How to set up referral partnerships

Your first clients came from people you know, that list has run out, and every advice thread says referrals are the best leads. This guide shows how to set up referral partnerships with businesses that already serve your buyers, so they send you clients and you send them clients back. Most founders meet two or three possible partners, agree to "keep each other in mind", and never hear from them again.

Do these three things

About 4 hours a day, every day. Judge your messages after 2,800 (4 weeks). Judge each partner 90 days after you agree, because a first intro usually takes 60 to 90 days.

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1. 1Today: list 10 kinds of business that serve your buyers just before or alongside you, and write a one-page partner offer: what counts as a referral, 10% of the first 12 months' fees, and a reply within 24 hours.
2. 2Every day: send 100 personal messages to owners of those businesses asking for a 20-minute call about the clients you both serve. Follow up 3 times, and answer every intro a partner sends within 24 hours.
3. 3Every Sunday: count messages, calls, partners, intros and clients won, and tell each partner what happened to their intros. After 2,800 messages, fix the first number below its line.

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1. Write down who already serves your buyers before and after you

A referral partner is a business that serves the same buyers as you, sells something different, and meets them at the moment they need you. Write down 10 kinds of business your buyers pay just before, alongside or just after they would pay you. Then pick the 3 kinds that meet your buyer closest to that moment.

An intro from someone the buyer already trusts carries weight. In a March 2026 survey of 1,200 US business decision-makers, 73% trusted recommendations from peers, more than vendor websites (55%), search engines (54%) or AI chatbots (39%).

Start with the people who know. In a short customer interview, ask each client, and anyone you have had a discovery call with: "Who else did you pay for help in the 6 months before you found us? Who do you pay now, next to us?" Their answers are your best list. Add kinds you can see yourself: who builds, fixes, advises or supplies your buyer.

For each kind, answer three questions in a Google Sheet:

1. When do they meet my buyer? Just before the buyer needs you is best. A web designer finishing a new site meets a founder who will soon need traffic.
2. Do they sell what I sell? If yes, cross them out. They are competitors, and they will keep the client.
3. Do they talk to many of my buyers? Accountants, bookkeepers, lawyers and financial advisers see the inside of many businesses. In a 2025 survey of 350 US businesses, 57% had found their accountant through a peer's referral, so accountants know how referrals work.

Keep the 3 kinds with the best answers. Write one line on each: "They meet [your buyer] when [moment], and their clients then need [what you do]."

If you run a SaaS: your partners are the consultants, freelancers and agencies that set up the tools your buyers use, and the tools your product connects to. The integration marketplaces guide covers listing in those tools. This guide covers the people who set them up.

If you run a D2C store: your partners are local or online businesses whose customers buy products like yours, such as a hair salon for haircare. They send their customers to your store with a code, not to a sales call. If they want to stock and sell your product, that is wholesale, and creators who post about you are an affiliate program.

• Tool: Google Sheets.
• Time: 1 hour.
• You will have: a sheet of 10 kinds of business, with 3 marked to start, and one line on each.
• It worked if: each of the 3 meets your buyer just before or while they need you, and none sells what you sell.
• Common mistake: choosing businesses like your own because they are easy to talk to. Another agency or another consultant in your field rarely gives you its clients.

2. Write a one-page referral partner offer with a fair fee

Write one page that tells a partner exactly who to send you, how to send them, and what they get. A partner who cannot say in one sentence who your client is will send nobody. Pay 10% of what each referred client pays you in their first 12 months, paid only after the client pays.

The fee. Among agencies, 10% of revenue for the first 12 months is the most common referral fee, and 5% is the next most common. Software companies often pay 10% to 20% of the first year. Pay it on money the client has paid you, not on a signed contract, and stop after 12 months. Founders who promised fees for as long as the client stays often regret it. Check the fee against your price: if 10% of the first year is more than the profit you keep from one client, fix your price first.

Who cannot take cash. In the US, lawyers may not pay for referrals or share their fees with people who are not lawyers. They may agree to swap intros, if the deal is not exclusive and their clients are told about it. Accountants (CPAs) must tell their clients about any referral fee they receive. So for lawyers and accountants, offer the no-fee version below, and ask them what their own rules allow. Never pay an employee of one of your clients for an intro. Thank them, or give their company a discount.

