Intros through someone who used to report to the buyer

Senior buyers trust a small circle of people. Near the top of that circle are the ones who used to work for them.

A former direct report has seen the buyer make decisions under pressure. They know what the buyer values in a partner and what makes them hang up. And the buyer usually still takes their calls.

That makes a former team member one of the best connectors you can find. It's a path most sellers miss, since they only look at who works with the buyer today.

Why former reports carry weight

Managers remember the people who did good work for them. Many stay in touch for years, write references, hire them again at the next company.

When a former report says "you should talk to these people," the buyer hears someone whose judgment they've already tested. That beats a mutual connection who met the buyer once at a dinner.

And former reports know the buyer's language. They can tell you whether to lead with cost or speed, and whether the buyer reads email or lives on the phone.

Finding them

Start with the buyer's career history on LinkedIn. List the last two or three companies and the teams they ran.

Then look for people who worked under them in those years. Same company, same function, overlapping dates, a title one or two levels down. Check your own network for any of them.

Your delivery team is a good place to look. Engineers and consultants move around, and some of them reported to your buyers at an earlier job. The your delivery team knows more buyers than your sales team post covers how to surface those links.

Check the relationship before you ask

Not every former report left on good terms. Some left to get away from the buyer.

Ask the connector how they'd describe working for that person. If they light up, good. If they hesitate or change the subject, thank them and move on. Never push someone to reach back to a manager they'd rather forget.

And ask whether they're still in touch. A former report who hasn't spoken to the buyer in eight years is a weaker path than one who had lunch with them last spring.

The ask

Make it small and specific. Tell the connector what you noticed about the buyer's company and why you think it matters. Ask if they'd forward a short note. Make declining easy.

Say Sam, a principal on your team, reported to Laura when she ran IT at a manufacturer. Laura is now CIO at Northgate Components, which just announced a second plant in Mexico.

You ask Sam whether he and Laura are still in touch. He says they talk a few times a year. You ask if he'd forward a short note, with no pressure either way.

Saw Northgate's plan for the Monterrey plant. Bringing a second site onto the same systems in your second year as CIO, my guess is the integration work is landing on a team already full with the ERP upgrade. Is that accurate, or is the bigger issue something else?

Sam adds one line of his own on top, something like "Laura, these are the folks I've been working with, worth a look." That line does more than anything you could write.

Former reports know the buyer better than you do. If Sam says Laura hates the word "integration" or prefers a call to an email, change the note.

And let the connector decide how to make the intro. Some will forward. Some will mention you on their next call. Some will suggest a three-way coffee. Any of those is better than a format you forced.

Close the loop

Tell the connector what happened, whether it turned into a meeting or not. Thank them in a way that fits. If the work comes through, find a way to credit them inside your firm.

They took a small risk with someone they respect. Treat it that way and they'll help again.

The point

The people who used to report to a buyer know how that buyer thinks and still have their trust. Find them, check the relationship and let them shape the ask. For more on the craft, see mapping who you know at a target account and the forwardable note, line by line.