The warm pipeline - referral selling.

Top reps don't cold call all day - they ask happy customers for referrals. 75% of jobs are filled via referrals or warm intros, but most candidates send 200 cold applications before they make 5 warm ones. Flip the ratio.

75% of jobs go to people with a warm path in

Referrals are 5x more likely to get hired than cold applicants. If three-quarters of jobs are won via warm paths, three-quarters of your effort should live there too. Most candidates run that ratio in reverse.

75% of jobs go via referrals. So why is 75% of your search going to job boards?

Three circles of warmth

Circle 1 · Inner - DM-able today

    Circle 2 · Middle - friends-of-friends

      Circle 3 · Outer - strangers at target companies

        You'd be surprised who shows up

          Map your warm paths (the tool I built)

          You probably have 500+ LinkedIn connections. The hard part isn't who you know - it's seeing who's actually warm, who's already at a Tier 1, and who can walk you in.

          Built a tool for exactly this. It analyzes your LinkedIn, maps your connections, surfaces who's warm, shows the companies you already have ins at, and pinpoints the warm paths into each of your Tier 1s. The 5-minute version of an exercise that would otherwise take you a weekend by hand. See it in action.

          The three scripts (steal these)

          Why these work

          • Specific. "Looking for senior PM roles at Series B SaaS" → forwardable. "Looking for opportunities" → unforwardable.
          • No-ask close. "If anyone comes to mind" feels like an opening, not a demand.
          • You give them an out. "Totally fine if not" makes it cheap to say yes - and surprisingly cheap to say no, which builds the relationship for later.

          Make it sound like you

            Build your warm pipeline

            Prompt 1 of 4: Inner circle - list 20+ people

            Prompt 2 of 4: Top 5 intro asks (specific people you'd like introduced to)

            Prompt 3 of 4: Customize Script 1 for your top 3 inner-circle contacts

            Prompt 4 of 4: Engagement plan - top 10 Tier 1 strangers

            Where Role Trackr fits in

            Contacts + Tasks Open Contacts and add your inner circle (20+ people). Tag each: "to message," "intro request," or "stay in touch." Set a Task to send 3 messages this week. Each contact links to Companies and Applications, so AI Writing customizes outreach without sounding like a template.