• The Art of Asking for a Warm Introduction

  • Why do they work so well?

  • When to ask for a warm intro

  • Best practices

The Art of Asking for a Warm Introduction

We all know the saying.

“It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.”

Is that fair? Not always. But it is human nature. We do business based on trust, and trust stems from two places: experience and connection. We trust people we know and those we see as experienced.

The greatest sellers show buyers they can be trusted not only for their expertise, but also because they’re actively building authentic relationships with them. Warm introductions, one of the most reliable pathways to revenue, capitalize on both elements.

Think of your network like a bank. To make a withdrawal, you need to first make deposits. You make these “deposits” by creating, growing, and investing in the relationships around you. Then, when it’s time to make a “withdrawal,” you will have sufficient social capital to request a warm introduction of someone.

Why do warm introductions work so well?

Warm introductions are effective because a trusted messenger is central to the entire function.

Behind every introduction made is a real person weighing and balancing the risks and rewards of connecting two other people. Not only are they considering how well they know the requester and the recipient, but they’re deciding if it’s even worth dispensing the social capital required. Too many unintentional intros can harm their brand.

If you’ve spent any time on LinkedIn you’ve seen sellers talk about the importance of timing, signals, correct ICP, quality of cold emails, yet they rarely consider how the credibility of the person sending the outreach can often be more important than the actual content itself.

People are far more likely to respond if they recognize and trust the person reaching out. That human touch carries more weight than any other signal.

Cold outbound is also really hard. It’s becoming less and less effective, and now with AI on the rise, having a human in the loop is more important than ever. Introductions are your pathway to better success rates, and they work so well because the human touch can never be replaced.

When do I ask for a warm intro in my sales process?

The new deal: The most common time to make use of a warm introduction is when sellers are trying to break into a new account. The seller knows exactly who they want to get in front of, so they go to that person’s LinkedIn page and browse to see if there are any mutual connections.

Open leads: Ask colleagues and prospects for open ended intros to find new leads you didn’t know to be looking for.

Multithreading: Does someone in your company’s network know other relevant people in a deal you’re working on? Multithreaded deals are widely known to close at a much higher rate.

Stuck deal: Got a deal that seemed great but is now stuck in the mud? Someone in your network may be able to help move things along with a friendly backchannel message!

Best practices

Add a “warm intro check” into your process. Sales conversations that start from a warm intro have a 78% pipeline conversion. After that, those deals have a 50-70% closed-won rate! Before you dive into your cold calls for the day, check to see if you have a warm pathway first.

Do ALL of the work. Your referrer is already expending their hard earned social capital for you! Have forwardable blurbs already written out, and know what you’re looking for. Need some inspiration to get started? Use our list of blurbs for almost any scenario:

Close the loop. The person referring you to someone else is likely just as invested in this warm introduction as you are. If the intro is successful (or even if it wasn’t), close the loop and let the referrer know what the outcome was.

At the end of the day, just make the ask. Don’t wait.

Warm introductions are so powerful. It can be scary when you ask a customer, prospect, or an executive, but if you do it right and you do it well, great things can come from it.

Until next time,

Mac🦕

Other Resources:

Read: Go-to-Network: What It Is, and Why It’s the Future of Growth

Watch: What is Go-to-Network?

Download: The NDR Playbook