Ask ChatGPT or Claude to fill the template from your website and your value proposition. Then check every line yourself. Save it as a PDF.

[Your company]: referral partnersWho to send us: [kind of business], [size], when [the moment the problem hurts].
Who not to send us: [the clients you turn away].
Signs they need us: [2 or 3 things a partner would hear them say].How to introduce: ask them first, then send one email with both of us on it. We reply within 24 hours.
What we do next: a 20-minute call with them. We tell you what happened within 7 days.What you get: 10% of what the client pays us in their first 12 months, paid within 14 days of each payment we receive. [No-fee version: we send you every client of ours who needs [their service], and we tell our clients about this deal.]
A referral counts if the client signs within 90 days of your intro.
What we send you: clients of ours who need [their service], introduced the same way.Either of us can end this at any time. Fees for clients already referred are still paid.
Contact: [name], [phone], [email]

This page is a starting point, not legal advice. If a partner sends a long contract, have a lawyer read the parts on fees, length and ending it.

If you are in the US: ask each partner you pay for a W-9 form before the first payment. If you pay one partner $2,000 or more in a year, send them a Form 1099-NEC by 31 January. That limit was $600 until the end of 2025. Outside the US, ask your accountant how to pay and record referral fees.

If you run a SaaS: pay 10% to 20% of what each customer pays in the first 12 months. Add a "Who sent you?" box to your signup form, and give each partner its own link with UTM parameters. Once 10 partners send signups, a tool like Rewardful ($49 a month, 14-day free trial) tracks partner links and payouts.

If you run an agency: if a partner wants to sell your work under its own name, that is white-label work, not a referral. Price it with the white-label guide and selling SEO to web design clients.

• Tool: Google Docs, saved as a PDF, and ChatGPT or Claude for the first draft.
• Time: 1 hour, once.
• You will have: a one-page offer you can send in a minute, with a fee and a no-fee version.
• It worked if: a friend reads it for 1 minute and can say who to send you, how to introduce them, and what the partner gets.
• Common mistake: a page about your company's story with no line on who to send. Partners need the "who" more than the fee.

3. Find referral partners: add 100 names a day

Find referral partners by listing owners of your 3 kinds of business, 100 a day, in one sheet. To send 100 messages a day you need about 3,000 names a month on your lead list. When one kind or one area runs dry, add the next kind from your map or the next city or country.

Where to find them:

• Your clients' own suppliers. Every name your clients gave you in step 1 goes in first, with the client's name as the true line.
• Partner directories of the tools your buyers use. They are free to browse and list firms by service and country: the HubSpot Solutions Partner directory, the Shopify Partner Directory, Xero's "Find a bookkeeper or accountant near you" and QuickBooks' "Find an Accountant".
• Google. Search "[partner kind] for [your buyer]", for example "fractional CFO for SaaS startups", and "[partner kind] [city]". Agencies and studios also list on review sites such as Clutch.
• LinkedIn. Search the job title ("founder", "owner", "partner") with the kind of business. The LinkedIn outreach guide shows how to search well.
• Speakers, hosts and guests. People who speak at events your buyers attend, host podcasts your buyers hear, or answer questions in communities where your buyers talk.

Put the owner or a partner on each row, not a general inbox. The decision maker guide shows how to find each email, and the free lead list guide has the sheet rules.

Let AI do the reading. Paste 10 partner websites at a time into ChatGPT or Claude. Ask, for each: who they serve, how big those clients are, and one recent piece of work or post. Open each site and check the fact before the row goes in. That is about 30 seconds a row.

Business | Kind | Owner, role, email | LinkedIn | Who they serve | One true line | Named by a client? (who) | Try 1 | Try 2 | Try 3 | Call date | Agreed? (fee / no fee) | Intros in | Intros out | Clients won

• Tool: Google Sheets, Google, LinkedIn, the partner directories above, and ChatGPT or Claude.
• Time: about 1 hour 30 minutes a day.
• You will have: 100 new rows a day, about 3,000 a month.
• It worked if: 9 in 10 rows have the owner's name, an email, and one true line about their work.
• Common mistake: listing only big, famous firms. Small firms of 1 to 20 people serve small clients like yours, and they answer their own email.

