How to ask a higher up for a referral?

Hey WSO, To give a little background, I am in the summer before my final year of undergraduate studies at a non-target university. I just had lunch with an executive at the bank I am interning at for the summer(only reason I got my foot in the door here was because of him, so he is a mentor of mine), and he mentioned that he has a close buddy that is very high up in consulting for one of the big four. He said he may be able to put me in contact with him which would be huge for me as I have very little connections and am searching for FT employment for next summer. How do I go about following up with my mentor and asking him to put me in contact with his close buddy? Any help is appreciated!

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If this is somebody you consider a mentor I'm assuming you have fairly regular contact with this person and can be fairly cordial with them. As a result, I wouldn't be too worried about phrasing this as it's not like this is a cold call ask. Anyway, I'd write something like this:

Hi John,

I appreciate you taking the time to talk with me about xyz at lunch last week - I started doing abc like you suggested and it's already making a difference.

During lunch I believe you mentioned that you had an acquaintance at DEYKPMGPwC that you may be able to put me in touch with. Would this still be a possibility? I'm interested in exploring a career in consulting and believe I could learn much from your friend.

Thank you again, Mike

 

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