The business card in a desk drawer and the LinkedIn connection that hasn't been messaged in three years represent the same failure mode: a relationship that exists in some formal sense but has no operational structure behind it. The person exists in your network. You have no clear sense of what you know about them, what you could reasonably ask them, or why you'd pick up the phone versus why you'd be reaching out cold.
Relationship Depth as a Queryable Field
How Well You Know Them is the field that converts a contact list into a relationship map with tiers. The difference between a first-degree industry contact you've worked with for five years and a conference acquaintance you spoke to twice isn't captured by the fact of the connection — it's captured by an honest assessment of relationship depth. That field determines the appropriate initial ask when you reach out, the warmth of the opening, and the realistic expectation of response.
Common Ground is the contact intelligence that makes outreach not feel like outreach. The production company you both did work for, the mutual contact who made the introduction, the industry conference where you were both on the same panel — these are the contextual bridges that distinguish a targeted message from a cold pitch. Logged at the time of the initial meeting, Common Ground is accessible two years later when the timing is finally right to make a connection.
Major Credits is the field that establishes what this person is known for in the industry. It's the research layer — not a biography, but the two or three achievements or affiliations that define their professional standing. When you're briefing someone else about a potential introduction, or preparing for a meeting after a long gap, Major Credits gives you the anchor points that make the conversation land correctly rather than requiring a Google session at 8 PM the night before.
The Ask as a Discipline
What Is The "ASK"? is the field that forces the most important question in professional relationship management: what specific thing do you actually want from this person? Not vaguely. Specifically. An introduction to their production supervisor, a read on the script before it goes wider, a reference letter for a specific application, a conversation about distribution strategy.
Unspecified asks are the reason most professional outreach either never gets made or goes unanswered. The person on the other end doesn't know what a useful response looks like. The person reaching out can't write a clear message because they haven't defined the request. What Is The "ASK"? filed at the time of relationship entry — even as a placeholder for a future conversation — forces the relationship into a forward-facing frame rather than a retrospective cataloguing of connections.
Reason(s) You Want To Connect is the complementary field — not the ask, but the strategic rationale. Why this person, why now, what's the alignment between their position in the industry and your current objectives. That reasoning, logged in the record, is what you review when your priorities shift and the connection calculus needs to be re-evaluated.
At 300 contacts, a network database without How Well You Know Them and What Is The "ASK"? is a directory. With them, it's a strategic tool that tells you which relationships need maintenance and which ones are ready to activate.