4. Message 100 possible partners a day and ask for a 20-minute call

Every day, send 100 personal messages to owners on your list. Ask for a 20-minute call to compare the clients you each see. Do not ask for referrals in the first message: nobody sends clients to a stranger. Ask about their clients, and offer something first.

How 100 a day is possible. Paste 20 rows at a time into ChatGPT or Claude with the template below. It drafts each message from the row's true line. You check the fact and fix the first line: about 30 seconds a message. Send each one by hand.

Spread the 100 over channels, inside each one's limits. Send cold email from a second domain you have warmed up, about 30 a day from each mailbox, follow-ups included. LinkedIn allows about 100 connection requests a week, so message people you are already connected to there, and use email for the rest. Call owners whose number is on their website. Each person gets up to 3 follow-ups, 3 to 4 days apart, each with something new.

Subject: your [their client type] clientsHi [first name],I saw [one true line: a site they built, a post, a client they named].I run [your company]. We help [your buyer] with [what you do], usually [the moment: right after they do X]. I think we meet the same people a few months apart.Would a 20-minute call to compare the clients we each see be worth it? I may know [a client of mine / someone] who needs [their service] now.[Your name]
[Company] · [direct phone]

Hi [first name], one more line on this. [New true thing: "One of my clients asked me last week who I'd use for [their service]."] Is a 20-minute call worth it, or is someone else on your team better to talk to?

Answer every reply the same day, and book the call while they are interested. If few people answer, fix the message before you send more.

• Tool: Gmail or Google Workspace on a second domain, LinkedIn, your phone, and ChatGPT or Claude.
• Time: about 2 hours a day.
• You will have: 100 messages sent a day, each logged, and calls in your calendar.
• It worked if: after 2,800 messages you have at least 2 calls for every 100 messages.
• Common mistake: "Can you send me referrals?" in the first message. It asks a stranger to risk their client on you.

5. Agree the referral partnership on a 20-minute call

On the call, learn who their best clients are first, then explain yours in one sentence, then agree the one-page offer and one next step. End with a real intro to make, in either direction. A call that ends with "let's keep each other in mind" almost never leads to an intro.

The call works like any discovery call: they talk more than you.

Who are your best clients: what kind, what size, and what do they come to you for?
When you finish a job, what do those clients usually need next?
Who do you send them to now for [what you do]? How is that going?
Which clients would you never want sent to you?
How do you like intros: an email with both of us, a call, a form?
Do you pay or take referral fees, or are there rules you have to follow?

Then give your one sentence from the offer, your value proposition for partners: who to send you and when. Say what you will do: reply within 24 hours, and tell them what happened within 7 days. Ask: "Shall I send you our one-page offer today?" Before you hang up, agree one first intro: a client of yours who needs them, or a kind of client of theirs they will think of this week. Send the offer the same day, with a follow-up email that repeats what you agreed.

Agree in writing by email or a signed page, the same way you would confirm a proposal. Write "agreed", the date, and "fee" or "no fee" into the partner's row. Start with 3 to 5 partners who meet your buyer at the best moment. Most of the rest will send nothing, so keep calling until you have them.

• Tool: your phone or Google Meet, and your sheet open while you talk.
• Time: 20 minutes a call, plus 10 minutes to write it up and send the offer.
• You will have: answers to the six questions, a partner who has agreed the page, and one first intro named.
• It worked if: at least 3 in every 10 calls end with the offer agreed and an intro named.
• Common mistake: talking about your own company for 15 minutes and never learning who their clients are.

6. Make every referral easy, and send referrals back

Every intro, in either direction, is a double opt-in: ask each side first, then send one email with both on it. Reply to every intro from a partner within 24 hours, and tell the partner what happened within 7 days. Send clients back: partners keep sending to people who send to them.

Hi [first name], you mentioned [their problem]. I know [partner name], who [what they do] for [kind of business] your size. Would an intro help? No pressure either way.

Subject: Intro: [client first name] ([company]) and [partner first name] ([company])[Client first name], meet [partner first name]. [One line on what the partner does and why they fit.]
[Partner first name], meet [client first name]. [One line on what they need now.]I'll leave you two to find a time. Moving myself to bcc.
[Your name]

Hi [first name], thank you for introducing [client]. We spoke on [day]. [What happened: they signed / they are deciding by [date] / not a fit because [reason].] [If signed: your first fee will come within 14 days of their first payment.] If you meet more teams like [one line], I'd love to hear about them.

