Best Practices for Setting Up a Referral Program

Being a referral partner — is it worth it? ☝🏼 Can be, absolutely. Can be a total waste of time and energy, too. Without Q- you have to (must) vet ANY referral program you’re asked to be a part of before putting pen to paper — Repercussions? - precious time you have is spent without a dollar gained - failure to gain the answers to the test before sending referrals (ROI = pennies if any) - key Qs to ask prior weren’t discussed- did you show up knowing 1/ how a referral process works best? 2/ what “good” looks like? 3/clarity on mutually beneficial partnership - making it easy, is that a top objective? Having been on both sides, standing up the referral program from scratch to being the referral partner making the direct intros- If all that’s known in terms of what you’re evangelizing/sharing is what you hear and see from an external standpoint — how do you know if it’s worth your time, if you don’t have the insider knowledge? Vet intentionally - ask all the questions… bc not all orgs know what they are doing in this area. (wild, I know) So when a company comes to you, asks you to be a referral partner - do your due diligence. Here are 8 boxes to check for a successful referral partnership + revenue growth overall: 👇🏼 ☑️ ICP: does your network and their potential buyers align? (this matters immensely) ☑️ understand the comp structure: how you’ll be paid/how often/through what platform/1x commission or recurring based on CLV?/marketing efforts/month? — expectations for your time dedicated to see value laid out ☑️ qualification process: e.g. lead volume + what qualifies as “qualified?” (biggest waste of energy/time- making an intro that isn’t qualified) ☑️ access to tools + visibility: what platforms/tools are used? CRM/co-branded material/landing page/UTM - what is set up to make it simple? ☑️ lead tracking + attribution: gain clarity fully on if there is a clear process in place for the leads you create + ensure you get credit where is due ☑️ communication + resources: how are intros best made? / to who? / templates? / access to collateral? ☑️ terms- read/know them: exclusivity/minimum commitments- monthly? quarterly?/non-compete/termination/payment terms + percentage paid out on ☑️ average sales cycle length + close rate + average price: how long until a lead should go to opp/deal stage and so on — if you don’t know this, you can’t calculate (based on ACV) how much you could potentially be putting in your pocket from intros alone (this is a huge must ask, often a huge miss too) Clarity + expectations + transparency + simplicity — if alignment is there and you have the answers…go get ‘em. 💰 Don’t be fooled by what “seems” to make sense/others are doing…make sure the partnership make sense to you/for you if you chose to be a referral partner. ^^ what am I missing above?? #referral #partner #revenue

The greatest sales hack is hiding in plain sight: Your current customers. Yet 70% of B2B companies ignore this goldmine completely. Here's the referral playbook that turns advocates into your fastest growth channel: 1. "Start with advocates, not everyone" ↳ Use NPS scores to identify your champions first ↳ Build a shortlist of 20-30 happy clients before launching 2. "Make the ask brain-dead simple" ↳ Say this: "Do you know another leader facing [specific problem]?" ↳ Provide one-click email templates they can forward immediately 3. "Give before you get" ↳ Spotlight referrers in newsletters and webinars ↳ Offer exclusive access to beta features or advisory councils 4. "Bake referrals into your sales motions" ↳ Reps ask after contract signatures and ROI wins ↳ Customer Success adds referral slides to quarterly reviews 5. "Automate the system for scale" ↳ Set CRM triggers after key milestones hit ↳ Run quarterly "referral sprints" to boost team awareness The numbers don't lie: ↳ Referred leads close 4x faster than cold outbound. ↳ They deliver 16% higher lifetime value over time. ↳ Referral programs cost 90% less than new logos. Your best customers want to help you succeed. You just need to make it easy for them. What referral strategy worked at your company? Share in the comments below. ♻️ Repost to help your network build referral engines 🔔 Follow Ali Mamujee for more growth strategies.

I am a big fan of referral programs, as long as they are structured properly. The reality is that most "reseller" partners are glorified referral partners that are getting a margin that exceeds the contribution they are making, and in many cases a vendor is better off with pure referral partners. The key considerations include: ✅ Defining what qualifies as a referral - it should include a company name; the name and title of a decision maker or champion; a defined need or project; and at least a rough idea of the opportunity size ✅ The duration of the agreement - is it a one-off opportunity or an on-going relationship? If it is on-going we prefer to structure it as a one-year term that automatically expires unless renewed in writing by both parties ✅ Deal registration - make sure the referral partner is protected and gets paid ✅ Compensation - the typical rate is 10%, but this can be tiered based on a number of factors: 🔸 How involved the partner is in the sales process - is it just a hand-off, or do they help manage the sales process? 🔸 The number of referrals per year. For example, 10% for fewer than 5; 15% for 6-10; 20% for more than 11 🔸 The close rate - pay a higher referral fee to partners that send you deals that you close more often and/or faster. 🔸 One-time fee, or do they get paid on renewals? Referral partners come in different flavors: ☑ Traditional channel partners (SIs, VARS, MSPs, etc.) that do not want to take responsibility for the sales and support ☑ Industry consultants that have great customer relationships for their core service, but are not resellers ☑ Your existing customers - offer them a discount of 10% on their own subscription for every related entity or other companies they refer and that become your customer (closed sales, not intros) ☑ Other vendors with complementary solutions. Referral partners are a great way to drive a pipeline of qualified prospects at a very low Customer Acquisition Cost. For many vendors they will be more productive, less frustrating and easier to manage than a traditional channel program. Book an appointment for no-nonsense advice on building a productive channel. #Channelprograms; #P2P; #ISV

Here's the perfect solution if you want more 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐞. When we think of generating more leads, we usually think of - Running paid ads - Sending cold emails - Posting organic content But somewhere along the way we completely shifted away from the thing that got us here... referrals. You probably haven't re-visited your referral strategy in a minute so here's the playbook to revamp and get your network excited to send you more clients. ➡ Incentivization - most referral payout structures kinda suck. 10% of contracted, $500 flat fee, it just doesn't really get anyone excited to get out of bed and start hunting for you. ➡ Consider gamified tiered payouts - Each of our referral partners start at a base referral fee of $1,500. But they can actually make upward to $3,000 per referral if they do the following: ♦ Leave us a LinkedIn recommendation? +$500 their referral is now worth $2k. ♦ Leave us a Google Business Review? +$500 referrals are now worth $2.5k ♦ Shoot us a testimonial? Yep, +$500 Now we're building our social proof, the referral partner's payouts are moving up, and they're stoked they make $3k for every client they bring us. ➡ Payouts - SPEEEEEEED. So crucial, and we've made this mistake of not paying our referral partners fast enough. This is a quick way to never get referrals. ♦ Always incentivize. If they refuse payment then send them a gift that is worth the referral fee (their favorite sports player signed jersey, the top tier equipment for a hobby they are into, etc.) ♦ Outline your terms of payment. We only send out payments via paypal, it keeps things simple on our end. ➡ Call and Contract - Get on a call with every person you want in your referral network. Pitch them on your referral structure, show them how it works, where it benefits them, and ask for them to commit. ♦ If you get the green light, get it in writing. A really simple contract that just states how they will get paid, when they get paid, etc. Getting it in writing makes it serious and it will stay top of mind for them when they are networking. It's a simple list, but an effective way to bring your referral network back to life. What are some ways you are currently incentivizing clients and partners to bring you more referrals?