Every door has a warm way in.
Whoever you want to reach, a hiring manager, an investor or a buyer, there is usually someone between you and them who would gladly make the introduction. The Warm Way In is a simple method for finding that person and asking well.
Cold gets ignored. Warm gets answered.
A cold message asks a stranger to trust you. A warm introduction borrows trust that already exists: someone they know tells them you’re worth a reply.
The people who can introduce you are already in your life: colleagues past and present, classmates, customers, friends and the people you met at events. The hard part is seeing the path, checking it’s real, and asking in a way that’s easy to say yes to.
That is all the method is. Five steps, and a habit that keeps your paths warm.
Looking for a job
Reach the hiring manager through someone who worked with them, not through the application pile.
Building a company
Meet investors, first customers and early hires through people who can vouch for you.
Selling
Open the account through someone your buyer already trusts, before a cold email has to.
Five steps to a warm introduction
Do them in order the first time. After that, the weekly habit does most of the work.
Map your network
Write down the people you already have: where each one works now, where they used to work, and how well you know them.
- List colleagues past and present, classmates, customers, friends and people you met at events.
- Note each person’s company today and the companies they used to work for.
- Mark how well you know each one: close, friendly, or met once.
Find the path
Name the person or company you want to reach, then look for the shortest line from you to them.
- Look for someone who works there now, worked there before, or works closely with them.
- Prefer a path through someone who knows you well over one through a bigger title.
- Write down two possible paths, not one.
Check before you ask
A path is only as good as the two relationships in it. Check both before you spend anyone’s goodwill.
- When did you last talk to your connector? If it’s been a long time, reconnect first.
- Ask whether they really know the person, and how well.
- If either link is thin, treat it as a lead to confirm, not a path to use.
Make an easy ask
Make saying yes take one minute: a short note your connector can forward as it is.
- Say who you are, why this person, and exactly what you’re asking for, in a few lines.
- Write it so your connector can forward it without editing.
- Give them an easy way to say no, and thank them either way.
A weekly 30-minute habit
Block 30 minutes a week. Warm paths stay warm when you use them and give back.
- Add the people you met this week to your map.
- Follow up on every ask in flight, and close the loop with whoever helped.
- Make one introduction for someone else.
The Warm Way In checklist
The five steps on one page, with a box to tick for each action. Print it, pin it up, or keep the PDF.
Building Ask Nathan
A video series on the Warm Way In method, and on building Ask Nathan, the product that does the first two steps for sales teams and shows the evidence to check the third.
The first videos are coming soon.
Ask Nathan does the first two steps for your team and shows you the evidence to check the third.
Ask Nathan brings together your team’s calendars, Microsoft 365 email metadata, LinkedIn exports, CRM or Google Sheets, events, in-person meetings, past introductions, how well each of you knows each person, and your documents about what you sell, into one relationship graph. It maps your team’s network and finds the warm way into every deal, with a Path Confidence score and the evidence behind it, so you can check the path before you ask.
Every deal has a warm way in.