Someone asks, “Who are you looking to meet?” and most of us say something like “anyone who needs a lawyer” or “all industries, really.”
It feels generous. It sounds open. And it gets you nothing, because nobody can picture “anyone.” The person who wanted to help you nods, files it away, and forgets it by the end of the evening.
Asking for an introduction well is marketing 101. Get these three answers right and you make it easy for a friend, a networking contact or our introductions system to find you business. You also give your marketing team the brief most of them never get.
These are the three questions we ask before we make any introduction through V8 Nexus.
1. What is your business?
It sounds too simple to get wrong. But most people describe what they do in their own industry’s language, and the person listening has to translate.
Before we ask you, Axia reads your website and your public profile and writes back what it understood: what you do, who for, and in which sector. Then you correct it. That correction is the most useful minute of the whole process, because it shows the gap between how you describe yourself and how a stranger reads you.
Try this: ask someone outside your industry to read your homepage and tell you, in one sentence, what you do and who for. If their sentence isn’t yours, your marketing team is working from the wrong one too.
2. Who would you like to meet?
This is where most asks fall apart.
- “Everyone” means no one. Nobody can go looking for “everyone.” We will politely write it down, and then it waits until luck brings the right person along.
- Describe the canvas. A role, a kind of firm, a place, and the moment they need you. “Finance directors at hospitality groups in London who are about to open a second site” can be found. “Businesses that need accounting” can’t.
- A name is even better. If there is a specific person or company you want to reach, say so.
If you’re not sure, Axia will research who usually buys what you sell in your industry and suggest two types, with a reason for each. Correct it freely. The correction is how we find you the best introduction.
Still stuck? Ask yourself who in your market spends the most on the service you provide. That is usually where to start.
3. How should we introduce you?
You are teaching us how to present you, in one line we can say when the right person comes along.
The best lines are partnership-shaped, not sales-shaped. Busy people are tired of being sold to; there is simply too much spam. But an introduction that says “this person solves a specific problem your business has, for clients you share” gets treated very differently. In my experience, people respond to that like a potential partner rather than a pitch.
Compare:
- “Sarah sells payroll software.”
- “Sarah looks after payroll for restaurant groups across London, so new sites open with staff paid correctly from week one. She’s looking to meet people who advise restaurant owners, and she’s glad to be the payroll person you can hand them to.”
The second one gives the listener a reason to say yes, and a way to repeat it.
We can’t change how crowded everyone’s inbox is. We can change how we approach people.
The same three answers work everywhere
- With your marketing team. These are the brief: who you are, who you are for, and the one line you want people to repeat. A marketer with these answers writes better copy, faster.
- At your next networking event. When someone asks who you’d like to meet, you’ll have an answer they can actually act on, and a line they can repeat to the person they’re thinking of.
- With us. These are exactly what we ask before we look for introductions for you. Your first introduction is on us.
Want to try your answers out? Tell us who you’d like to meet on V8 Nexus, and we’ll come back with our sharper version for you to correct.