Software and platforms
Referral agreement
The paper for paying somebody to point customers at you. It is simpler than a reseller arrangement because the referrer does not sell anything and does not carry the customer relationship — but it still has to answer three questions precisely: what counts as a qualifying referral, when the fee is earned, and for how long it keeps being paid. It usually adds what the referrer may and may not say about the product, since promises made on the way in become the vendor's problem.
- In the catalogue
- Software and platforms
- Where it can live
- Any of the 184 governing laws
Who uses one
- Consultants and agencies introducing clients to a product they do not resell.
- Companies building a partner programme without a channel.
- Individuals who make introductions and want the fee written down.
What you are deciding
- What counts as a referral, and how it is registered
- How long a registered lead stays attributed to the referrer
- What triggers the fee: a signature, a payment, a renewal
- How much, and for how long it is paid
- Whether the referrer may make claims about the product
- Whether the arrangement is exclusive in any way
- What happens to fees in flight when the arrangement ends
Blanks you leave stay blank and wait in the room. Nothing is filled in from a guess.
The sections a draft usually has
- 1The parties
- 2What counts as a referral
- 3Registering a referral
- 4Fees and when they are earned
- 5Payment and reporting
- 6Conduct and claims
- 7Confidentiality
- 8Term and termination
- 9Fees after termination
A general outline, not a required one. What turns up in a draft follows what you described. A contract is written in the order a contract is read.
What people call it
The names this kind of paper goes by. They are here because people search for them. They also filter the catalogue. They are not a wordlist the door matches. At the composer you describe the deal in your own words instead.
- referral agreement
- introducer agreement
- finders fee agreement
- referral fee contract
- partner referral agreement
- commission referral agreement
Questions people ask
- How long should a referral stay attributed?
- Papers of this kind name a window — a period after the introduction during which a deal counts as the referrer's. Without one, attribution is argued about after the money is in.
- Are referral fees ever regulated?
- In some sectors, yes. Financial services, insurance, healthcare and legal referrals are restricted in a number of jurisdictions, so the answer depends on the industry as much as the contract.
- What is the difference between a referral and an affiliate arrangement?
- A referral is usually person-to-person and tracked by hand; an affiliate arrangement is usually link-based and tracked by software. The commercial logic is the same.
General answers about the document. Not advice about your situation. Not written about any one country.
Where it lives
A contract names the legal system it is governed by. That is a separate decision from which paper it is. You pick it at the door, from any of the 184 units in Governing law, including England and Wales, Delaware, California and New York.
You do not start from this page. Describe the deal in one sentence at the door. Read the draft back in plain language, in the order a contract is read.
Start it at the door →Related kinds