"Did you ever speak to the Patels?"
An accountant who sends you clients asks the question at a networking lunch. You think so. You are not sure. The referral came by email to an adviser who has since left, or it was mentioned on a call, and it may never have been recorded.
Professional introducers such as accountants, solicitors and estate planners are a large source of new clients for many advice firms. They want to know their clients were looked after. When they hear nothing, they start sending referrals elsewhere, quietly.
Why referrals slip through
Referrals come in whichever way suits the introducer: an email to the adviser they know, a call to the office, a mention in a meeting. There is often no single intake, so the referral lives in one person's inbox or memory until it becomes an enquiry.
Many back office systems have a field for source, but it gets filled inconsistently, if at all. So even when the client comes on board, the firm cannot easily say who referred them, or how many referrals an introducer has sent this year.
- Referrals arrive through several channels, to different people.
- No record of the referral until the prospect becomes a client.
- Source fields filled inconsistently.
- Introducers not kept informed of progress.
- No view of which relationships are active or fading.
Speed matters more than it seems. A client referred by their accountant is often dealing with something time-sensitive: a business sale, an inheritance, a divorce settlement. If nobody calls for a week, the introducer hears about it from the client, and that conversation does the relationship no good.
What it costs to lose track
| Gap | Consequence |
|---|---|
| Referral never contacted | A prospect lost, and an introducer let down |
| Slow first contact | Prospect cools, or books with someone else |
| Introducer not updated | Trust in the relationship erodes |
| No reporting by introducer | Business development time spent in the wrong places |
Referral relationships take years to build and can fade without anyone noticing. The loss rarely shows up as a single event, just fewer introductions over time.
The referral tracking we build
- Introducers get a simple referral form or a dedicated email address, and staff can log referrals from calls in seconds.
- Each referral is recorded with the introducer, the prospect, the date and the adviser assigned, and a first contact task is created immediately.
- The prospect's journey is tracked from referral to first meeting to client, linked to the record in your back office.
- Introducers receive updates your firm agrees, such as "we have made contact" and "a meeting is booked", limited to what the prospect has consented to share.
- A dashboard shows referrals by introducer, how quickly each was contacted, and how many became clients.
- Relationships that have gone quiet are flagged, so someone can pick up the phone.
Any payments to introducers, and what information you share with them, are governed by your firm's own policies and agreements. We build the system to follow them.
What introducers and advisers notice
Introducers hear back without chasing, which makes them more likely to refer again. Every referral gets a first contact on time, whoever it was sent to. Advisers see where their new clients come from. And the owner can see which relationships are growing and which need attention.
It also changes the business development conversation. Instead of a general catch-up lunch, the adviser can sit down with an accountant and talk about the referrals they sent this year, what happened to each and how the process could work better for their clients.
Is this your situation?
- Referrals arrive by email to individual advisers.
- You cannot say how many referrals each introducer sent this year.
- Introducers ask what happened to people they referred.
- Source fields in your back office are often blank.
- Relationships have faded without anyone noticing.