"Don't enjoy cold-calling" simply means that it's not preferred, not that it won't be done. I was taught that an introduction is better.
Prairied1||0 offered to be gatekeeper and that's fine with me. I'll take him up on that shortly. That's actually what I would expect. I would assume that on his end, he would ask his contacts if, after being presented with some information, they're interested in talking with me. Let them make that decision and let them take that step. I don't expect to be handed a name and number. The most that I hope for is that Prairied1||0 comes back and says, "I told them what you told me and gave them your number. It's up to them." That would be great. I would follow up *once* in about a month and after that I'd wash my hands of it. I'm not going to pester people about it.
But let me ask this: Is there a different way that you would prefer I made the request? Sosage, I can understand you not wanting to lose your contacts over this. I wouldn't want to put you in that position. Is there something that I could say or do that would be better?