Warm intros for a new market

Entering a new market feels like starting cold. It rarely is. Your network reaches further than your client list, and the warm paths into a new market usually run through people one step away from it.

The mistake is assuming you have no way in. So the team buys a list, writes a sequence and hopes. That's the slowest way to break into a market where nobody knows your name.

Map what's adjacent

Start with the market you're entering and ask who sits next to it.

If you're moving from banking into insurance, think about who works across both. Compliance consultants. Former bank executives now at insurers. Vendors who sell core platforms to both. Lawyers and auditors who serve both.

If you're moving into a new region, think about who already operates there. Your clients with offices in that city. Partners who have a practice there. Former colleagues who moved there.

The people adjacent to a market know buyers in it. They're your first warm paths.

Look inside your own firm

Your delivery team is the most underused source of intros in any services firm. People who've worked at companies in the new market, or worked on projects that touched it, know buyers you've never met. I wrote about this in your delivery team knows more buyers than your sales team.

Ask them directly. Hand them a short list of target accounts and ask who they know at each one. Don't send a survey. Spend fifteen minutes with them and go through names.

Recent hires matter even more. Someone who joined from a company in your target market brings a fresh network that hasn't been worked.

Use weak ties on purpose

The people who'll introduce you to a new market are rarely your close friends. They're acquaintances. Former colleagues you haven't talked to in years. People you met once at an event.

That's normal. Weak ties connect you to circles you don't already move in. I covered why in weak ties are where intros come from.

So search your LinkedIn connections for second-degree paths into target accounts. Look at who you share with the buyer. Then reach out to the mutual connection with something specific, not a vague "do you know anyone in insurance."

Ask your investors and advisors

If your firm has investors, board members or advisors, they likely know executives in markets you don't. Private equity firms in particular often have operating partners with deep industry networks.

Make it easy. Give them three named accounts and a short note they can forward. Don't ask them to "think about who might be a fit."

Write the note for a stranger

In a new market, the buyer doesn't know you and the connector may not know the market. The forwardable note has to carry everything.

That means a sharp hypothesis about the buyer's world, not your firm's credentials. Show the buyer you understand their market. Being new to it doesn't matter if the note is sharp.

I'm reaching out through a mutual friend. Saw the company just posted for a head of claims analytics and named claims leakage in the last annual report. I'd guess the board wants faster proof that the new models are working. Is that the real pressure, or is it somewhere else?

That note works when the connector knows nothing about insurance. They just forward it.

Build the first referral fast

Your first client in a new market is worth far more than the revenue. It's your first reference, your first case, and often your first source of new intros.

Do the work well and close the loop with the connector who got you there. I wrote about turning that first intro into a stream in the intro that turns into a referral.

When there's no path

Sometimes there's no warm path. Not every account will have one.

That's when you go direct. But go direct the way you would with a warm intro. Research the account, write the hypothesis, reach the committee. A cold note that reads like a warm one still gets a reply.

And keep looking for paths as you go. Every meeting in a new market adds names to your network. Within a few months, the market that felt cold won't be.