Partner and Affiliate Referral Program

Referrals are usually the best-converting source a professional services firm has and the worst-managed. A partner mentions your name on a call, the prospect finds you through search two weeks later, books a discovery call, signs three months after that, and nobody ever connects the two. The partner never hears what happened. No commission is paid because nobody can prove the referral existed. Six months later the partner has quietly stopped sending anyone, and the firm has no idea it lost a channel, because the channel was never measured in the first place.

The leaks are specific. Referrals arrive with no attribution and get logged as organic, so the partner's contribution is invisible at review time. Commission is calculated by hand from invoices and memory, which means it is late, occasionally wrong, and always a source of friction. Partners get no visibility into what happened to the people they sent, so the loop never closes and they lose the motivation to send more. And because there is no structured onboarding, most partners never actually understand what a good-fit referral looks like, so a meaningful share of what arrives is unqualified and wastes the sales team's time.

There is also an awkward middle case: the same person is sometimes an affiliate (sends volume, paid per conversion, light relationship) and sometimes a strategic partner (sends two deals a year, both large, expects a relationship and a revenue share). A single flat program serves neither well. What works is one tracking and payout engine with two tiers running on top of it, a partner-facing portal that shows live status, and automation that reminds partners to refer when they have gone quiet, which is the real growth lever, because most partner programs die of silence rather than disagreement.

Pipelines and stages

Two pipelines, because a partner and a referral are different objects with different lifecycles.

Partner Onboarding: one opportunity per partner:

• Applied: application form submitted, not yet reviewed.
• Under Review: partner manager assessing fit.
• Agreement Sent: partner agreement out for signature.
• Agreement Signed: signed, tracking link not yet issued.
• Onboarding Call Booked: the qualification-bar conversation is scheduled.
• Active: link issued, portal access live, at least one referral or within the first 90 days.
• Dormant: no referral activity in 90 days.
• Lapsed: no activity in 180 days, moved out of the active roster.
• Declined and Offboarded: terminal states, with a reason field.

Referrals: one opportunity per referred prospect:

• Submitted: a name arrived, by form or by tracked link.
• Duplicate Check: held while the existing-contact rule runs.
• Accepted: passes the duplicate and window checks, attribution locked to a partner.
• Contacted: first outreach sent.
• Discovery Booked.
• Discovery Held.
• Proposal Sent.
• Won: signed.
• First Payment Received: the stage that actually triggers commission accrual.
• Commission Approved, Commission Paid.
• Lost, Disqualified, Clawed Back: terminal, each with a reason.

Calendars

• Partner Onboarding Call: 30 minutes with the partner manager. Covers the qualification bar, how to use the link, what the portal shows, and how payout works.
• Referral Discovery Call: 45 minutes, round-robin across the sales team, with a separate calendar from ordinary inbound so referred prospects can be given priority slots and tighter response targets.
• Quarterly Partner Review: 45 minutes, auto-booked for Strategic Partners and for any partner whose referral count in the quarter beats their own previous best.
• Partner Reactivation Call: 20 minutes, offered to Dormant partners as the second step of the reactivation sequence.

Custom fields

On the partner contact record:

• Partner Tier: dropdown: Affiliate, Referral Partner, Strategic Partner.
• Partner Code: short unique text, e.g. HARLOW-01. This is the value carried in the tracking link and written onto every referral.
• Referral Link: URL, your landing page plus the partner code as a query parameter.
• Agreement Signed Date and Agreement Version.
• Commission Basis: dropdown: One-off on First Payment, Recurring Fixed Term, Revenue Share.
• Commission Term Months: number, zero for one-off.
• Payout Method: dropdown: Supplier Invoice, PayPal, Wise, Other.
• Payout Details Confirmed: switch. No commission is approved until this is set.
• Tax Documentation On File: switch.
• Referrals Submitted, Referrals Accepted, Referrals Won: running counters.
• Last Referral Date: date, the field the dormancy workflow reads.
• Lifetime Commission Accrued and Commission Outstanding: numbers, internal only.
• Unqualified Referral Count: number. Three or more triggers a coaching conversation, not an offboarding.
• Partner Manager: user reference.
• SMS Consent, SMS Consent Date, SMS Consent Source.

On the referral opportunity record:

• Referring Partner: contact reference.
• Referring Partner Code: text, denormalised so attribution survives a record merge.
• Attribution Source: dropdown: Tracked Link, Partner Form Submission, Named Introduction, Claimed Retrospectively.
• First Touch Date: date. The attribution window counts from here.
• Attribution Expiry Date: date, First Touch Date plus 90 days.
• Attribution Locked: switch, set when the duplicate check passes. Prevents a later claim overwriting an earlier one.
• Duplicate Check Result: dropdown: Clear, Existing Open Opportunity, Existing Client, Claimed By Another Partner.
• Qualified: switch, set by the salesperson after discovery.
• Disqualification Reason: dropdown: Out of Sector, Too Small, No Budget, No Decision Authority, Already In Pipeline, Unreachable.
• Deal Value, Commission Amount, Commission Status (Not Accrued, Accrued, Approved, Paid, Clawed Back).
• Commission Approved By: user reference. Audit trail.
• Clawback Reason: long text.

