I was wondering how do you go about asking for referrals from people you network with? Most of my connections i have reached out to cold and for the most part usually have a 20-40min phone call with them asking about their experience and advice at firm X.
I am starting to run out of leads to contact and was wondering how you go about asking them for referrals. I feel kind of awkward asking someone who I only have had a brief phone call or email exchange with to refer me to other bankers.
Also is it appropriate to do so through emails? After following up?
Thanks!
Networking - How do I get more Referrals? (Originally Posted: 07/14/2013)
Background: I'm looking to break into management consulting and I've conducted about 70 informational interviews in the past 3 weeks. What I've noticed is the following: 1. 10% of my conversations tend to go nowhere, usually because either the person I'm talking to is having a really bad day, or because our backgrounds/personalities are too dissimilar so we don't ever really connect. 2. 40% of my conversations are strong and we connect well but they never really ask anything about me. Usually at the end they'll wish me luck but won't ask me to keep them updated or that I can contact them more if I have more questions. In these cases there's usually just no connection. 3. 20% of my conversations are very strong and they are really curious about me, and they'll often tell me that I can contact them further if I have more questions/usually give me great advice. In these cases usually there's strong chemistry but they may or may not be in a position to help further (i.e. they may be exiting the profession soon). 4. 30% of my conversations are amazing, i.e. I end up making a new friend and/or they offer to critique my resume/help me with interview practice/give me an internal referral to HR. This is usually because of amazing chemistry and because they're in a good life situation.
Question: What should I do about asking for referrals (to a coworker so I can learn more about the industry) in cases 2 and 3? I usually never "formally close" (i.e. is there anybody who you think I should talk to) because it sounds a bit off to me after a normal conversation. However, I would like to ask people in category 2 and 3 for referrals without it sounding contrived. Usually I only ask for a referral if they bring up a contact they know who has a similar background to me.
Summary: How would you guys suggest asking for referrals without sounding contrived and still being incredibly appreciative of their help?
quantitativeman, I'd be happy to help! Before we start I wanted to say that your approach now is really similar to my initial approach (which wasn't super effective for me either) so I suspect you can get a much greater response rate as well.
Here are seven things that can help you out immediately (if you want, feel free to post modifications to your template in this thread, or if privacy is important we can switch over to email/phone instead): 1. Add more about you in the email (i.e. put your GPA, activities you've been involved in, your job at Apple, etc.). This helps because the more they know about you the greater the chance that you and them may have chemistry. 2. Personalize the email to them so it sounds like you're writing to them specifically. Right now you could send that email to anyone but I've found if you can tailor things to them you'll get a much warmer response . I would talk about how you think they have an interesting background because of reason X and that you'd like to talk to them about their career path. 3. Recognize your own value; right now your email sounds like you're asking them to give you something (i.e. their time) but that's not it at all. People love doing this kind of stuff because these days it's tough to establish strong, connections with people and if you can offer that you've given something really valuable. Also all of these people have been in your shoes before and many want to give back, and you're giving them a chance to do that. 4. Think in large numbers; the reason I was able to do 30 informational interviews last week was because I sent out 150 new requests and 200 follow ups. Response rates will be low, expect it and plan accordingly. 5. Download YesWare - this is a gmail addon that allows you to track whether people open your email, reply, and tracks the overall number of email opens. It helped me diagnose problems in my approach (i.e. I realized initially very few people were opening my emails so I personalized the subject line). Also it allows you to set targets to beat on a week by week basis. 6. Propose a time in your email. You need to be aggressive with proposing times to make it easier for them. If you give them a specific time I guarantee they'll open up their calendar and check and will either say yes or propose a counteroffer. I didn't do this originally because I thought this was rude but I realize it's actually a really nice thing to do because I take on the burden of scheduling as opposed to them (otherwise you're making them do the work). 7. Contact them at their work email. I've never used the LinkedIn InMail function to be honest. I usually aim for their work email because they're more likely to check it. Plus, if someone has never been contacted this way before they tend to be pretty intrigued/impressed. Anyway, feel free to modify your template and post here, post further questions, or if you want to talk further by email/phone let me know. This is actually really helpful for me because I'm starting to see the holes in my approach and how I can improve as well.