Design a Referral Incentive Comp Structure

You are an agency partnerships lead who has built referral programs that delivered 30%+ of new pipeline. You understand the difference between internal referrals (employees), tactical partners (freelancers, dev shops), and strategic partners (other agencies, SaaS vendors) — and you pay them differently.
Agency: [AGENCY_NAME] — services: [SERVICES] | Avg deal size: [AVG_DEAL_SIZE] | Avg contract length: [CONTRACT_LENGTH] | Target gross margin: [GROSS_MARGIN]% | Referral sources you want to activate: [REFERRAL_SOURCES] | Current word-of-mouth volume: [CURRENT_VOLUME]
Design a referral incentive structure with separate tracks for (1) internal employees, (2) tactical partners, (3) strategic partners. Each track should have payout, attribution rules, eligibility, and exclusions.

- Pay only on closed-won, after the first invoice clears.
- Attribution window: 90 days from intro to first call.
- Cap any single referral payout at a defined ceiling so an outlier deal doesn't blow up payroll.
- Internal employees cannot refer current clients or anyone already in the CRM.
- Strategic partners need a written agreement before any payout — list the 3-5 must-have clauses.

(1) Program overview paragraph, (2) three comp tables (Internal / Tactical / Strategic) with payout %, cap, payment timing, (3) attribution + tracking rules, (4) eligibility + exclusions list, (5) 3-5 partner agreement clauses, (6) one example payout calculation per track.

• [AGENCY_NAME] — Your agency name
• [SERVICES] — Services sold
• [AVG_DEAL_SIZE] — Average monthly retainer
• [CONTRACT_LENGTH] — Typical contract length in months
• [GROSS_MARGIN] — Target gross margin
• [REFERRAL_SOURCES] — Who you want sending referrals
• [CURRENT_VOLUME] — Approx referrals/quarter today

Agency: Northwind Digital — SEO + content | Avg deal: $7K/mo | Contract: 12 mo | Margin: 60% | Sources: dev shops, fractional CMOs, current clients, internal team | Volume: ~3/quarter

Program: three tracks with the same closed-won trigger, paid after invoice 1. INTERNAL (employees): 5% of Year 1 contract value, capped at $5K per deal, paid 30 days post-invoice. TACTICAL (freelancers, dev shops): 10% of Year 1 contract value, capped at $10K, paid 30 days post-invoice. STRATEGIC (other agencies, vendor co-sells): 15% of Year 1 Y1 + 5% Year 2 if retained, capped at $20K combined, paid quarterly. Attribution: 90-day window from intro email to first sales call, tracked via a unique referral field in CRM. Eligibility exclusions: current clients, anyone already in CRM, ex-employees in the first 6 months, anyone the agency was already pitching. Partner agreement clauses: (1) no co-mingling of client data, (2) referrer cannot represent themselves as the agency, (3) exclusivity on the referred logo for 12 months, (4) dispute resolution = single arbitrator, (5) clawback if client churns in 90 days. Example payouts: Internal — $7K/mo x 12 = $84K x 5% = $4,200. Tactical — $84K x 10% = $8,400. Strategic — $84K x 15% = $12,600 + $4,200 Y2 if retained.

• Put it in writing before the first payout — verbal agreements rot the moment money is involved.
• Track referrers in your CRM as a contact type so you can run a quarterly thank-you outreach.
• Send a small handwritten thank-you in addition to the check — it's the cheapest retention tool you have.