Are You Making It Easy for People to Introduce You?

Reading Time: 2 minutes 

Have you ever heard someone say – ‘I must introduce you to this person’ or ‘I’ll connect you on email to someone who could use your service or product’?

But nothing happens.

No introductions, no new connections?

Have you ever stopped to ask why this is?

In my experience, it’s one of two reasons.

1. The person hasn’t written down their follow up actions from the networking events or meetings and they forget.  They probably haven’t allotted time post a networking meeting to do the follow up.

2. They don’t understand how to introduce you or don’t fully understand what you do.  And so the time it would take to think about this, becomes too much and the task of introducing you falls to the bottom of the pile of things to do in someone’s busy schedule.

So how can this be rectified?

Make it Easy for People to Introduce You

My suggestion is to write a boiler plate outline of what it is you do, so that the person who has offered to introduce you can take the content, top and tail it with their own information and make a warm introduction on your behalf.

By writing out an intro paragraph or two, you make it easy for people to introduce you correctly and you save the person time in having to write out and explain what it is you do.

This is particularly important for industries that are difficult for people to understand.

Make sure to include your name, company, briefly what it is you do, who you serve and how you can be of value.  You might also like to hyperlink in any relevant information, e.g. a product spec, your Linkedin profile.  Have a think about what is appropriate.

What Are You Asking For?

Don’t forget to include your ask, e.g. setting up a meeting or arranging a phone call.

From there, the person making the introduction can write around ‘your content’ and make strategic connections that will stand to your benefit.

Setting Context & Next Steps

When sending your templated content that is going to make it easy for people to introduce you, don’t forget to remind the person of the offer of the introduction, when and where it happened, e.g. a networking meeting.

After the introduction is made, make a note, whether it’s in your diary or to do list, to send an update note to your contact to let them know that you have followed up on the introduction.  It’s a good idea to keep them posted periodically as to what happened, e.g. a new sale or collaboration.

Let’s Connect!