The term “sphere” might be the most overused term in sales and marketing literature.

For some, the sphere is represented by one’s immediate friends, but for others it is someone’s previous customers.

A sphere is a compendium of someone’s life, and includes their background, contacts, experiences, interests and more.

In reality, your sphere includes these elements and much more. It is when we define the sphere in the right way that we find out how important our sphere is to our marketing plan. In the long-run, our sphere should be the basis, or foundation, of this plan.

[caption id="attachment_9654" align="alignleft" width="280"] Dave Hershman[/caption]

First, what is one’s sphere? A sphere is comprised of those you know and those who know you as well. Put it this way--if you were walking down the street and passed someone–would you say hello? If you would, they are part of your sphere. In addition to this relationship component, there is also a component of commonality. There are those you don’t know, but with whom you have something in common.

For example, let’s say you go to church or temple. There may be 500 families and 1,000 members of the religious organization. You probably know 50 of these people because you live near them, sit near them, or even have served on committees with them. But there are 950 people that you don’t know who are part of the sphere.

It has a commonality component and a relationship component. The commonality component adds the largest numbers to your sphere while the relationship component adds the most important individuals to your sphere.

The next segment will look at the seven all-important segments of one’s personal sphere.

About the Author: Dave Hershman is a VP of Sales for Weichert Financial Services and founder or OriginationPro (www.OriginationPro.com), providing marketing content and training programs for the industry.  Email him with questions or comments at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.