Tags

• partner-affiliate, partner-referral, partner-strategic: tier, mutually exclusive.
• partner-active, partner-dormant, partner-lapsed: activity state.
• partner-top-quartile: applied quarterly to the highest-performing partners by accepted referrals.
• referral-new, referral-duplicate, referral-unqualified, referral-won.
• referred-prospect: applied to the prospect's contact record. Every outreach workflow checks this and uses the referral-specific copy rather than generic inbound copy.
• commission-pending-approval, commission-blocked (payout details or tax docs missing).
• partner-coaching-needed: three or more unqualified referrals.
• do-not-contact-referral: suppression applied if a referred prospect asks not to be contacted. Honoured permanently.

Funnels and landing pages

• Partner Application Page: what the program is, what a good-fit referral looks like, the tiers, and the application form. No commission figures on the page; it says terms are set out in the partner agreement and invites a conversation.
• Partner Referral Landing Page: the page every tracking link points at. Personalized with the partner's name pulled from the code: “[Partner Name] suggested we talk.” Carries the discovery booking widget and a short form. This personalization is the single biggest conversion lever in the build.
• Partner Portal: a membership-gated area. Each partner logs in and sees their referral list with current stage, their counters, their commission status, their tracking link, and the shared assets. It is the thing that keeps partners engaged without the partner manager sending manual updates.
• Partner Resource Library: inside the portal: the one-paragraph qualification bar, a short explainer deck, email templates partners can forward, and a one-pager on your services.

Forms and surveys

• Partner Application: name, company, sector, how they know you, expected referral volume, tier they are applying for, SMS consent checkbox (separate and unticked), and agreement to the program terms.
• Submit a Referral: inside the portal and also available as a standalone link. Prospect name, company, email, phone, what they need, how urgent, and a confirmation that the partner has told the prospect their details are being shared.
• Referral Qualification: internal, completed by the salesperson after discovery. Sets Qualified or the Disqualification Reason, and writes Deal Value.
• Commission Approval: internal, one screen: the referral, the deal value, the calculated commission, the partner's payout status, and an approve or hold decision with a reason.
• Partner Payout Details: collected after agreement signature, sets Payout Method and Payout Details Confirmed.
• Quarterly Partner Pulse: two questions: how easy it is to refer, and what would make them refer more. Sent to Active partners each quarter.

BO's role and guardrails

• What BO does. Answers partner questions in the portal chat and by SMS about referral status, where a specific referral has got to, what the qualification bar is, how the link works, and when a commission is expected to be paid: reading status from the record rather than guessing. Handles scheduling for onboarding calls, reactivation calls and quarterly reviews. Handles the first scheduling exchange with a referred prospect who replies to the introduction message. Drafts the partner manager's quarterly review notes from the referral history.
• What BO never does. Never states a commission rate, a commission amount, or a deal value to anyone. Never tells a partner that a commission is approved, only that it is pending approval or has been paid, both of which are states on the record. Never tells one partner anything about another partner's referrals or performance. Never discusses a referred prospect's situation with the referring partner beyond the pipeline stage. Never resolves an attribution dispute: disputes go straight to the partner manager.
• Escalation rules. Any message containing a complaint, a dispute over attribution, a question about money owed, or a request to change the agreement is tagged needs-human and routed to the Partner Manager immediately with no automated reply beyond an acknowledgement. If a referred prospect asks how their details were obtained, BO answers plainly, names the referring partner, and offers immediate removal.
• Tone. Partners are peers, not leads. No hype, no exclamation marks, no artificial urgency. Short and useful.

Numbers and channels

• One dedicated number for partner-facing messaging, registered for A2P 10DLC with a mixed notification and marketing use case.
• A second number, or your main sales number, for referred-prospect outreach. Keeping these separate means a partner opt-out never silences prospect messaging and vice versa.
• Email is the primary partner channel; SMS is for time-sensitive events only. A referral won, a commission paid, a reactivation nudge.
• Portal chat as the self-service channel, backed by BO.
• Internal Slack channel #partner-referrals for every new referral, every win and every commission approval request.
• Tracked links on a short branded domain, with the partner code as a query parameter captured into a cookie on landing so attribution survives a later return visit inside the window.

