What makes an introduction qualified?

A reply is evidence of interest. It is not evidence of fit.

That distinction is easy to lose in outbound work. A prospect says “tell me more,” the reply is counted as positive, and a meeting is passed downstream. The receiving partner then has to discover whether there was a real need, why the person responded, and whether the opportunity was remotely relevant. The connector has created activity, but not much value.

Qualification is a threshold, not a promise

To call an introduction qualified should mean that it passed a defined threshold before the handoff. It should never mean that a sale, approval, or transaction is likely or guaranteed. Those decisions depend on information and judgment that often sit with the provider, buyer, underwriter, or specialist after the introduction.

At SB Everyday, the threshold rests on four practical tests.

1. Intent: is there a real situation?

The person should be responding to a present or near-term commercial situation—not merely being polite, gathering vague information, or agreeing to a generic networking call. The first questions are simple: what are they trying to accomplish, why now, and what happens if they do nothing?

In a funding mandate, “we could always use more capital” is weak intent. A defined use of funds, a working amount, and a real timeline provide stronger evidence. Other niches need different questions, but the principle stays the same.

2. Relevance: does the situation match the mandate?

A connector should begin with the supply side’s actual appetite. Who can the partner help? What cases are clearly outside scope? What information changes the answer? Without those boundaries, qualification becomes improvisation and every interested prospect looks “close enough.”

Relevance is an initial commercial judgment, not full diligence. The point is to eliminate obvious mismatches and make the remaining uncertainty explicit.

3. Readiness: can a sensible next step happen?

A person may have a relevant problem but be unable or unwilling to take the next step. Readiness can mean having the decision-maker involved, being willing to answer basic questions, or being prepared to use the provider’s secure process for required documents. It does not mean pressuring someone into urgency.

4. Consent: do both parties understand the handoff?

No introduction should surprise either side. The prospect should know who they are being introduced to and why. The partner should receive a truthful summary, including material constraints already known. Consent is what turns contact sharing into an introduction.

Good qualification reduces avoidable ambiguity. It does not erase commercial risk.

What should travel with the introduction?

A useful handoff usually contains a compact set of facts:

• who each party is and why the connection is relevant;
• the stated need, objective, or commercial situation;
• why the timing is active now;
• the initial fit factors that were confirmed;
• any important unknowns or constraints; and
• the agreed next step and the person responsible for it.

This packet does not need to be long. It needs to be specific enough that the next conversation starts where the previous one ended. Sensitive documents should not be sent casually; the qualified provider should collect them through its own secure process.

The standard that matters

The cleanest test is not “did they reply?” or even “did they book?” Ask instead: if both parties read the handoff, would each understand why the conversation is happening and what remains to be decided? If the answer is yes, the connector has probably earned the introduction.