Turn Your Network Into a Revenue Engine by Measuring Trust, Not Just Contacts

Your CRM is overflowing with contacts. Your LinkedIn connections number in the thousands. Yet deals stall, introductions fall flat, and opportunities slip away. The problem is not your network size. The problem is that you are measuring the wrong thing.

David Homan, President and Founder of SOAR Connect, has spent 25 years building relationships with billionaires, Olympians, and global philanthropists. His secret? A systematic approach to measuring and building trust that any revenue leader can apply.

In this episode of the Go-to-Market Podcast, Amy Osmond Cook explores how classical music principles, relationship intelligence technology, and human-first networking can transform your go-to-market strategy.

Stop Counting Connections and Start Measuring Trust

Most business tools track contacts, not relationships. This leaves you with a network that looks impressive but delivers little actual value.

David explains the core problem: “What I realized was lacking in the world of technology and relationship intelligence was how to understand trust based on time. How much time you spend with people, not just how long you’ve known them, but not whether they’re an Instagram follower or a first-degree LinkedIn connection.”

The distinction matters. What builds trust is “what it means when you’ve had regularly for 10 years, an hour long call, or a two hour long lunch every three months.”

Audit Your Relationship Portfolio

Review your top 20 strategic relationships. For each one, ask yourself:

• When did we last have a meaningful conversation?
• How consistently have we engaged over the past year?
• If I called right now, would they pick up?

If you cannot answer these questions confidently, your network may be wider than it is deep.

The Five Principles That Built a World-Class Network

David’s bestselling book, Orchestrating Connection, outlines five principles for building authentic relationships that drive results.

Principle 1 and 2: Lead With Curiosity and Vulnerability

“You don’t have to be strategic, you don’t have to showboat. You just have to show that you listen and you care enough to build enough trust.”

Stop positioning yourself. Start listening to understand.

Principle 3 and 4: Practice Generosity and Express Gratitude

David discovered something surprising about powerful leaders: “Most people in a position of power never get gratitude or thanks. They rarely get asked for what they need.”

By asking influential people what they need and helping without expectation, David built relationships with “Olympians and All-Star athletes and over 60 people who have signed the giving pledge.”

The result? “I now have an unlimited ability to come back with opt-in and permission” to make introductions.

Principle 5: Embrace Diversity as Strategy

“The more diverse your network, the more you’re around people who don’t look like you and talk like you, the more opportunity strategically your network brings you.”

A homogenous network limits your access to new pathways and perspectives. Intentional diversity expands your reach.

Apply the Five Principles This Week

Choose one relationship you want to strengthen. In your next interaction:

• Ask a genuine question about their challenges
• Offer help with no expectation of return
• Send a thank you note within 24 hours

Technology That Honors Trust Instead of Exploiting It

David is building Soar Connect, a relationship intelligence platform that measures what he calls the SOAR score: Strength of Authentic Relationships.

The platform analyzes time spent, frequency of interaction, and introduction success to generate a trust score. But what makes it different is the permission-based architecture.

“You can’t look at another user on the system. You can’t cold message somebody. If you want a warm intro, then make an ask.”

The data model is equally distinctive: “We as a company will never see, own, sell, or use any of the data provided into each user’s system. Each user has their own moat, their own castle.”

David’s data science reveals a crucial insight: “The right intro, the one you’ve been waiting for, is generally it will take about two to five years to make and three to five people in the chain of connections to get there.”

Map Your Introduction Pathways

Identify your top three target accounts or relationships. For each one:

• List everyone you know who might have a connection
• Identify who could introduce you to those connectors
• Start building those intermediate relationships now

Final Thoughts

Trust is built through action. As David puts it: “Trust is based on action. That’s the only thing I believe that actually earns trust. Otherwise, it’s a world full of empty promises and failed attempts.”

The future of go-to-market success belongs to leaders who measure relationship strength, not just contact volume. By applying these principles and leveraging relationship intelligence technology, you can build a network that delivers predictable, sustainable revenue growth.

Ready to transform your relationship data into actionable insights? Explore how Fullcast Revenue Intelligence can help you build a predictable revenue engine based on the connections that matter most.