1. A corporate finance adviser finds the Partner Application Page and applies as a Referral Partner. The form captures her sector, expected volume, and an explicit SMS consent tick.
2. The platform creates a Partner Onboarding opportunity at Applied, assigns the Partner Manager, tags the contact partner-referral, writes the SMS consent fields, and posts to #partner-referrals. The applicant gets an immediate acknowledgement email saying she will hear back within two business days, and the automation holds the partner manager to that with a task and a reminder.
3. The partner manager reviews and approves. The opportunity moves to Agreement Sent and the partner agreement goes out for signature with the commission basis, attribution window, overlap rule and clawback terms set out in the document rather than in any public page.
4. She signs. The stage moves to Agreement Signed, which writes Agreement Signed Date and Agreement Version, generates her Partner Code (HARLOW-01), builds her Referral Link, provisions her Partner Portal login, and sends the Partner Payout Details form.
5. The same workflow invites her to the Partner Onboarding Call. She books for the following Tuesday. On that call the partner manager walks through the qualification bar, the link, and the portal. The opportunity moves to Active and the contact is tagged partner-active.
6. Three weeks later she forwards her referral link to a manufacturing client. He clicks through to the Partner Referral Landing Page, which reads “Jane Harlow suggested we talk”, and books a discovery call directly from the page. The partner code in the URL is captured into a cookie and onto the form submission.
7. The platform creates a Referral opportunity at Submitted, writes Referring Partner, Referring Partner Code HARLOW-01, Attribution Source Tracked Link, First Touch Date today, and Attribution Expiry Date 90 days out. It tags the prospect's contact record referred-prospect. The referral moves to Duplicate Check.
8. The duplicate check runs: is this email or phone already on an open opportunity, already a client, or already claimed by another partner in the window? All clear, so Duplicate Check Result is set to Clear, Attribution Locked is switched on, and the referral moves to Accepted. Jane's Referrals Submitted and Referrals Accepted counters increment and Last Referral Date updates.
9. Because he booked from the page, the referral skips straight to Discovery Booked. He gets a confirmation that names Jane explicitly: “Jane Harlow mentioned you were looking at this. Looking forward to Thursday.” Jane gets an SMS: “Your referral booked in for Thursday. You can follow it in the portal: [link]”
10. The salesperson runs the discovery call, then completes the Referral Qualification form: Qualified on, Deal Value recorded, notes attached. The referral moves to Discovery Held and then Proposal Sent. Jane sees each stage change in the portal without anyone emailing her.
11. Five weeks later the proposal is signed. The referral moves to Won. Jane's Referrals Won counter increments. She gets an SMS and an email the same day: “Good news: [Company] signed. Thank you. Commission accrues once their first payment clears; you will see it in the portal.” Note what this does not say: no figure, no promise of a date.
12. The client's first invoice is paid through Stripe. The payment webhook moves the referral to First Payment Received, calculates Commission Amount from the partner's Commission Basis, sets Commission Status to Accrued, and tags the record commission-pending-approval.
13. The commission approval workflow checks Payout Details Confirmed and Tax Documentation On File. Both are set, so it creates a Commission Approval task for the partner manager with the referral, the deal value and the calculated amount on one screen. If either check had failed, the referral would have been tagged commission-blocked and Jane chased for the missing item instead.
14. The partner manager approves. Commission Status becomes Approved, Commission Approved By is stamped, and the amount is pushed to Xero as a draft bill against Jane's supplier record. The referral moves to Commission Approved.
15. Finance pays the bill in the next payment run and marks it paid. The webhook moves the referral to Commission Paid, sets Commission Status to Paid, updates Lifetime Commission Accrued and clears Commission Outstanding. Jane gets a short email confirming payment has gone out, with the referral named.
16. Ninety days pass with no further referral from Jane. The dormancy workflow moves her Partner Onboarding opportunity to Dormant, swaps partner-active for partner-dormant, and starts the reactivation sequence, which leads with the outcome of the referral she already sent, because a result is a better prompt than a reminder.

Workflow 1: Partner Application to Active

Trigger. Submission of the Partner Application form.

Conditions and branches.

• If the applicant's email already exists as an Active or Dormant partner, branch to the duplicate path: notify the partner manager, email the applicant “Looks like you are already set up: here is your portal link”, and exit.
• If the applicant is an existing client, tag client-partner and route to the partner manager for a manual decision. Client-partners often need different terms.
• Branch on requested tier: Affiliate applications can be auto-approved if your program allows it; Referral and Strategic always go to manual review.

Actions in order.

