I just got an email from a friend asking, “2K I only have 4000 1st contacts, how do I get to 12,000 like you?” I tend to get this a lot. Yesterday I found myself pondering this question and my recent philosophy that size does matter when it comes to total number of contact on LinkedIn.

So I sat at my desk and wondered “Why? What is the point of adding that many contacts on LinkedIn?”

I wanted to know the true value of unconditionally adding as many people at possible to your network so I did some research. This is what I found out…After the 1000 mark, the total network starts to grow only marginally.

SAY IT AIN’T SO

Let’s take my colleague as the example. He says that he has 4000 1st contacts and 16.5 million total contacts. I on the other hand have 12,000+ 1st contacts and only 19.5 million total contacts. While I have triple his 1st contacts, I still only have about 20% more total contacts in my network.

After about 1000 1st contacts on LinkedIn, the laws of diminishing returns really kick in. While size does matter, quality is important. I know, it is a bit counter-intuitive to hear such advice from someone like me for whom growing their LinkedIn network is closer akin to a religion than anything else. But it is the new truth.

I WAS WRONG

Rather than worry about growing in size, focus on depth. In fact, suggest that you now ONLY target adding people in the markets/industries/verticals you target professionally, allowing you to grow your network qualitatively.

Learn from my mistakes – It’ll gain you far more productive results and a greater ROI in the future.