Thanks, but I already have a contact.

When I sit in the Executives Network meetings, I listen to people offer up a contact, only to have the person on the receiving end say “Thanks, but I already have a contact at that company.”  That’s just great.  That 10,000+ person company, and you have one contact.  Congratulations!  Here’s a needle.  There’s a haystack.  Go for it!

Or how about this approach?  If you really want to target a company, why don’t you meet as many people in as many different departments as possible and learn as much as you can about each area?  I remember when I was targeting commercial real estate.  I met with six different people at the same company (and the office only had 15 people total).  You think I didn’t know virtually everything going on?  I think some people thought I worked there already!  Another benefit of meeting with all of those people is that I realized I absolutely would not be a fit at this organization, but that didn’t become apparent until I was meeting with person #5 (besides, their holiday party was a complete disaster!).

Here’s an idea:  If someone offers up a contact, you say thank you! And follow up!  You never know who else that person might know.  And you can now tap into their network and expand your possibilities.