1. Create the contact, apply the tier tag, write SMS Consent, SMS Consent Date and SMS Consent Source from the form.
2. Create a Partner Onboarding opportunity at Applied, assign the Partner Manager.
3. Post to #partner-referrals: “New partner application: [Name], [Company], [Sector], applying as [Tier].”
4. Email the applicant immediately: “Thanks [First Name]: your application is in. [Partner Manager] will come back to you within two working days. In the meantime, here is the one thing worth knowing: [qualification bar in one paragraph].”
5. Create a task on the Partner Manager due in 2 business days.
6. Wait 2 business days. If the opportunity is still at Applied, SMS the Partner Manager: “[Name]'s partner application is still unreviewed. You promised them two days.”
7. On move to Agreement Sent, send the partner agreement for signature.
8. Wait 3 days. If unsigned, email: “Hi [First Name]. The agreement is still sitting with you. Any questions before you sign, just reply here.”
9. Wait 4 days. If still unsigned, SMS once, then create a task for the partner manager to call. Two automated nudges, then a human.
10. On signature, move to Agreement Signed. Write Agreement Signed Date and Agreement Version. Generate Partner Code from surname plus sequence. Build Referral Link. Provision portal access. Send the Partner Payout Details form.
11. Send the onboarding email: “You are in. Your link is [Referral Link]. Anyone who lands on it is tagged to you for 90 days. Your portal is [portal link]. Book 30 minutes with [Partner Manager] and we will walk you through it: [calendar link]”
12. Wait 5 days. If no onboarding call booked, SMS: “Hi [First Name]. Worth grabbing 20 minutes before you send anyone, it makes a real difference to how we handle them: [calendar link]. Reply STOP to opt out.”
13. On the call being held, move to Active, apply partner-active, and set Last Referral Date to today as the dormancy baseline.

Stop and exit. Exits at Active, Declined or if the applicant withdraws. All nudge steps exit on the relevant state change or on an opt-out keyword.

Workflow 2: Referral Capture and Attribution Lock

Trigger. Three triggers into one workflow: a tracked-link page conversion carrying a partner code, a Submit a Referral form submission, or a manual internal entry with Attribution Source set to Named Introduction.

Conditions and branches.

• Resolve the partner from the code or the form owner. If no partner resolves, tag the lead referral-unattributed, notify the partner manager, and treat it as ordinary inbound. Never guess an attribution.
• If the partner's Onboarding opportunity is not Active or Dormant (for example Lapsed or Offboarded) accept the referral but hold commission accrual and notify the partner manager.
• Duplicate check branches, run in this order, first match wins: (a) email or phone matches an existing open opportunity owned by someone else → Duplicate Check Result Existing Open Opportunity; (b) matches an existing client → Existing Client; (c) matches a referral already Attribution Locked to a different partner inside the window → Claimed By Another Partner; (d) none of the above → Clear.

Clear branch actions.

1. Create the Referral opportunity at Submitted, write Referring Partner, Referring Partner Code, Attribution Source, First Touch Date and Attribution Expiry Date (First Touch plus 90 days).
2. Switch on Attribution Locked.
3. Tag the prospect contact referred-prospect and the referral referral-new.
4. Increment the partner's Referrals Submitted and Referrals Accepted, set Last Referral Date to today.
5. Move the referral to Accepted.
6. Post to #partner-referrals: “New referral from [Partner Name]: [Prospect Name], [Company]. Attribution locked, window closes [Attribution Expiry Date].”
7. Assign to the sales rota and create a task due within 4 working hours. Referred leads get a tighter target than inbound by design.
8. Confirm to the partner by email within minutes: “Got [Prospect Name]: thank you. [Rep] will reach out today. You can follow it here: [portal link]”

Duplicate branch actions.

1. Move the referral to Duplicate Check, write the Duplicate Check Result, tag referral-duplicate.
2. Do not increment Referrals Accepted.
3. Notify the partner manager with both records side by side and a task due in 1 business day. This is always a human decision.
4. Do not message the partner automatically. Email copy about a rejected claim written by a workflow reads badly; the partner manager sends it.
5. Wait 1 business day. If unresolved, escalate by SMS to the partner manager. An unanswered duplicate claim is how partner relationships sour.
6. If the manager overrides in the partner's favor, move the referral to Accepted and run the Clear branch actions from step 2.
7. If the manager upholds the duplicate, move to Disqualified with Disqualification Reason Already In Pipeline, and create a task for the manager to explain it personally.

Stop and exit. Exits at Accepted or Disqualified. The 4-hour contact task cancels if the prospect books a call on their own.

Workflow 3: Referred Prospect First Contact

Trigger. Referral moves to Accepted.

Conditions and branches.

• If the prospect already booked a discovery call from the landing page, skip the outreach sequence entirely and go straight to the booked-confirmation branch.
• If the prospect has no phone number, run email-only.
• If the contact carries do-not-contact-referral, exit immediately and notify the partner manager.
• Remember the compliance position: this person has not opted in to anything. Every message names the partner and offers an exit.

