Referrals

A referral is a lead that one person passes to another. ChamberForge keeps track of who sent it, who received it, what happened to it, and how much business it turned into. Referral totals feed the dashboards and the reports.

Send a Referral

You can open the Send Referral window from three places:

  • The + (Create) menu in the top header, then Send Referral
  • Referrals in the left menu, then the send button at the top of the list
  • A member's profile page

The fields are:

  • Date: the date the referral was given. It cannot be later than tomorrow.
  • To: the person receiving the referral. See Choosing the Recipient.
  • Report to group: one or more groups this referral should count toward. See Report to Groups.
  • Lead Name, Lead E-mail, Lead Phone, Lead Company: details about the lead (optional).
  • Custom fields: extra fields your group has set up, if any.
  • Description: anything that helps the recipient follow up (optional).

When you submit, you see "Referral is sent." and the recipient is notified by e-mail and, if they use the mobile app, by push notification.

{info} You cannot send a referral to yourself, and at least one side of a referral must be a ChamberForge member. A referral between two guests is not allowed.

Choosing the Recipient

The To list is organized into sections so you can find people quickly:

  • One section for each of your groups, titled with the group name and listing that group's members
  • All: everyone you are connected to
  • Guests: guests from your groups

You can also:

  • Type an e-mail address. If that person does not have a ChamberForge account yet, they receive an e-mail inviting them to join so they can see the referral.
  • Type a new name to add a new guest. The guest is created in the first group you selected under Report to group, so you must pick one of your own groups for this to work.

You can only choose guests that belong to your own groups.

Report to Groups

A referral can count toward more than one group. When you pick the recipient, ChamberForge fills in a group you both belong to. You can add more groups or remove the suggestion.

  • The sender and the recipient each report their own side of the referral. For example, if you and the recipient share two groups, you can report it to both.
  • After a referral is sent, you can add groups later from the referral page with Menu > Report to Group, or remove one with Stop reporting to (group name).
  • A group only sees referrals that were reported to it. If a referral is missing from a group's reports, check which groups it was reported to.

Record a Referral You Received

If someone gave you a referral outside ChamberForge (for example, over the phone), you can still record it so it shows up in your numbers. Use + > Record referral received, or the same option on the Referrals page.

  • From: the person who gave you the referral
  • Referral Status: Created, Work in Progress, Won or Lost
  • Amount Won and Make amount private: leave the amount blank if you do not want to record revenue yet
  • Reason: shown when the status is Lost

The other person is not notified when you record a referral this way.

Record a Referral Between Two Members

Group managers can enter referrals on behalf of members who need help with data entry. On the group's Referrals page, choose Record referral between two members. You pick both the From and To members, the Status, the groups to report to, and Recorded by.

  • Only group members can be selected. E-mail addresses are not allowed here.
  • The members are notified that a referral was entered on their behalf (you can turn this e-mail off under Notification Settings).
  • The referral page shows who added it.

Public Referral Link

Every member with a username has a public profile page at /@username. Visitors who are not logged in see a Send Referral button on that page. This lets clients and partners who are not on ChamberForge send you a referral directly.

  • The visitor enters their own name (required), e-mail, phone and company, and the lead's details (Lead Name is required).
  • The visitor is saved as a guest contact in your contacts, and the referral arrives in your Referrals list with the status Created. You are notified like any other referral.

You choose what your public profile shows (company, category, e-mail, phone numbers, website, location) in My Account > Public Profile Visibility. See My Account.

Referral Page and Menu

Click a referral to open its page. The Menu button shows the actions you are allowed to take. Depending on your role and the referral's status, it can include:

  • Report Won, Report Lost, Set to Work in Progress, Set to Created
  • Add Revenue (Won referrals only)
  • Update (recipient only)
  • Report to Group / Report to Organization
  • Recall Referral (sender, while the referral is still Created)
  • Buy Coffee (on Won referrals, to thank the sender)
  • Delete

Referral Statuses

Status Meaning
Created The referral was sent and nothing has happened yet.
Work in Progress The recipient is following up on the lead.
Won The referral turned into business.
Lost The referral did not turn into business.
Recalled The sender withdrew the referral before the recipient acted on it.

Who can change the status:

  • The recipient
  • The person who entered the referral (for example, a manager who recorded it on someone's behalf)
  • Group managers, if the recipient allowed it with Allow my group admins to update my referrals in My Account
  • Organization managers

The sender cannot change the status of a referral they sent, unless they are also the person who entered it.

Report Won or Lost

Report Won asks for:

  • Date
  • Amount Won ($): the revenue from this referral (optional; you can add it later)
  • Make amount private: hides this amount from other people. It is still counted in totals and reports.
  • Repeat monthly: reports the same amount again on the same day every month until you stop it. See Revenue.

Report Lost asks for the date and a reason: Unresponsive, Competitor, Timing, Price or Other. Reasons feed the group's Lost Report.

{warning} Setting a referral to Lost or back to Created deletes all revenue recorded on it.

The sender is notified when the referral moves to Work in Progress, Won or Lost.

Update Lead Details

Only the recipient can edit a referral's lead details (Lead Name, Lead E-mail, Lead Phone, Lead Company and Description). Use Menu > Update. The sender cannot change the details after sending.

Group managers can also edit them if the recipient turned on Allow my group admins to update my referrals, and organization managers can edit referrals in their organization.

Private Referrals

Some professions cannot share client details because of compliance rules (for example, HIPAA). The recipient can mark a referral private with Make this referral private in the Update form.

  • Only the recipient can see the details of a private referral. The sender, group managers and organization managers see "The recipient has marked this referral as private." and cannot act on it.
  • In the Feed, a private referral shows a lock icon without the lead's name, and only the recipient can like or comment on it.
  • Revenue on a private referral is private by default. Private amounts are hidden from others but still included in aggregated totals and reports.

Recall or Delete a Referral

  • Recall: the sender (or the person who entered the referral) can recall it while it is still Created, for example if it was sent to the wrong person. The recipient is notified and can no longer see it. Recalled referrals are permanently removed after 3 days.
  • Delete: available from the referral's Menu when your role allows it. Referrals that have moved past Created should be set to Lost rather than deleted, so that reports stay accurate.

Referral History

The History card on the referral page lists what happened to the referral: status changes, recipient changes, edits to the lead details, when the recipient first viewed it, and revenue entries. It shows the 10 most recent entries; click Show all to see the rest.

People who are not allowed to see the lead details (for example, on a private referral) do not see the lead-detail entries.

Referral Notifications

  • The recipient is notified when a referral is sent to them.
  • The sender is notified in the app the first time the recipient opens the referral ("... viewed the referral you sent.").
  • The sender is notified when the status changes to Work in Progress, Won or Lost, and when a referral they received is recalled.

You can choose e-mail and push for each of these under Notification Settings.