A referral system where the lead's fate is visible

What it includes

Five parts. The first three are the minimum without which the thing does not work.

• 01

  The link is issued on the spot

  A partner fills in two fields and gets the link on the same page. No application, no moderation, no waiting: every step between wanting the link and holding it loses some of the people.

• 02

  Leads tied to the partner

  The tag lives in the browser longer than an advertising one, because people act on a recommendation slowly. The lead arrives already labelled.

• 03

  Stages, not just a counter

  A lead has a path: new, contacted, talking, won, lost. The partner sees where theirs is now, and this is the whole difference from an ordinary programme.

• 04

  Two windows onto one funnel

  A cabinet in the browser and a bot in the messenger show the same thing. The partner picks whichever suits them instead of adapting.

• 05

  Stages moved from where you already work

  The owner moves a lead along with a button under the notification itself. No separate tool to open — otherwise the stages stop being updated in the second week.

What it stands on

The exact set depends on your load, but the principle holds: nothing that has to be paid for to start.

• The site you already have

  The system goes into the existing site as its own pages and handlers rather than moving it to a new platform.

• A database that does not fall asleep

  The requirement usually missed: a referral link has to work at any hour. Some free databases stop after a week of quiet, and others meter the hours they run.

• The messenger as the interface

  Notifications and stage changes live in the same chat. For the partner that is zero new apps.

How the work goes

Four steps. After the second one the system already hands out links.

1. 1

   The terms

   We settle what you pay for and when: a one-off share or a share of every payment, from which moment it counts, how long the tag lives. That decides the shape of the data, so it comes first.

2. 2

   Links and attribution

   Partner sign-up, link issuing, picking the tag up on the site and tying the lead to it. At this point the programme runs, although there is no funnel yet.

3. 3

   The funnel and the cabinet

   Stages, the history of how they changed, the partner cabinet, and moving a lead from the messenger.

4. 4

   A run with real people

   We start with a small group and fix whatever looked sensible in the description and turned out awkward in use.

Decisions you will have to make

Better made on purpose than discovered after the fact.

• What a partner sees about your client

  By default I show the partner that a lead arrived and which stage it is at, but not the contact details and not the text of the request. That is the client's data. Otherwise a partner programme becomes a way for your list to leak out.

• Whose lead it is after two visits

  The rule has to be written down before launch, not during the first argument. By default the last visit before the request counts.

• How long the tag lives

  A short tag costs partners leads they earned; a long one credits them with leads they did not. The window depends on how long your buyers think before writing.

• Who moves the stages

  If that is a separate role with a separate tool, the stages stop being updated. It has to be whoever is already talking to the client, from wherever they already sit.

When you do not need this

Honestly, the limits.

• While you have fewer than three partners

  Two people are easier to keep track of in a chat. The system pays off once you stop remembering who sent whom.

• If a deal closes within the hour

  A five-stage funnel earns its place where weeks pass between the request and the payment. In fast sales a counter is enough.