Actions in order.

1. Wait 15 minutes. A referral acknowledged instantly can feel automated; a quarter of an hour reads as a person getting to it.
2. Send email from the assigned rep's address. Subject: “[Partner First Name] suggested I get in touch”. Body: “Hi [First Name]: [Partner Name] mentioned you were looking at [what they need, from the form]. I work with [sector] businesses on exactly that. Worth 45 minutes? Here are my open slots: [Referral Discovery Call link]. If [Partner Name] has got the wrong end of the stick and this is not relevant, just say and I will leave you alone.”
3. Move the referral to Contacted.
4. Wait 1 business day. If no booking and no reply, send SMS within quiet hours: “Hi [First Name], [Rep] here from [Firm]: [Partner Name] passed on your details. Sent you an email about a short call. Easier to book here: [link]. Reply STOP and I will not message again.”
5. Wait 2 business days. If no response, send one short follow-up email: “Last one from me. If the timing is wrong, no problem at all. I will leave the door open: [link]”
6. Wait 3 business days. If still nothing, move the referral to Lost with Disqualification Reason Unreachable, and notify the partner manager.
7. Notify the partner honestly, by email, from the partner manager: “We tried [Prospect Name] three times over the week and have not been able to connect. If you are speaking to them anyway, a nudge from you would carry more weight than anything from us.”

Booked branch actions.

1. Move the referral to Discovery Booked.
2. Send the prospect a confirmation naming the partner, with the agenda and the rep's direct line.
3. SMS the partner: “[Prospect Name] is booked in for [day]. Thanks for the introduction.”
4. Reminder sequence to the prospect: email 24 hours before, SMS 2 hours before.
5. If the prospect no-shows, send one reschedule offer, then route to the partner manager rather than chasing.

Stop and exit. Exits on booking, on reply (handed to BO then the rep), on opt-out keyword, or at Lost. The opt-out applies the suppression tag permanently.

Workflow 4: Qualification and Partner Feedback Loop

Trigger. Submission of the internal Referral Qualification form after discovery.

Conditions and branches.

• Qualified. Continue down the sales path.
• Not qualified, partner's fault: Disqualification Reason Out of Sector, Too Small, or No Decision Authority. These are signals the partner has not understood the bar.
• Not qualified, nobody's fault: No Budget or Unreachable. These do not count against the partner.

Qualified actions.

1. Move the referral to Discovery Held, write Deal Value and Qualified.
2. Update the partner portal status so the partner sees the change without being told.
3. Email the partner: “Spoke to [Prospect Name] yesterday: good conversation and a real fit. Proposal going over this week. Will keep you posted.” No figures.
4. Create the proposal task for the rep, due in 3 business days.
5. On move to Proposal Sent, update the portal and notify the partner only if more than 7 days have passed since the last partner update. Avoid over-messaging.

Not qualified, partner's fault actions.

1. Move the referral to Disqualified, tag referral-unqualified, increment the partner's Unqualified Referral Count.
2. Do not send the partner an automated rejection. Create a task on the partner manager to call within 2 business days and re-explain the bar.
3. If Unqualified Referral Count reaches 3, add partner-coaching-needed, book a Partner Reactivation Call slot framed as a recalibration, and notify the partner manager with the three disqualification reasons listed. The point is coaching, not offboarding. A partner sending the wrong people is still a partner who is trying.

Not qualified, nobody's fault actions.

1. Move to Lost, do not increment Unqualified Referral Count.
2. Email the partner: “[Prospect Name] was a good fit but the timing is not right for them this year. We have kept them warm and will come back to it. Thanks for thinking of us.”
3. Add the prospect to a long-cycle nurture, but only if they engaged with at least one message. Non-engagers are suppressed.

Stop and exit. Exits once the branch completes. The coaching branch exits when the recalibration call is held.

Workflow 5: Win, Commission Accrual and Approval

Trigger. Referral moves to Won. Second trigger: Stripe payment-succeeded webhook matched to the referred client.

Conditions and branches.

• Attribution window check. If First Payment Received falls after Attribution Expiry Date and the window is defined as first-touch-to-close, flag for the partner manager rather than silently refusing commission. Partners forgive a rule; they do not forgive a surprise.
• Payout readiness check. Payout Details Confirmed and Tax Documentation On File must both be true.
• Commission Basis branch. One-off on First Payment accrues once. Recurring Fixed Term schedules an accrual per payment for Commission Term Months. Revenue Share accrues on every payment indefinitely until the account closes.

Actions in order.

