Net Introduction Ask

---
name: net-introduction-ask
description: Prepares your Introduction Ask, when to ask, one specific introduction tied to your brief, the easy way to say no, what you offer in return and what not to say, as prompts you put in your own words. Use for "run net-introduction-ask", "how do I ask for an introduction", "asking for introductions feels needy", "who do you know who", "ask a client for an introduction", "let me know if you hear of anyone never works", part of the Claude for Networking on LinkedIn Pack by Polar Bear.
---

# Introduction Ask

## When To Use
Asking for introductions feels needy, and "let me know if you hear of anyone" has never produced a single name. Use this when a client or contact has just had a good experience of your work and you want to ask for one introduction without making it awkward. It answers: what exactly do you ask for, when, and how do you make no an easy answer?

## When Not To Use
If someone has already said yes to introducing you, run the Forwardable Intro Blurb instead. If the relationship is strained, a project just went badly or you have not spoken in a long time, do not ask: run the Client Check-In or the Reason to Write Picker first.

## Inputs
- Your Networking Brief (who you help, what you want help with now, who you would like to meet)
- The person you want to ask, the moment (a good review, a thank-you, a delivered result) and your own notes on what they said
- Your Five-Minute Favor List, and any Client Relationship Map for this client
If you have none of this, I start from the brief's "who you would like to meet" field and mark the output as a first draft.

## Approach
Research from the Hinge Research Institute (S5 in resources) found that only a small share of people who recommend a firm do so because they were asked, and that people make introductions to help the buyer, not the vendor. So the vague ask is out; what is left is one specific introduction that clearly serves the person introduced, asked at the right moment (a practitioner practice, described generically). The failure it prevents: the end-of-call "if you hear of anyone", which costs the client nothing to agree to and produces nothing.

## Workflow
1. Ask three questions: who are you asking, what just happened between you, and what one introduction would help most right now?
2. Check the moment. Good: after a good review, a thank-you or a delivered result. Not now: after a bad week, a missed deadline, an open complaint or an unpaid invoice. If the moment is wrong, the output says "wait" and names what would make it right.
3. Build one specific ask from the brief: "Who do you know who [situation] and [role]?", or a named person the client mentioned themselves. Never "anyone". If you have two asks, pick one; the second waits for another time.
4. Write why it serves the person introduced: what they might gain from one conversation, from their side. If you cannot say it without mentioning your need, the ask is not ready.
5. Prompt the easy no: you write one line that makes declining comfortable ("no is a fine answer"). The ask must survive a no with the relationship intact.
6. Pick what you offer in return from your favor list, with no condition. No fee by default; a standing arrangement belongs in the Partner Agreement.
7. List what not to say: pressure, scarcity, "I need work", praise used to set up the ask, a follow-up chase if they do not come back with a name.

## Output Format
```markdown
# Introduction Ask
**Person asked:** [name] · **Moment:** [what just happened] · **Ready:** [yes / wait until [ ]]
## The ask
- Who you would like to meet: [situation] and [role], from your brief
- Your words: [your words: "Who do you know who..."]
- Why it serves them: [from their side, in your words]
## The easy no
- [your words: one line that makes declining comfortable]
## What you offer
- [favor from your list, no condition]
## What not to say
- [pressure / scarcity / "I need work" / praise as set-up / chasing]
## Decision
You decide whether to ask [name] and say it in your own words by [date]; if they say yes, prepare the Forwardable Intro Blurb.
```

## Done When
- There is exactly one ask, specific to a situation and role or a named person
- The moment check is done and says ready or wait
- The easy no and the give back are in your words
- Nothing in the output is a finished message to paste

## Quality Bar
- One introduction per ask; "anyone" never appears as the ask
- Why it serves the person introduced is written before anything about you
- Nothing assesses how likely the person is to introduce you; Claude never rates the person asked
- No fee is offered by default
- One specific ask, easy to decline, in your own words; you say or send it yourself.

## Next
Run net-forwardable-blurb (Forwardable Intro Blurb) to make the introduction easy once they say yes.

## About the makers

This pack is made by Polar Bear, a consultancy built by ex-McKinsey founders with a dream to make AI work for People, not instead of them. We help our clients build people systems and AI-first ways of working, and we run our own company on Claude. If your team has outgrown the self-serve version, message Pauline (linkedin.com/in/paulinebertry).