How to keep referrals coming after the first one

The second referral is the one that counts

Getting a business to send you one job is mostly about the approach, which our guide on getting referrals from other businesses covers. Getting the fifth and the fiftieth is about what happens after it. A partner who sends you work is watching for one thing, which is whether recommending you made their life easier or harder. Everything below is a way of making sure the answer stays "easier".

Take the handover before you take the job

When the first referral comes in, ring or message the partner before you call the customer. Ask what they told the customer about you and whether there's anything you should know. A property manager might mention that the owner is overseas and wants photos, or that the tenant works nights. A builder might tell you the client has already had one painter not turn up. Five minutes of this saves you from contradicting the person who vouched for you.

Then use their name when you make contact. "Sarah at Bayside Property said you'd need a bond clean by Friday" tells the customer you're the person they were promised and reminds them who to thank. If the job isn't a fit, say so to both of them on the same day and suggest someone who can do it.

Some referrals won't turn into work. The customer picks a cheaper quote or the job is put off. Tell the partner anyway, briefly and without complaint. It shows you followed through, and over time it tells them which of their customers are worth sending.

Report back without being asked

Most partners want to know three things: that you made contact, that you quoted or booked it, and that it's done. One short message at each point is plenty. Something like this, sent the evening the job finishes:

Hi Sarah, all done at 14 Kent St today. The bond clean is finished and the oven came up well. Photos are attached for the owner if you want them. Thanks again for sending us through. Mel

That message does more work than it looks. It gives the partner something to pass on to their own client, it proves the job was done, and it keeps your name in front of them for the right reason. Ask the customer before you share photos of their home or details of the job, and keep the report to what the partner needs.

Thank them properly

A good thank-you is specific. Name the job, and say what it meant to you if it's true, such as "that one filled a quiet week". Send it to the person who referred you and copy in their principal or manager, because staff who pass on work rarely get credit for it inside their own business. A handwritten card or a box of coffees dropped at the office lands better than anything sent from a shop's website.

Keep gifts small and out in the open, because some partners work under rules that cap or ban them. Queensland's Criminal Code makes it a crime to corruptly give an employee a benefit to influence how they handle their employer's business, and a thank-you their boss would be uneasy about is heading in that direction. The NSW Government says strata managing agents generally can't accept gifts from others, with an exception for gifts of $60 or less. For financial advisers, ASIC's guidance says a non-monetary benefit under $300 isn't banned as long as similar benefits aren't given frequently or regularly. If you're thinking about money rather than a gift, read referral fees in Australia first.

On the tax side, the ATO's ruling TD 2016/14 says a business can generally deduct a gift to a client that's made to earn future income. Its example is a renovator who gives a past client champagne hoping for more work or referrals. Entertainment is treated differently, so lunches and event tickets are generally not deductible. Check with your accountant how that applies to gifts for business partners who aren't clients.

Send work the other way

The partnerships that last run both ways, and the best thing you can send a partner is a customer who is ready to go. Don't just pass on a phone number. Ask your customer first. Then write one email to both of them that introduces each person and explains what the customer needs and why you think the partner suits it. Then step out and let them take it from there.

You also see things your partners can't. A cleaner notices the peeling eaves, a locksmith hears that the office is moving, and a gardener sees the fence that's about to come down. Mentioning your partner to the customer at that moment is the kind of referral they remember. You don't need to keep score one for one, but do keep a note of what you've sent, so you can mention it naturally when you next speak.

Stay in touch without pestering

The test for any message is whether it gives the partner something. "Just checking in" gives them nothing and asks them to reply. These do give them something:

• A photo of a finished job for one of their customers, with the customer's permission.
• Your availability, such as a gap in the next fortnight that could take an urgent job.
• A heads-up that affects their customers, like a busy period you're booking out for.
• A new service they might get asked about.
• Thanks for a review or a mention you noticed.

Match the rhythm to how often their customers need you. A property manager with a few hundred rentals may have work most weeks, so a short note every month or so is fine. An architect who sends one landscaping job a season should hear from you a few times a year, not every month. Try to see your best partners in person once a year, even if it's ten minutes and a coffee at their office.

Stay in touch with the person who actually chooses the tradie. At a real estate agency that is often the property manager or an assistant rather than the principal. Our page on working with property managers goes through how they pick and keep suppliers.

Read your numbers once a quarter

If you keep a simple record of referrals, look at it every three months and ask three questions of each partner. How many did they send, how many became paid work, and what were those jobs worth? A partner who sends plenty but none go ahead is usually sending the wrong customers, often on price. Tell them plainly who you're a good fit for, because they would rather send you people who say yes. A partner who sends two big jobs a year might be worth more than one who sends twenty small ones, and deserves the same attention.

When to let a partner go

Not every partnership is worth keeping. Some signs it has run its course:

• You've sent them work for a year and nothing has come back, even though their customers do need you.
• Their own standards have slipped, and their customers now arrive already angry.
• They push for a bigger fee, or ask for cash to a staff member instead of an invoice to the business.
• Your business has changed and their customers no longer fit the work you want.

Most of the time you don't need to announce anything. Stop putting effort in, stay polite when you cross paths, and keep doing a good job on anything they still send. If they've asked for something that isn't above board, say no plainly and in writing. Never run a former partner down to a customer, because word travels in local business and it will reach them.

Then put the time into someone new. A handful of good partners will carry most of your referred work, and one or two drift away each year as staff move and businesses change, so keep looking for the next one. Curlew can do that finding and first approach by email in your business name, if that's the part that keeps slipping.