1. On Won: increment the partner's Referrals Won, tag the referral referral-won, update the portal.
2. Same day, email and SMS the partner: “[Company] signed. Thank you. That is a good one. Commission accrues once their first payment clears and you will see the status change in the portal.”
3. Post the win to #partner-referrals with the partner named. Internal visibility of which partners are producing is half the value of the channel.
4. Wait for the payment webhook. No timer. This can be days or weeks.
5. On payment received: move the referral to First Payment Received, calculate Commission Amount per the partner's Commission Basis, set Commission Status to Accrued, tag commission-pending-approval.
6. Run the payout readiness check. If either field is false, tag commission-blocked, email the partner requesting the missing item with a direct link to the Partner Payout Details form, and notify the partner manager. Re-check every 3 days, up to four times, then escalate.
7. If ready, create the Commission Approval task for the partner manager with the referral, Deal Value, Commission Amount, Commission Basis and payout status on one screen. Due in 2 business days.
8. Wait 2 business days. If unapproved, SMS the partner manager. Late commission approval is the fastest way to lose a good partner.
9. On approval: set Commission Status to Approved, stamp Commission Approved By, move to Commission Approved, push a draft bill to QuickBooks or Xero against the partner's supplier record.
10. On the accounting webhook confirming payment: move to Commission Paid, set Commission Status to Paid, add to Lifetime Commission Accrued, clear Commission Outstanding.
11. Email the partner: “Commission for [Company] has gone out in this week's run. Details are in the portal.”
12. For Recurring Fixed Term and Revenue Share, schedule the next accrual check and repeat from step 5 on each subsequent payment until the term expires.

Stop and exit. Exits at Commission Paid for one-off, or at term expiry for recurring. Exits to Clawed Back if the clawback workflow fires.

Workflow 6: Clawback and Dispute Handling

Trigger. Three triggers: a Stripe refund or chargeback on a referred client, a referred client canceling inside your clawback period, or a manual clawback raised by the partner manager.

Conditions and branches.

• If Commission Status is Accrued or Approved but not yet Paid, cancel it before it goes out. Cheapest possible outcome.
• If Commission Status is Paid, branch on whether the partner has further commission pending: offset against the next payment if so, raise a recovery request if not.
• If the cancellation falls outside your clawback period, do nothing and log the event. Honor your own rule even when it costs you.

Actions in order.

1. Move the referral to Clawed Back, write Clawback Reason.
2. Notify the partner manager immediately with the referral, the amount and the reason.
3. If not yet paid: set Commission Status to Clawed Back, void the draft bill in the accounting system, and create a task for the partner manager to tell the partner personally. Never let a workflow deliver this news.
4. If paid and further commission is pending: write the offset against the next accrual, reduce Commission Outstanding, and have the partner manager explain it on the next review call.
5. If paid and nothing is pending: create a recovery task, notify finance, and escalate to the partner manager and a director. A recovery request is a relationship decision, not an admin one.
6. Decrement the partner's Referrals Won.
7. Wait 1 business day and confirm the partner manager has made contact. If not, escalate.

Dispute branch. Any inbound partner message that BO classifies as an attribution or payment dispute: acknowledge within minutes (“Thanks [First Name], passing this straight to [Partner Manager], who will come back to you today”), tag needs-human, suppress all other partner-facing automation to that contact for 7 days, and create a same-day task. Suppressing the marketing drip while a dispute is live matters more than any single message in it.

Stop and exit. Exits when the clawback is settled or written off, and the suppression lifts when the partner manager closes the dispute task.

Workflow 7: Dormancy Detection and Reactivation

Trigger. Scheduled, weekly on Tuesdays at 09:00, across all Active partners.

Conditions and branches.

• Dormant branch. Last Referral Date more than 90 days ago, opportunity at Active.
• Lapsed branch. Last Referral Date more than 180 days ago, opportunity at Dormant, reactivation sequence already completed.
• Never-referred branch. Active for more than 45 days with Referrals Submitted still zero. Different problem, different message. This partner has not started, not stopped.
• Skip any partner with an open dispute, a live partner-coaching-needed tag, or a referral currently in the pipeline.

Dormant branch actions.

1. Move the opportunity to Dormant, swap partner-active for partner-dormant.
2. Send the results-first email: “Hi [First Name]. A quick one. [Prospect Company], who you sent us in [month], is now [outcome]. Thought you would want to know. Anyone else on your mind at the moment? Your link is still live: [Referral Link]” If the partner has never had a win, substitute what happened to their most advanced referral.
3. Wait 5 days. If no referral and no reply, SMS: “[First Name]: [Rep] here. No agenda, just checking the referral route is still useful to you. Worth 20 minutes? [Partner Reactivation Call link]. Reply STOP to opt out.”
4. Wait 7 days. If no engagement, send the value email: one short, genuinely useful piece of content relevant to their sector, no ask attached.
5. Wait 14 days. If no engagement, send the honest email: “Last check-in from me on this. If referring is not a fit any more that is genuinely fine: reply and I will take you off the list. If it is just timing, your link is here when you need it.”
6. Wait 7 days. If still nothing, create a task for the partner manager to decide: one personal call, or move to Lapsed.

