Hello, so I am leaving my JOB here in a few weeks and am uber excited about it!! I work as the backbone to a business coaching company that deals with new entrepreneurs and seasoned professionals for 3 years now. Upon me telling about my new adventure, he reacted very defensively and said well don't steal any of my clients. I was shocked by this remark, me helping his clients would only help him....!! I assured him that I would not market to his clients but said what if someone approaches me and asks me to help them. (Which actually happened the day before) He said maybe we can figure out referral system. Any thoughts on a referral system, is it a one time flat fee, a percentage of the contract or a continuing percentage if it turns into a long term thang?? I need some advice and kind of just want to say screw you to him but I really think I could make a major impact on this woman's life and business. Thanks for your suggestions in advance.

Cassandra

Hi Cassandra, I think that if he is actively sending clients your way and/or if you are somehow using your position at his firm to let his clients know what you are going to be doing then a referral system would be a fair thing to put in place. I don't think I'd want to lock myself in for the life of the client, although there are a few very successful VA companies who do provide ongoing referral payments, as long as that new client relationship is viable - so it's something you'll have to decide.

As a thank you to my clients for a successful referral I always let them know how much I enjoy working with the new client, what I like about them personally and about their project (so they can learn more about my own ideal client profile), and I send them 10% of the new client's first invoice, in cash. For clients who go out of their way to send numerous referrals on a regular basis I will often send additional gifts like office equipment, books, goodies, gift certificates to cafes in their neighborhood, etc.

Hope that helps!

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Thank you so much Tess!! I appreciate the response. I have been picking the brains of many different entrepreneurs and coaches, all with different time frames in business and different levels of success to see the best route for this. I love the VA stand point though. I find it very interesting to see what others have done and how they manipulate and enhance things. What I have decided to do is go with 10% of the first year. So even if its a 3 month or a 5 year contact, they will receive 10% of the 1st year.

I think that having a valuable incentive for people to refer to is a very important aspect, not the here's 20 bucks, thank you for referring someone to me idea. However, that concept may work for others, I really believe that this is the way for me to begin and the great thing is .... if it doesn't seem beneficial, I can change it!!!

Thanks again!!

Happy to share my two cents, I'll look forward to hearing back once you've been using this policy for a while to see how it's worked for you!

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