Asking for warm introductions and referrals is one of the best ways to drive new business. In essence, what you're doing is getting an endorsement from someone that your potential customer already knows and trusts. This makes it much easier to establish a connection and develop a relationship with the mutual contact.
More deals are sourced from warm intros than from cold emails. In addition, these deals churn less and close more quickly than those sourced from cold outreaches.
Most of us already know this.
But when should you ask for a warm introduction?
Most people think of warm introductions only when looking for new leads to fill the top of their funnel. While that's a great time and place to use a warm introduction request, you can actually leverage them throughout the entire sales process.
Whether you’re sourcing new leads, multithreading existing deals or getting a deal unstuck, warm introductions can be incredibly powerful.
Here are four key moments in a sales process when you should lean into warm introductions (with templates):
Sourcing a New Lead
This is the most common time to ask for a warm introduction. Makes sense, right? After all, there's tons of data about why warm intros are better than cold outreach for converting prospects into customers.
You’ve identified someone at a target account that would be a great buyer for you. Rather than sending them an intro email or making a cold call, you can check if someone in your network can open that door for you. This use of a mutual connection drastically increases your chances of getting a meeting booked.
Here’s a template for this warm intro request:
I'd love to connect with {contact} at {company} to chat about {topic}.
If you have a chance to introduce us, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks!
Here's a bit about {topic}:
{1-2 sentences about you & the topic}
Multithreading an enterprise deal
Multithreading is critical, especially for larger deals. As individuals from your organization share personalized information with decision-makers from the potential client, the target stakeholders quickly become your advocates. This leads to widespread support and a strong working relationship.
After you’ve booked or held a meeting with a contact at a target account, rather than waiting for them to loop in other key stakeholders, you can use warm intros to source meetings with other important contacts from that account. Include a forwardable email and it's likely that they'll accomodate your request.
Give this a try:
Hey {name}, I just spoke with {name} about {your_company}.
Saw you’re connected with {other_name} at {account_name} who would be relevant to this deal.
Appreciate you forwarding the below note to them!
{context for the target person}
After a Good Sales Call
You know those awesome sales calls that go well—engaged prospect, good fit, etc.—but for whatever reason they decide to pass at the moment?
Maybe timing isn’t right or their budget isn’t quite there. This can be a perfect time to ask for an open-ended referral – maybe an intro email to someone they know who could be interested.
Here’s a sample:
Hey {name}, I know this is a really big ask, so please tell me to kick rocks if you're not comfortable with it. Won't hurt my feelings.
Do you know any other {title} that are dealing with {pain 1}, {pain 2}, {pain 3} that we could help with? Our strongest customers tend to come from people we already know.
I'm happy to ghostwrite you an intro email if that makes it easier. Appreciate it!
When a Deal Gets Stuck
There’s nothing worse than a hot deal that suddenly goes cold for seemingly no reason. Weeks go by with no follow up, and you’re starting to wonder what happened to your prospect. (Are they okay? Did they get hit by a meteor? Did they evaporate because of the heat of our deal??)
An introduction from a mutual connection in your network can help get it unstuck with a friendly backchannel message. Or, worst case, they can help you get closure to figure out why the deal with your mutual contact isn’t moving forward. Plus, offering to do the same for your colleagues goes a long way in building a culture of collaboration and support.
Try this script:
Hey {name}, saw you know {name} at {account name}.
We had a great sales conversation a few weeks ago. They seemed super interested but have since gone silent on me.
Could you nudge them for me to see if they’re still interested in moving ahead with {reminder about what you do}?
Thanks!
Your company’s network of investors, advisors, customers, partners, etc. can offer huge value in helping you open up new deals and close existing deals with mutual contacts. These warm intros can be the difference between closed deals and radio silence. You just have to know when and how to make the ask!
