# Referral intro Human Guide

## What This Is For
Provides expert guidance for guidance for warm introductions and referral-based selling. It gives the agent a clearer input/output frame for growth marketing: what context to ask for, what decisions to make, and what usable artifact to return.

Use this as a human-readable version of the Referral intro agent skill. It is meant for marketers, operators, founders, and other non-coders who want the workflow without reading agent-specific implementation instructions.

## When To Use This
- Use this when you need a repeatable process for referral intro.
- Use this when the task needs judgment, examples, constraints, or a clear output format rather than a one-off prompt.
- Use this when you want to hand an AI assistant enough context to produce a usable marketing artifact.

## When Not To Use This
- Do not use this when you only need a quick factual answer.
- Do not use this when the work depends on private data you cannot share with the assistant.
- Do not use this as a replacement for legal, compliance, financial, or medical review.

## What You Need Before Starting
- The goal or business outcome you want.
- The audience, customer segment, or market context.
- Any source material the assistant should respect, such as notes, briefs, examples, URLs, or brand guidance.
- Constraints such as tone, length, channel, deadline, region, or approval requirements.
- A clear definition of what a good final answer should look like.

## Step-By-Step Workflow
1. State the job clearly: "Use the Referral intro guide to help me with..."
2. Add context: audience, goal, offer, channel, source material, and constraints.
3. Ask the assistant to identify missing inputs before producing the final output.
4. Have the assistant follow the skill-specific guidance below.
5. Review the result against the final checklist and ask for revisions where needed.

## Skill-Specific Guidance
- **Who are you trying to reach?** Specific company, title, or type of buyer.
- **Who could introduce you?** Current customers, partners, investors, peers, former colleagues.
- **What value have you delivered to the potential referrer?** Recent wins, results, or goodwill.
- **What's the relationship strength?** Close contact vs. loose acquaintance — this changes the ask format.
- **Is this a one-off ask or are you building a repeatable referral process?** The playbook changes significantly.
- **Make it effortless for the referrer.** Write the intro email for them. Draft the LinkedIn message. Do all the work — they just hit forward. The moment you create work for someone, the referral dies.
- **Earn the right to ask.** The best time to ask for a referral is right after delivering value — a successful onboarding, a big win, a renewed contract. The worst time is before you've proven anything.
- **Always close the loop.** Tell the referrer what happened. Did the meeting happen? Did the deal close? People who see their referrals go into a black hole never refer again.
- **Referrals are a channel, not an accident.** Track them in your CRM. Measure conversion. Build team habits around asking. The best referral programs look like outbound programs with better win rates.
- During onboarding (too early, no results yet)
- When there's an open support issue or complaint
- Right after a price increase

## Decision Points And Nuance
The original skill emphasizes: Before Starting, Context Questions, Core Principles, Timing the Ask, Best Moments to Ask, When NOT to Ask, In-Person vs. Email Referral Asks, In-Person Ask (QBR, Dinner, Event), Email Ask (When In-Person Isn't Available), The Forwardable Email Method.

Use these questions to steer the work:
- What is the intended audience or buyer?
- What source material must be preserved?
- What should the assistant optimize for: clarity, persuasion, accuracy, speed, creativity, or conversion?
- What examples represent the desired quality bar?
- What should the assistant avoid?

## Common Mistakes
- **Always close the loop.** Tell the referrer what happened. Did the meeting happen? Did the deal close? People who see their referrals go into a black hole never refer again.
- **Don't lead with the ask.** Wait until the conversation has hit a natural high point — they've just told you about a great result, you've laughed about something, the QBR slides showed strong numbers.
- Follow up once if they don't respond. Then stop. Pestering via email is worse than pestering in person.
- And [Referrer] — moving you to BCC so we don't flood your inbox.
- You can see a mutual connection but don't have a strong enough relationship to email them directly
- **Engage with the target's content first.** Like 2-3 posts. Leave one thoughtful comment. Do this over 1-2 weeks. Don't be weird about it — one comment, not ten.
- Never Use LinkedIn's Built-In "Request an Introduction" Feature
- It's buried, clunky, rarely seen, and most people don't even know it exists. A direct DM to the referrer asking them to forward a message is 10x more effective.

## Copy-And-Paste Prompt
```text
Use the Referral intro human guide.

My goal:
[Describe the business outcome]

Audience:
[Describe who this is for]

Context and source material:
[Paste notes, examples, links, or existing copy]

Constraints:
[Tone, length, channel, timeline, must-include items, must-avoid items]

Before producing the final output, ask me for any missing information that would materially improve the result.
```

## Final Checklist
- [ ] The output matches the original goal.
- [ ] The audience and context are reflected in the answer.
- [ ] Important constraints and source material were preserved.
- [ ] The assistant made the relevant decisions explicit.
- [ ] The final artifact is ready to use, review, or hand to the next person.

## Source
This guide was generated from the thecraighewitt/skills skill entry for `referral-intro`.

## Source Skill Notes
These notes preserve the nuance from the original skill. Use them as supporting reference when the workflow above feels too generic.

# Referral & Warm Introductions

You are an expert in warm introductions and referral-based selling. You've seen that warm intros convert to meetings at 40-60% vs. 2-5% for cold outreach — and you know that most salespeople leave this channel completely untapped because they don't know how to ask without feeling awkward. You also know that the best sales orgs treat referrals as a first-class pipeline channel with CRM tracking, team accountability, and systematic processes — not something that happens by accident when a customer feels generous.

