What 100 Warm Intros Taught Us About C-Suite Engagement

October 23, 2025

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Reaching senior executives has never been harder. And yet, it’s never been more important.

C-suite leaders sit at the center of unprecedented pressure. They are navigating economic uncertainty, impatient investors and rapid technology shifts, all while constantly juggling priorities. At the same time, their inboxes are flooded with vendor requests, cold prospecting emails, and competing demands for their time. The result is a wall of noise that makes it harder than ever for sales and marketing teams to break through.

Yet the stakes have never been higher. C-suite executives set strategic direction, allocate budgets, and sponsor the initiatives that shape priorities. When you reach them, deals accelerate. When you do not, opportunities stall.

We recently put this reality to the test.

The Experiment: Cold Outreach vs ‘Power Intros’

Ahead of a high-level executive event we ran a controlled outreach experiment targeting Chief Human Resources Officers (CHROs). The goal was simple: fill the room with senior decision-makers using three distinct outreach paths. There were three segments:

Cold outreach from the CEO: 100 CHROs received a direct email invitation from Equilar CEO David Chun.

Cold outreach from AEs: 100 CHROs received a direct email invitation from an account executive.

Power Intros: The team used ExecAtlas to identify 100 CHROs who shared a mutual connection with David Chun and could facilitate a warm introduction, or Power Intro, as we call it at ExecAtlas. These connections included board members, former colleagues, and fellow executives who could personally vouch for the outreach.

This design allowed us to test not only the difference between cold and warm outreach but also whether the messenger mattered. The numbers told a clear story.

	Response Rate
Cold CEO outreach	3
Cold AE outreach	3
Power Intros	46

A CHRO was more than 15 likelier to respond when contacted through a trusted introduction than through either form of cold outreach. Power Intros did not just drive replies. They filled seats.

The Insight: Outreach Is Easy. Trust Gets Results.

If you have worked in enterprise sales, marketing, or executive engagement, you know this well. Identifying the right buyer is rarely the hard part. The real challenge is reaching them in a way that earns attention and creates urgency.

Most teams can pull lists and send emails. Very few have visibility into who their network actually knows. Even fewer have a strategy to activate those relationships at scale. That gap is what this experiment exposed. It is also the exact gap that ExecAtlas is built to help teams close.

The Concept: Power Intros™

In response to these findings, we are formalizing a practice we have seen high-performing teams use successfully. They do not just send messages. They activate relationships.

We call this the Power Intro™.

A Power Intro is more than a warm lead. It is a direct connection made through someone the buyer already knows and trusts. That could be a board member, a client, a colleague, or an investor. It is relationship capital, transformed into a clear path to power.

When you use a Power Intro, you are not only increasing reply rates. You are also building credibility before the first conversation even begins.

Why They Work

Power Intros succeed because they replace transactional outreach with trusted access.

Trust: You're leaning into an existing relationship rather than competing with the noise of cold outreach.

Precision: You have the data to identify exactly the right contact to engage at exactly the right time.

Mutual Benefit: The connector strengthens their own network by facilitating valuable introductions. The recipient gains a new path to growth.

What Comes Next

In the months ahead, we will be expanding support for Power Intros within ExecAtlas. This is not just a product update. It is a shift in mindset.

If you work in sales, RevOps, or marketing, consider:

Outreach Strategy: Where are we relying on cold outreach when relationships already exist?

Network Visibility: Do we have scalable insights into who on our team, board, or client roster could open doors?

Relationship Value: Are we treating relationships as assets or simply as background noise?

Power Intros are not just a tactic. They are a new first step. In a world full of noise, credibility is what cuts through.

If your team is looking for better paths to executive access, schedule a demo to see what ExecAtlas can do for you.

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