The Family Tree Model

The family tree model is based on the assumption that people are fundamentally social and connected through shared interests – products, brands, people – and their inherent desire to discuss their interests among themselves.

The model maps out how one person is connected to another, revealing important nodes in your relationships – exposing over concentrated nodes that pose a risk to a certain branch in your tree. If you break an over concentrated node in your tree, you lose all branches linked to it. It’s a typical dilemma – if you have a fall out with one person, you lose all people related to that person in your circle of acquaintances.

How is this significant for strategy and decision making? – Think (personal) brand loyalty.

Map out a network of your customers and how they are related – through conversations about your brand – and you will find the most influential clients. Clients with the most branches require the most maintenance. Identify other potential links to fortify frail relationships (diversification), and grow more trees from the roots of your map (acquisition).

Real life applications:

• Mapping out results from a survey asking “Who would you recommend us to?”
• Map of how your tweeps are interconnected to find the influencers.
• Map conversations based on a topic – e.g. your recent marketing campaign
• Map work relationships: identify people with clout – acquire those relationships.

This model is from The Decision Book. Please make sure to visit 50 Top Models – the author’s website. If you like what you see, buy the book! Support the author and awesome content.