Lapsed branch actions.

1. Move the opportunity to Lapsed, swap to partner-lapsed, remove from the active roster and the quarterly pulse list.
2. Keep the Referral Link live. A lapsed partner who sends someone in two years should still be attributed.
3. Notify the partner manager with the partner's lifetime counters for the record.

Never-referred branch actions.

1. Email: “Hi [First Name]: you have been set up with us for six weeks and I suspect the honest answer is that it has not been front of mind. Totally normal. Is there one person you could think of this week? Here is the one-paragraph version of who we are a good fit for: [qualification bar]”
2. Wait 7 days. If no referral, offer a 20-minute call to work through their client list together. This converts better than any reminder.
3. Wait 14 days. If still nothing, reduce contact frequency to the quarterly pulse only. Stop pestering a partner who is not going to refer.

Stop and exit. Every branch exits immediately on a new referral arriving, which returns the partner to Active and resets Last Referral Date. Exits on opt-out keyword, and on the partner manager closing the decision task.

Workflow 8: Quarterly Partner Review and Leaderboard

Trigger. Scheduled, first business day of each quarter at 08:00.

Conditions and branches.

• All Strategic Partners get a Quarterly Partner Review booked automatically.
• Any partner whose accepted referrals this quarter exceeded their own previous best also gets one booked.
• All Active partners receive the Quarterly Partner Pulse.
• Lapsed and disputed partners are excluded from everything in this workflow.

Actions in order.

1. Calculate per-partner quarterly figures: referrals submitted, accepted, won, acceptance rate, unqualified count.
2. Rank Active partners by accepted referrals. Apply partner-top-quartile to the top quarter and remove it from everyone else.
3. Have BO draft a one-page review note per Strategic Partner from the referral history, for the partner manager to edit. BO drafts; it never sends.
4. Book the Quarterly Partner Review for each qualifying partner and email the invitation: “Hi [First Name]: quarterly catch-up. I will bring what happened to everything you sent us and where we think the best fit is for the next few months: [calendar link]”
5. Send the Quarterly Partner Pulse to all Active partners: two questions, nothing else.
6. Wait 5 days. Send one pulse reminder to non-responders, then stop.
7. Route any pulse response containing a complaint or a low ease-of-referring score to the partner manager as a same-day task.
8. Email the internal channel the quarterly leaderboard: top partners by accepted referrals and by wins, acceptance rate by tier, and the dormancy count.
9. For partners newly carrying partner-top-quartile, send a short, non-gimmicky recognition email and flag them to the partner manager as candidates for a tier conversation.

Stop and exit. One-shot per quarter. The pulse reminder exits on response.

The first and most concrete change is that referrals stop being invisible. Every prospect who arrives through a partner carries a locked attribution, a first-touch date and a named partner, which means the channel appears in reporting as a channel rather than dissolving into organic. That alone changes the conversation about where to invest, because a firm that discovers partners are producing a third of new revenue tends to behave differently toward partners.

The second change is that the loop closes. Partners find out what happened to the people they sent, in the portal and by message, without anyone having to remember to tell them. This is the single biggest driver of repeat referrals, and it is almost entirely an automation problem rather than a relationship problem. Partner managers do not neglect updates because they do not care, they neglect them because there are forty of them and no system.

The third change is that commission becomes boring. Accrual is calculated from cash received, approval is a one-screen decision with an audit trail, payment lands as a bill in the accounting system, and the partner sees the status without asking. Disputes do not vanish, but they become rare and specific rather than constant and vague. The clawback path matters here too: having a rule that fires automatically is what lets you offer reasonable terms in the first place.

The fourth change is harder to see and worth more. Because dormancy is detected and acted on, the program stops silently shrinking. Most partner channels do not fail from conflict; they fail from a slow drift to zero that nobody notices until the quarter is bad.

Metrics to watch

• Active partner count versus total partner count. The gap is the program's real health.
• Referrals per active partner per quarter, trended. This is the number the reactivation workflow exists to move.
• Acceptance rate: accepted divided by submitted. A falling rate means the qualification bar is not landing in onboarding.
• Unqualified referral rate by partner, which tells you who needs coaching rather than who to drop.
• Referral close rate versus inbound close rate. Referrals should materially beat inbound; if they do not, the problem is usually response time, not referral quality.
• Median time from referral accepted to first contact. Target under 4 working hours. This is the metric partners judge you on without ever being asked.
• Median time from first payment received to commission paid. Target under 30 days. Every week beyond that costs you referrals you will never know about.
• Duplicate claim rate and how many were overridden in the partner's favor. A high override rate means your duplicate rule is too aggressive.
• Dormancy reactivation rate: dormant partners who send a referral within 30 days of the reactivation sequence.
• Revenue by partner tier, to check whether your tier design matches where revenue actually comes from.
• Clawback rate as a share of commission approved, as an early signal on referral quality.