Every day: answer every intro from a partner within 24 hours, and send each partner's note within 7 days of their intro. Log both in the sheet. Once a month: send each partner one useful thing, like a short monthly email: an intro, a client who needs them, or a short note on what your clients are asking for. Pay fees within 14 days of each client payment, every time.

Ask every new client, "How did you hear about us?" and write the answer down, so you know which channel brought each deal. Onboard a referred client like your best client: their result is what the partner hears about. Once they are happy, ask them for a testimonial and, later, a case study you can send to partners.

• Tool: email and your sheet.
• Time: about 30 minutes a day.
• You will have: every intro answered, logged and closed with a note to the partner.
• It worked if: no intro waits more than 24 hours, and every agreed partner hears from you at least once a month.
• Common mistake: going quiet after a referral. A partner who never hears what happened assumes it went badly and stops sending.

7. Count partners, intros and clients every Sunday

Every Sunday, fill in one row: messages sent, replies, calls, partners agreed, intros received, intros sent and clients won. After 2,800 messages, about 4 weeks, use two checks to fix your outreach. Judge each partner on its own, 90 days after you agreed.

Week | Messages | Replies | Calls | Partners agreed | Intros in | Intros out | Clients won | Fees paid | Best first line this week

After 2,800 messages, check two numbers in this order:

1. Calls per 100 messages. Under 2: change the message. Put a client's need or the partner's own work in the first line, and test it on the next 500. If it stays under 2 after that, try the next kind of partner on your map. If nothing changes after 5,600 messages, check why no one is buying.
2. Partners agreed per 10 calls. Under 3: the offer is the problem. Ask the next 5 people on calls what would make it worth it to them, and change the one line they name.

For each partner, 90 days after you agreed: at least 1 intro either way, keep going and add them to your monthly note list. No intros: call once, ask what clients they have seen lately, and send your one sentence again with an example. After 180 days with no intros either way, stop the monthly notes and leave them in the sheet. Keep the 3 to 5 who send. Run one co-marketing campaign with your best partner to reach its whole audience.

Be honest about results. Most partners take 60 to 90 days to send a first intro, and a good one sends 1 to 4 a year. Three or four partners like that can be a steady source of clients. Ten coffees with no follow-up are not.

Open calls, intros and offers are your sales pipeline. When the sheet gets slow, move it to a CRM. Count the hours each partner client took, which is your cost to win a customer, and compare partners with your other channels in a monthly review. Your happy clients can refer you too, through a customer referral program.

• Tool: Google Sheets.
• Time: 20 minutes each Sunday.
• You will have: one row a week, and a clear answer on which message, offer and partners bring clients.
• It worked if: you can say which number to fix next and which partners have sent at least one intro.
• Common mistake: judging after 5 coffees, or counting meetings instead of intros and clients.

Your referral partnership checklist for the next 4 weeks

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Step 1 · Write down who serves your buyers

• Ask each client who else they paid for help before and alongside you.
• List 10 kinds of business that serve your buyers and pick 3 to start.

Step 2 · Write a one-page partner offer

• Write your one-page partner offer with a fee and a no-fee version.

Step 3 · Add 100 names a day

• Every dayAdd 100 owners of your 3 kinds of business to your partner list.

Step 4 · Message 100 possible partners a day

• Every daySend 100 personal messages asking for a 20-minute call about the clients you both serve.
• Every daySend today's follow-ups, up to 3 per person.

Step 5 · Agree on a 20-minute call

• Run each partner call with the six questions, agree the offer and name one first intro.

Step 6 · Make referrals easy and send them back

• Every dayAnswer every partner intro within 24 hours and tell the partner what happened within 7 days.
• Once a monthSend each partner one intro or useful note, and pay every fee that is due.

Step 7 · Count every Sunday

• Every SundayFill in one row of your Sunday sheet.
• After 2,800 messagesCheck the two numbers in order and change the first one below its line.
• After 90 daysReview each partner 90 days after you agreed.

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