Boulder TechStar Company Conspire has some ideas for you.

A well-executed introduction to whoever you want to meet—a potential customer, employer, employee or investor—can be the difference between success and failure. Here are the most important points to remember.

Give your friend an email she can forward. When you ask for an intro, remember that you’re asking your friend for a favor. Make it easy on her. Your friend should be able to forward your message on to your target without doing any work. If you do it right, she can do this from her phone.

In order to make this possible, your email needs to be self-contained. Your friend may know everything about you, but your target does not. Describe who you are and why you want to meet.

Keep it short. Busy people are drowning in email. You show respect for everyone’s time and have a better chance of success by getting to the point quickly.

From: Alex Founder
To: Diana Friend
Subject: Intro to John Investor
Hi Diana,
As you know, we’re raising a seed round and would love to talk to John Investor. Could you put us in touch? A brief description of what we do is at the bottom of this email.
Thanks,
Alex
My company (ExcitingCo) improves corporate wikis by letting employees pull important content out of email and into the appropriate wiki with one click. We ran a private beta with 100 companies over the last 3 months. We just opened it up to the public and are signing up paying customers now.

Diana can then forward it on with a recommendation.

From: Diana Friend
To: John Investor
Cc: Alex Founder
Subject: Fwd: Intro to John Investor
John, please meet my friend Alex. His company is doing exciting things. I think you’ll be very interested.
Sent from my mobile device
On Mar 28, 2014, at 10:42 PM, Alex Founder wrote:
…

This is a great start to the introduction, but your work isn’t done.

Follow up immediately. As soon as your friend connects you to your target, you should follow up. It is your responsibility to drive the process. Thank your friend for making the intro and move her to bcc, so she doesn’t get spammed with the scheduling details.

Make a clear ask. Don’t make the next step for your target ambiguous by saying something like: “Let me know what you think.” Be direct.

From: Alex Founder
To: John Investor
Bcc: Diana Friend
Subject: Intro to John Investor
Thanks, Diana! (to bcc)
John, great to meet you. Do you have availability for a 10 minute call next week? I’ll work around your schedule.
On Mar 28, 2014, at 10:42 PM, Diana Friend wrote:
…

Always be respectful, responsive and prepared. No matter what happens with your target, remain professional. Your friend vouched for you by making the introduction. You’re trading on her reputation as well as yours.

The multi-step dance Alex Founder went through above won’t fit every situation, but the tips will help you get effective introductions. If you want to know who the best person in your network to ask for an intro is, check out Conspire.