T149 Referral rules of engagement
Referral rules of engagement
Who does what once a RelayWorks partner meets a company that could use RelayWorks: when to refer, what a referral needs, who holds the customer relationship, how leads are answered, and what a partner never promises. Agreed between Devon Acheampong, RelayWorks partner manager, and Lena Marsh, managing partner at Northgate Operations Advisory, for every Northgate consultant who refers. Mei Tanaka, RelayWorks partner operations lead, reviews referrals within one business day.
Sample template: the firm, people, clients and figures are fictional.
Five rules that settle most questions
- Refer as soon as you have a real conversation with the company, not when it is ready to buy.
- One partner holds a company at a time; the first accepted referral holds it.
- Companies in RelayWorks' own sales pipeline are not open for referral.
- RelayWorks sets the price; a partner never quotes, discounts or promises a price.
- Answer every offered lead inside its three-day window, yes or no.
What a referral needs
A referral RelayWorks can act on names the company, a contact with authority over the service team, the product that fits, the team size and the handoff problem in the customer's own words. Two Northgate referrals arrived without the team size and waited until Mei asked. Mei decided a referral needs the team size and the problem in the customer's words before review starts, and Lena added both to Northgate's referral checklist.
| Field | Useful | Not useful |
|---|---|---|
| Problem | Shift handoffs between two warehouses lose temperature exceptions | Needs workflow software |
| Team size | 60 people on the service floor | Large team |
| Contact | General manager, owns the service floor | Someone in IT |
| Product | RelayWorks Enterprise, several sites | Not sure |
The best fit is a service team of 15 or more people that hands work between shifts or sites every day. A team of three working from one inbox is usually not a fit yet. Refer it later, when the handoffs start.
After you refer
Live example from the Dashboards app, shown with Northgate Operations Advisory's demo data. Block dates move forward each week, so they can differ from the sample dates on this page.
Each state has one owner. Read the bars as the referrals Northgate has open or closed this year; the Fenwick Distribution lead is not counted until Northgate answers it.
Pinecrest Parcel waits on Northgate
On Oct 2 Mei asked: "How many people are on the service team, and which handoff do they lose most often?" Owner: Owen Pryce answers for Northgate. Consequence: the referral stays out of review and Pinecrest Parcel is not credited to Northgate until the answer arrives. Ask: answer this week.
Live example from the Dashboards app, shown with Northgate Operations Advisory's demo data.
Who holds the customer
sequenceDiagram
participant N as Northgate consultant
participant C as Customer sponsor
participant R as RelayWorks account executive
N->>C: Operations review finds lost handoffs
N->>R: Referral with team size and the problem
R->>C: First call, with the Northgate consultant invited
C->>R: Pilot team and proposal
R->>N: Weekly status until signed or lost
C->>R: Signed order
R->>N: Won, with credit and commission confirmed
Keeps the advisory relationship it already has. Joins the first call and the pilot review when the customer agrees. Joint calls need a certified consultant: Owen once referred a company whose team was too small to use RelayWorks, which the referral course explains, so Mei decided referral reps complete the certification before joint calls.
Runs the sales cycle, sets the price and the contract, and runs the rollout steps: discovery, data preparation, configuration review, scenario testing and the handoff to the customer's team. Tells the partner each week where the referral stands.
A partner never quotes a price, offers a discount, promises a feature or a date, or signs anything on behalf of RelayWorks. A partner never shares one client's information with another, and RelayWorks never tells a partner which other partner holds a company.
Credit window
An accepted referral is credited to the partner for 90 days. Ask once for 30 more days before the end date, when the customer confirms a new decision date. If the company signs inside the window, the commission is the partner's. If the window ends without a signed order, the company is open to refer again.
| Referral | Accepted | Credited until | State |
|---|---|---|---|
| Larch Logistics | Sep 1 | Nov 30 | |
| Tolliver Freight, lead | Sep 22 | Dec 21 | |
| Sutter Bay 3PL | Jun 9 | Ended Aug 14 |
Leads from RelayWorks
Silver and Gold partners receive inbound requests from companies in their region. Accept or decline within three days. Accepting credits the lead to the partner from that day; declining with a reason lets RelayWorks offer it again while the company still wants an answer.
The Fenwick Distribution notice first went to a consultant who was on leave, which cost Northgate a day of its window. Devon decided leads go to the partner admin and the named referral contact, and Lena named herself and Owen as Northgate's contacts.
| Lead | Need | Offered | Respond by | State |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tolliver Freight | 35 people handle carrier and customer updates | Sep 21 | Sep 24 | |
| Fenwick Distribution | A 25-person support team wants a rollout before peak season | Oct 2 | Oct 5 |
Referrals by month show the rhythm the rules aim for: steady referrals from real conversations rather than a rush before a quarter ends.
Live example from the Dashboards app, shown with Northgate Operations Advisory's demo data.
When two partners meet the same company
The first accepted referral holds the company for its credit window. The second partner sees "This company is already referred by another partner" and nothing more. If you think the first referral has ended or covers a different team, write to Devon Acheampong within five business days.
Owners and dates
- Respond to the Fenwick Distribution lead. Owner: Lena Marsh, Oct 5
- Answer the Pinecrest Parcel question. Owner: Owen Pryce, Oct 7
- Decide the Medford Cold Storage referral. Owner: Mei Tanaka, Oct 6
- Complete the referral course before the next joint call. Owner: Owen Pryce, Oct 16
- Name two lead contacts for Northgate. Owner: Lena Marsh, done
How to use this template
Agree the rules once with each partner company and review them at the quarterly plan. Keep the credit and lead tables to the partner's own records.
| Variable | Meaning | Required |
|---|---|---|
{{partner.name}} | The partner company | Required |
{{program.referral_fields}} | What a referral must contain before review | Required |
{{program.credit_days}} | Days a referral is credited, and the extension rule | Required |
{{program.lead_response_days}} | Days to answer an offered lead | Required |
{{partner.lead_contacts}} | The people who receive lead notices | Required |
{{partner.referrals}} | The partner's referrals with state and credit end | Optional |
If a required value is missing, show Needs review and do not share the rules; never state a credit end date you have not checked. If the referral record cannot be read, show Unavailable in the tables.
The live Dashboards blocks on this page show the Northgate Operations Advisory demo profile. Point each block at your own client's profile, or remove it, before you share the page.