Tier design, commission mechanics and payout integration differ for every firm, so this build is always scoped individually. Book a call at bookings.appbo.io to work through your program design.

Decisions to make before you build

• Your tiers. This guide assumes three: Affiliate (link-based, volume, paid per closed deal), Referral Partner (introduces by name, paid per closed deal, relationship-managed), and Strategic Partner (revenue share across the engagement life, quarterly reviewed). Collapse to two if your channel is simpler.
• Your commission basis. One-off on first invoice, recurring for a fixed number of months, or revenue share for the life of the account. Decide per tier, and decide what happens on upsells and renewals. Do not quote the actual figures in any public-facing page: keep rates in the partner agreement and in internal fields.
• Your attribution window. This guide uses 90 days from first touch. Longer windows favor partners and create overlap disputes; shorter windows feel unfair in a long sales cycle. Pick one and write it into the agreement.
• Your overlap rule. What happens when two partners claim the same prospect, or when a referred prospect was already in your pipeline. The default here is first-touch wins, with an existing-contact check that disqualifies anyone already in an open opportunity.
• Your clawback rule. What happens when a referred client cancels in month two or does not pay. This must exist before the first commission goes out.
• Your qualification bar. Write down what a good-fit referral looks like in one paragraph. Every partner sees it during onboarding, and the unqualified-referral rate is the metric that tells you whether it worked.

Integrations to connect

• Stripe for inbound client payments, so commission can be triggered by payment received rather than invoice raised. Paying commission on invoices raised rather than cash collected is how firms end up paying commission on bad debt.
• QuickBooks or Xero for the commission payable side, so approved commission lands as a bill against the partner rather than a manual bank transfer with no record.
• Your payout rail. For affiliates at volume this is usually PayPal, Wise or a platform like Tipalti; for strategic partners it is usually an ordinary supplier payment on normal terms. The platform's job is to produce an approved, evidenced payable, not to move money.
• Google Calendar two-way sync on partner managers' calendars for onboarding and quarterly review bookings.
• Slack for the internal #partner-referrals channel.
• Zapier or Make if your proposal or contract tool is not natively connected and you need signature events to move the referral stage.

Numbers, messaging and tracking compliance

• Provision a dedicated number for partner communications and register your brand and campaign for A2P 10DLC before launch. Register the use case honestly. This is a mix of account notifications and marketing, and under-declaring it gets campaigns rejected.
• Partner SMS is marketing messaging. Collect explicit consent on the partner application form with a separate, unticked checkbox, and store the consent source, timestamp and IP in custom fields. A ticked-by-default box is not consent.
• Honor STOP, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END and QUIT on every workflow, and make HELP return a human contact. Apply quiet hours of 8am to 8pm in the partner's own timezone across every partner-facing sequence.
• Referred prospects have not consented to anything. This is the part most programs get wrong. When a partner submits someone's name and number, that person has no relationship with you. Treat the first contact as cold outreach: identify yourself and the partner by name immediately, give a clear opt-out, and do not drop them into a marketing nurture sequence until they have engaged on their own.
• Referral link tracking uses cookies and query parameters, which brings consent-banner and privacy-notice obligations in many jurisdictions. Make sure your cookie notice covers partner attribution tracking specifically, and that your privacy notice explains that referral sources are recorded.

Data protection and legal

• You need a signed partner agreement before any commission accrues. It should cover the commission basis, the attribution window, the overlap rule, the clawback rule, payment terms, and what the partner may and may not say about your firm.
• If partners are introducing regulated services, or operating in financial services or insurance, referral-fee arrangements may be restricted or require disclosure to the end client. Check this before you build, not after.
• A partner submitting a third party's contact details is sharing personal data with you. Your partner agreement should state the basis on which they may do that, and your privacy notice should describe how referred contact data is handled.
• Tax treatment of commission payments differs by jurisdiction and by whether the partner is an individual or a company. You may need tax forms on file before the first payout.
• None of this is legal advice. Have your own counsel review the partner agreement, the referral consent language, the disclosure requirements for your sector and your tax reporting obligations before launch.

Internal prerequisites

• A named partner manager. A referral program with no owner reverts to a spreadsheet within a quarter.
• A commission approval step with a human in it. Automate the calculation, never the payment authorization.
• Agreement from the sales team that referred leads get a faster response than inbound. The whole program rests on partners seeing their referrals treated well.