort of cold calling. You may be a member of scores of granfalloons, and each membership gives you a supply of people to whom you have a common bond, however minimal, and whom you can call by their first names. This last point isn't incidental to your comfort level. Adults, especially men, tend to dislike being forced into the superior-subordinate relationship implied by having to call someone Ms. or Mr. Last Name.
If you absolutely cannot think of any group of people with whom you have something in common, grab a directory-any directory where you're already listed or could be listed if you wanted to pay a membership fee and, if required, contribute to the goals of the organization you're joining. If you haven't checked out the astonishing variety of directories, databases, and lists that are available today, you're in for a major surprise.
Compiling granfalloons is a real growth industry. You can even buy or rent granfalloons from direct-mail houses that compile mailing lists. Just tell one of these vendors the granfalloonian attribute you want to tap or the kind of person and position level you want to contact officers, senior managers, researchers, and so on, and they'll provide a list of current names for you to call or write.
Want databases for academic, nonprofit or government sectors? They're all available. Beware, though. Many of these databases are obsolete, incomplete and rife with errors. Ask to see a sample list, find out how frequently it's purged and updated, and then compare the pricing closely with competitors' charges.
A few ground rules are in order when using granfalloons to extend your network: Be sure to state the nature of your relationship at the beginning of your call. Don't let anyone wonder who you are and why you're using up valuable time. Also let them know that you're making contact with a lot of members of the granfalloon. To select one person and imply that you're asking him alone to help you is to suggest a level of duty that isn't supported by the facts. Most importantly, state clearly the type and level of help you're asking for.
Here are some sample scripts:
"At this point in my job search, Helene, I'm simply trying to contact as many Coolidge High grads as I can to ask that they keep their ears attuned to any information about possible jobs for experienced programmers."
"All I'm trying to do, Leo, is get the word out to as many Brothers of the Mystic Knights of the Sea as I can and ask that they think of me if they meet someone who needs a cracker-jack sales rep."
Since the level of help being requested in a granfalloon contact is so minimal, assume in the tone of your call that you're entitled to and will get that help. Don't water down your request with "if it's not too much trouble" or "if it's okay." The moment you assume the role of a supplicant, the power of a granfalloon's gentle peer pressure utterly vanishes. If in the name of finding a job, resuming your life and avoiding starvation you're not comfortable with this minimal degree of presumptuousness, then stay away from granfallooning.
If you want to penetrate assorted granfalloons by mail, you should understand some rules of the game. Conventional job search wisdom says that mass mailings are low-probability vehicles. Perhaps no more than 5 percent of all jobs are located and landed through form letters sent out en masse. To make the most of this technique, moreover, you're supposed to follow up, with a phone call, each letter you send. Most mass mailings are a direct appeal for employment:
"Dear Mr. Smith: If your company should have or anticipate an opening for an experienced cost estimator, I would welcome your consideration. I'm highly motivated and dedicated."
A granfalloon mailing takes an entirely different tack. It isn't a request for employment; it's a candid admission that you're simply looking for market exposure. In a traditional mailing, the stakes are high: "Please hire me and pay me a lot of your money." In a granfalloon mailing, the stakes are kept very low: "Please take note of who I am and what I do in case you hear of anyone who might need someone like me."
Because granfalloonian bonds are so thin, you can't ask for a lot of help without hopelessly overtaxing the relationship. Your request should be kept low-key and thrown casually into the topic sentence of your letter:
"I recently left my position as a chief process control manager at Zebcore Chemicals, and I've been writing to a number of colleagues to acquaint them with my credentials and ask that they keep me in mind if they hear of an appropriate opening."
"Although we haven't met, I've never met another nuclear power plant control room engineer with whom I didn't have a lot in common, which is why I'm writing to every senior-level engineer I can to develop an informal network of colleagues as I run my job search."
A granfalloon letter is a useful way to contact people who are your peers but may blow off your networking requests because they think you represent a threat to them. Many networkers report that they're shortchanged by potentially useful contacts because they represent some irrational danger to the contact's job security. This problem diminishes when you emphasize that you're a peer, not a competitor.
Understand that granfalloon letters are extremely low-efficiency items. You don't try to follow them all up personally especially if you've sent out 400 or more. If this technique works at all, it's because of sheer volume. As one sage put it, "It's like standing on your back porch in the dark of the moon, firing your shotgun into the night. If you're willing to use up enough shells, you'll eventually get yourself a rabbit."
If you're running a geographically diverse job search and haven't focused on one or two cities in which to target a drop-in, banzai networking campaign, there's one quasi-networking technique that you can try. If you're prepared to sacrifice two of the three main benefits of networking (the reciprocal exchange of information and the acquisition of more names), you can get yourself an enormous amount of visibility by flooding the country with granfalloon letters rather than granfalloon phone calls. This technique is akin to saturation bombing: low efficiency, but potentially high effectiveness.
