The Referral Engine, from Northline Marketing
If every job brought back three referrals, you would stop buying leads.
The Referral Engine asks every customer who says yes, at the right moment, and a real person calls every name.
Revenue from referrals
$12,340
Referred jobs won
5
Illustrative figures. Sample names, sample values.
Your best customers would send you work. But nobody asks them.
Not because you do not care. Because asking is awkward, the window is short, and it is the first thing to fall off a busy week.
The window closes.
Goodwill peaks the day the work is done. By the time anyone thinks to ask, the customer has moved on. The referrals that do arrive land in a text thread or on a notepad, and days pass before anyone calls.
Asking feels like begging.
You did the work well. Asking for a favor on top of that feels like it costs something, so it gets skipped, or it gets asked badly, and you go back to paying for strangers.
Good work should be enough.
A business that does right by people should not have to buy leads from a website to stay busy. The next job should come from the last one. That is how it is supposed to work.
We have watched good businesses buy leads while their happiest customers went unasked.
Northline Marketing works with local service businesses every day. Most of them get referrals by accident: a customer mentions them at a barbecue, a neighbor asks who did the roof. The Referral Engine is how we make that happen on purpose, without turning your customers into a mailing list.
Ask once, remind once, then stop.
No customer is nagged about a job. You decide the timing and how long before a customer can be asked again.
A real person calls first.
No automated message reaches a referred person before someone on your team has picked up the phone.
Every message says who sent you.
A referred person is never contacted by a stranger out of nowhere, and they can reply STOP to any text.
The plan
Two decisions and a phone call, and it is running.
Choose your two gifts.
One for handing over a name, and a bigger one for a referral that becomes a paying job. In your own words. Examples: a credit on the next visit, a free service, a gift card from anywhere you like.
Northline Marketing sets it up in your CRM.
Timing, how long before a customer can be asked again, who on your team gets the call tasks and alerts. You tell us, we configure it. Nothing for you to build.
Mark jobs won and work the call list.
That is your whole job. The ask goes out on its own, and every referred name lands on your team's desk as a call task, and the alert and the contact record say who sent them.
Everything it does, in the order it happens.
Nothing here is a black box. Automatic steps run on their own. Human steps put a task in front of your team, on purpose.
The moment a job is marked won
The engine starts.
AutomaticMarking the job won in your CRM is all it takes. The referral request is queued on a delay you decide.
When that delay is up
Your customer gets one text and one email.
AutomaticShort, warm, and easy to ignore without guilt. It carries a link unique to that customer, which is how every referral is credited back to them.
If nothing comes back
One reminder, then it stops.
AutomaticOne reminder a few days later, in case the first message got buried. After that it never asks again about that job.
When they tap the link
They name the people who would benefit.
AutomaticA short form that already knows who they are. A name and a phone number for each person, done from their phone in a minute. The form stops the same person being entered twice in one go, and stops a customer entering their own number.
Seconds after they submit
They are thanked, and the first gift is owed.
AutomaticBefore anyone knows whether the referral will ever buy. Your customer gets a text naming the gift, and your team gets a task to hand it over.
Right away, as a task
A real person calls each name.
Your teamEvery referred person gets a card in your Referral Engine pipeline and a call task for your team, and you are notified. Nothing automated goes out to them until that call is made.
After the call
The intro text is drafted and waiting.
Your teamAlready written, already naming the person who referred them. Your team sends it after the call, not before. The call outcome moves the card: interested, follow up, not interested, or bad number.
If there was no answer
A short follow up, then silence.
AutomaticTwo short follow ups over the next week, each naming the person who referred them, with a one-word opt out on every text. Then the card closes. Nobody is chased forever.
When the referred job is won
The value lands on the referral's card.
AutomaticThe job value is recorded against that referral in your pipeline, and the second gift is owed to the customer who sent them. Over time the pipeline shows every dollar the engine has brought in, and who sent it.
You pick two gifts, and that is what makes it work.
One goes out the moment a customer hands over a name. The second goes out only when that referral turns into a paying job. Most referral programs offer the second one alone, and that is exactly why most of them quietly die.
Gift one, owed in seconds
For making the introduction.
Owed the moment they hand over a name, with no conditions attached. It is small, and it is the reason anyone fills in the form at all. The customer is thanked for the part they actually control.
Examples: a coffee shop gift card, a free filter change, or a $25 credit on their next visit.
Gift two, owed when it closes
For the referral that becomes a job.
The bigger one, and you can afford it because it is only owed once a job has been won. It comes out of work that would not have existed otherwise.
Examples: a larger gift card, a free service visit, or a $150 service gift card.
Why two beats one.
A single gift given only on conversion asks the customer to do a favor, wait weeks, and then receive nothing if someone they barely know decides not to buy. They learn that referring gets them nothing, and they never do it again. The immediate gift makes the favor always worth doing, which drives volume. The bigger gift on conversion gives them a reason to send people who are genuinely likely to buy, which drives quality.
Next year, one of two ways.
If nothing changes
Growth still depends on buying leads from strangers who shop you on price.
Your happiest customers know people who need you, and that work goes to someone else.
The few referrals you do get arrive by luck, and some go cold before anyone calls.
You still cannot say how much revenue your own customers have sent you.
With the Referral Engine
More of your new customers come from people who already trust you, and they cost a thank-you gift instead of an ad budget.
Every job you win can bring in the next one, on autopilot, without you remembering to ask.
A real person calls every referral while the introduction is still warm, so more of them become paying jobs.
You see how much revenue your referrals have brought in, and which customer sent each one.
Your customer's side
What your customer sees.
No app, no account, no sales pitch. Four things, all on their phone.
A text from your business, at the time you chose.
Thanks again, and a link, if they know anyone who could use you. The email says the same thing.
A page that already knows who they are.
Their name is already on it, with a space for each person they want to send your way. No sign in, no typing their own details.
Space to add the people they think of.
A name and a phone number for each person, one to five of them.
A thank-you within seconds.
A text confirming the gift, and that your team will reach out to the people they named.
The questions owners ask before they say yes.
If yours is not here, call (555) 014-0199 and ask Dana Whitfield.
Pricing
One flat price, set up for you.
The Referral Engine runs on work you are already doing, so there is nothing new to learn and nothing extra to remember. The first referral request goes out as soon as your next job is marked won.
Questions? Call (555) 014-0199 or ask Dana Whitfield.
Everything below, installed and configured in your CRM by Northline Marketing.
- The referral ask goes out automatically when a job is marked won, with one reminder and then silence
- A personal referral page for every customer that already knows who they are
- A call task for your team on every referred name, before any automated message goes out
- Every message to a referred person names the customer who sent them, and texts include a one word opt out
- The Referral Engine pipeline, with every referral tracked and every won job recorded against who sent it
- Two thank-you gifts you choose, described in your own words and stamped on each customer's record
- Two short follow ups over the next week when a referred person does not answer, then the card closes
- Setup, timing and message wording handled by Northline Marketing
Secure checkout. Cancel anytime. No long-term contract.
