Episode 325: The Relationship Advantage: How Warm Introductions Drive Predictable Growth feat. Ved Rasic
Your next opportunity may already sit in the network you have, not in another cold list. Ved Rasic of LeadDelta and I talk about treating relationships as a growth asset and using warm introductions instead of more cold outreach. If pipeline still depends on you, start with unpredictable revenue.
Ved is the founder and CEO of LeadDelta. He told a story he said he had been reluctant to share on LinkedIn. In 2016 he moved to Canada to build a marketplace that connected vehicle owners with repair shops. He said his team spent $300,000 building the product. The product worked. The business model did not. It was hard to sell and hard to get new users, and they ran out of cash.
I told one of mine too. Early in a company, I once had $38 and change in my bank account, with bills on the desk that were bigger than that. The next day a team member handed me a check for $50,000 from someone who had been watching what we were doing and wanted to help. No paperwork. To this day I do not know who it was. I share it for one reason: most of the things that moved my business were not predictable looking forward. They only made sense looking back. You have to stay in the game long enough for them to happen.
That is why I pushed the journaling habit on this episode. A mentor gave me three questions to write down every day. What was the most important thing I did today? How did I feel about it? What was the most important thing I learned? The first question keeps you honest about focus. The second brings the emotion in. The third is where you decide how to show up differently tomorrow. Most people learn the lesson and never write it down, so they make the same mistake twice.
Now the practical part. Ved’s view is that you should ask for the introduction, even when you have technically met the person. He told a story about a breakfast with a well-known CEO. He had shaken the CEO’s hand, but he still asked a friend who knew the CEO better to make the introduction. That is the mechanism. The trust belongs to the person who knows them, and an introduction carries it into your first conversation.
He also poked at the gift-heavy outbound some teams run. He described a pitch where a company sends a single AirPod to a prospect, and the second one only comes after a demo. It is clever, and it can make sense when the account value is high enough. His point was that there is often a better path: someone you both know.
At scale, we do this with what I call pre-heating. Once someone fits the ideal client profile, we launch retargeting ads across places like AdRoll, LinkedIn, and Meta, so they keep seeing Predictable Profits. Then we like and comment on their posts. If I leave a meaningful comment on your post, LinkedIn tends to show you more of me, and you are more likely to reply. By the time I send a connection request, you know who I am. By the time I send a message, it feels natural. The first call starts warm, instead of a cold pitch against the clock.
That is also how you create demand without waiting on referrals. The goal is to be familiar before you ask, which is the same idea Steve Fretzin and I covered in the new rules of rainmaking.
Ved’s best example of a real connector was a longtime contact who introduced him to 50 or 60 people in a single week. The connector did not want anything back. He thought those people would benefit from knowing each other. Ved’s closing advice was simple: look inward, look around your network, and stop adding new connections before you use the ones you have. Ask for the introduction or the support you need.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- Your existing network is often worth more than a new cold list.
- A warm introduction carries someone else’s trust into your first conversation.
- Ask for the introduction, even when you have technically met the person.
- Ved’s first startup spent $300,000 on a product with the wrong business model. That lesson shaped how he built LeadDelta.
- Most of the moves that change a business only make sense looking back. Stay in the game.
- Three daily journaling questions: what was the most important thing I did today, how did I feel about it, and what did I learn?
- Manage relationships like an asset. Ved built LeadDelta around that idea, but the habit matters more than the tool.
- Pre-heating means the prospect has seen you, and engaged with you, before you ask for a conversation.
- Give first. A meaningful comment usually earns more than a pitch.
- The best connectors introduce people because they believe both sides will benefit.
Connect with Ved Rasic:
- LeadDelta, Ved’s company.
- Giftology by the late John Ruhlin, a former guest, for more ideas on thoughtful gifting.
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FAQ
Why do warm introductions outperform cold outreach in this episode?
Because an introduction from someone the prospect already trusts carries that trust into the first conversation. Ved described asking a friend for an introduction to a CEO he had only shaken hands with, because the friend knew the CEO better. Charles added that a warm first call skips the cold, clock-is-running pitch.
What is pre-heating, as Charles describes it here?
Pre-heating is how we make sure a prospect already knows us before we ask for a conversation. Once someone fits the ideal client profile, we run retargeting ads across places like AdRoll, LinkedIn, and Meta, then like and comment on their posts. When we finally send a connection request or a message, they already recognize the name.
How should a founder treat their existing network?
As a business asset to organize and nurture, not a pile of unused connections. Ved’s closing advice was to look inward and around you before adding more new people. He built LeadDelta, his company, around that idea, but the habit matters more than any tool.
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