## Before Starting

Check if `.agents/sales-context.md` exists in the project. If it does, read it first — it contains the ICP, value proposition, and proof points that make referral asks compelling. If it doesn't exist, tell the user to run the `sales-context` skill first or provide this context directly.

## Context Questions

If sales context is missing or incomplete, ask:

1. **Who are you trying to reach?** Specific company, title, or type of buyer.
2. **Who could introduce you?** Current customers, partners, investors, peers, former colleagues.
3. **What value have you delivered to the potential referrer?** Recent wins, results, or goodwill.
4. **What's the relationship strength?** Close contact vs. loose acquaintance — this changes the ask format.
5. **Is this a one-off ask or are you building a repeatable referral process?** The playbook changes significantly.

## Core Principles

1. **Make it effortless for the referrer.** Write the intro email for them. Draft the LinkedIn message. Do all the work — they just hit forward. The moment you create work for someone, the referral dies.
2. **Earn the right to ask.** The best time to ask for a referral is right after delivering value — a successful onboarding, a big win, a renewed contract. The worst time is before you've proven anything.
3. **Be specific about who you want to meet.** "Do you know anyone who might benefit?" gets nothing. "Do you know the VP of Sales at Acme Corp?" gets intros. Specificity makes it easy for the referrer's brain to pattern-match.
4. **Always close the loop.** Tell the referrer what happened. Did the meeting happen? Did the deal close? People who see their referrals go into a black hole never refer again.
5. **Referrals are a channel, not an accident.** Track them in your CRM. Measure conversion. Build team habits around asking. The best referral programs look like outbound programs with better win rates.
6. **Never offer cash incentives to individual referrers.** Revenue share for formal partner programs is fine. But offering a customer $500 to intro you to their friend cheapens the relationship and signals that the intro isn't worth making on merit. The best referrals come from genuine belief in your product, not a bounty. If you need to pay people to recommend you, fix the product.
7. **In-person asks convert 2-3x higher than email asks.** A referral request at dinner, at a QBR, or at a conference has eye contact, social reciprocity, and real-time commitment. Email asks are easy to ignore. Prioritize face-to-face whenever possible.

## Timing the Ask

### Best Moments to Ask

| Timing | Why It Works | How to Frame It |
|--------|-------------|-----------------|
| **After a win** | They're excited about results | "Now that you've seen [result], I'd love to help someone in your network get the same outcome." |
| **During a QBR (in person)** | You've just reviewed value delivered, you're face-to-face | "Based on what we've accomplished together, who else on your team or in your network faces similar challenges?" |
| **At a dinner or event** | Social setting, guards are down, reciprocity is high | "Hey — I've been meaning to ask. Do you know [specific person]? I think we could help them with [problem]." |
| **After a referral is made to you** | Reciprocity is active | "Thanks for sending [Name] our way — that kind of introduction is the highest compliment." |
| **At contract renewal** | They've voted with their wallet | "The fact that you're renewing tells me we're delivering. Would you be open to introducing me to one or two peers?" |
| **After solving a big problem** | Gratitude is high | Keep it casual: "Glad we got that sorted. Hey, quick question — do you know [specific person/type]?" |

### When NOT to Ask

- During onboarding (too early, no results yet)
- When there's an open support issue or complaint
- Right after a price increase
- When the relationship is purely transactional with no rapport
- More than once per quarter to the same person
- Via email when you could ask in person next week

## In-Person vs. Email Referral Asks

In-person asks are the highest-converting referral channel. If you have any face-to-face time with the referrer — QBR, dinner, event, office visit — that's when you ask. Email is the fallback.

### In-Person Ask (QBR, Dinner, Event)

The in-person ask works because of three things email can't replicate: eye contact creates social commitment, real-time conversation lets you adjust based on their reaction, and saying yes to a friend face-to-face is natural in a way that typing a response isn't.

**How to execute it:**

1. **Don't lead with the ask.** Wait until the conversation has hit a natural high point — they've just told you about a great result, you've laughed about something, the QBR slides showed strong numbers.
2. **Transition casually.** "Hey, random question — do you know [Name] at [Company]?" or "This is great. I wish more [title]s knew about this. Who in your network should I be talking to?"
3. **If they say a name, lock it in immediately.** "Amazing. Would you be cool if I drafted a quick intro note you can send? I'll email it to you tonight so you can just forward it."
4. **If they hesitate, give them a narrower prompt.** "Even a second-degree connection would help. Anyone at [Company] or [Company]?"
5. **Send the forwardable email within 2 hours.** The commitment is fresh. Wait a week and they'll forget they offered.

### Email Ask (When In-Person Isn't Available)

Email referral asks require more structure because you don't get real-time feedback. The forwardable email method (detailed below) is non-negotiable here. Never ask for a referral via email without writing the intro for them.

**Key differences from in-person:**
- Be shorter. An email ask should be under 100 words above the forwardable blurb.
- Give them an out. "No pressure either way" isn't just polite — it preserves the relationship for future asks.
- Follow up once if they don't respond. Then stop. Pestering via email is worse than pestering in person.

## The Forwardable Email Method

This is the highest-converting referral tactic. You write the intro email so the referrer just has to forward it.

### Step 1: The Ask (To Your Referrer)