Tell Stage 1 what the data can't see

The strongest way into an account is often something no database knows. A friend at the company told you what's going on and said you could use their name. Your colleague spent twenty minutes with the buyer at an event last week. Stage 1 can't see either one, so it asks you.

What Stage 1 already knows

Stage 1 tries to work out how you know each person before it asks. It compares your LinkedIn work history with theirs, checks them against your past clients, and counts real LinkedIn conversations between you. A former colleague, a former buyer, someone who used to work for you, or someone you talk to often. Each shows with a Detected tag and the evidence.

The form is for what's left. Two things only you can know, a referral someone cleared and a conversation a colleague had at an event. And the relationships data can't measure, like who owes you one.

Where you find it

Open an account on the Board. Under each person, next to their door, there's a link that asks if you know them by first name. When a relationship is already set, it reads Change instead.

What you can tell it

Pick how you know them from one list. Bought from me before, somewhere else. Former colleague. A colleague met them at an event. A mutual contact told me something, and cleared their name. Knows me well. Met, but thin. Close friend. Owes me one. Used to report to me.

The form asks only for what that choice needs.

A referral asks who told you, what they told you, and whether they cleared you to use their name. All three, or the referral stays out of the message. Using someone's name without their OK is how you lose a friend and a deal in the same week.

A conference handoff asks for your colleague's name, the event, the date, and what the buyer said, as close to their words as you have. It holds for three weeks from that date.

A former buyer asks what work you did together, where, and when any non-solicit runs out. A former colleague asks where you worked together and a detail only the two of you would know. Recognition is what opens that door.

A close friend, someone who owes you one, or someone who used to report to you needs nothing more. The choice is the information.

Every person has a No send box too. And if the account fired or inherited your firm, there's a box for whether this person was there when it happened.

What changes when you save

The door updates on the spot. A cleared referral opens The Referral, and the email subject names your contact.

Dana Whitfield told you something real and cleared their name.

The other choices set the first move. For a close friend, the reason reads "Say the awkward part once." For someone who owes you one, "Settle the favor in the first line." For someone who used to report to you, "They are senior now."

If you change your mind, Use what Stage 1 detects clears your entry and hands it back to detection.

Why it matters for services

Services deals start with trust, and trust travels through people. The warm intro is the most underused channel in services sales. It lives in a seller's head and never reaches the system.

Thirty seconds on this form turns a conversation at a conference into the best-placed note you'll send all month. Introductions at conferences covers the handoff side, and doors covers what happens next.

What you know is the edge. Tell Stage 1 and it writes from it.